1. Firmware Updates

This is the most important Tip i can give you, Update Your Firmware! The 5800 is the first Nokia phone with S60 5th Edition Touch software and Nokia have anticipated the need for Firmware updates with this new Software. They have added the facility to update directly to your phone with FOTA (Firmware over the air) using WLAN or GPRS.They have also improved the updating process by Retaining most Phone Memory Data rather than completely wiping the Phone memory with earlier phone models. Some people have noticed Contacts being kept but losing applications, but on v.20 update i lost no contacts or Applications, although i still would BACK UP data via the Nokia PC Suite incase of any future changes or loss of phone.
The latest firmware v.31 has nokia maps 3.1 and performance improvements, v.30 had improvements in performance while firmware v.21 had a reported 225 improvements and bug fixes. The firmware update is available via Nokia Software Updater and FOTA for most Generic codes. If you cannot upgrade to version 21 then you may want to "Debrand" your 5800, details in section 2.











Nokia Maps 3.1 available with Firmware v.31 (left:Maps3.0 center & right:Maps3.1)













Enlarged AlbumArt on Firmware v.21










:

Keypad update on firmware v.20
Firmware Versions (Dates are general guides):
v.31.0.008 (14-09-2009)
v.30.0.011 (28-07-2009)
v.21.0.025 (29-04-2009)
v.20.0.012 (26-01-2009)
v.11.0.009 (14-01-2009)
v.11.0.008 (09-12-2008)
v.10.0.0.10 (01-10-2008)








If you haven't updated your firmware before here are a few important points to note:
1. I recommend Backing up your Personal Data via Nokia PC Suite or By copying them to the Memory card as a precaution although with the 5800 you should not need to do to the new update system.
2. Updating firmware is completely Legal in fact Nokia encourage Updating Firmware, Debranding (see later section) on the other hand will invalidate your warranty.
3. Firmware Update availability is dependent on the Operator Product code. Changing the product code to the Default Nokia codes (Debranding) will allow for very latest firmware updates otherwise it may take some time even months before you can upgrade to the latest firmware.
4. Keep a Copy of Application installers as Some applications installed on the Memory Card may no longer work and will need to be re-installed, it depends on what Application data was stored on the phone memory.



Updating Your Firmware Guide
There is 2 ways to update your Firmware on the 5800:

1. Nokia Software Updater (NSU)
The NSU is the traditional way to download Firmware updates to your phone. You can download it as a part of the Nokia PC Suite or as a separate application from Nokia for Free. You connect the phone to your PC and updates are downloaded to the PC through the NSU and installed to the phone via a USB cable. This system works well on XP but i have found problems using Vista, where the NSU has problems installing phone drivers and cannot Update the firmware, this problem should be fixed by Nokia soon.

NokiaPCSuite NokiaSoftwareUpdater

2. FOTA (Firmware Over The Air)
This a new way to get Firmware Updates where you can download Updates Directly to your 5800 via Internet connection (preferably WLAN). It is generally a faster way to Update and saves the need for a PC or USB cables.

To start FOTA
1. Type *#0000# on your key pad or Select Device Manager from phone menu or another way is to hold down Green Call key to start Voice Activation and speak Device manager (English version)
2. Select Options then Check for Updates and connect to internet
3. Update process first check if updates are available then start update process.
4. If you are not able to get the latest updates it is because you have a Operator Product code rather than a default Nokia product code, to change this you will need to Debrand your phone details in Section 2.

For More Details on FOTA NokiaFOTA


Update Server Settings
You do need the correct Server Settings to connect to the Nokia Update Service. If your phone does not have the settings you can get them sent to your phone via text from Nokia website.

To Get Firmware Update Server settings:
1. Go to Nokiasoftwaresettings
2. Select Download advanced settings near the bottom of the page.
3. A new dialogue box will open, Accept the terms and Start to continue advanced settings
4. In Phone Model box DO NOT Select 5800 XpressMusic as the website has a temporary fault instead select Phone model: Nokia 6131. Then select Next
5. Click on the Nokia Software (firmware) update over-the-air
6. Select your Country and Network and Security characters then your international phone number and finally Order settings
7. When the you have received the text settings on your phone enter the activation pin shown on the website and Save.





2. Debranding

Debranding is a term used when the Operator Firmware is replaced with the Manufacturers Firmware. This requires the Product Code to be replaced with a default Nokia code. This allows for the very latest firmware updates to be installed in your phone.
Debranding usually completely reinstalls the phone memory, removing all the Operator associated applications for example T-Mobile Web 'n' Walk would become Web.

The Nokia 5800 updates are not quite so severe and it does not completely wipe all the phone memory which allows you to retain your contacts and some applications (dependant on product code)

Warning!
Debranding does invalidate your warranty! Even though you could easily change back your code, a repair centre could refuse to carry out repairs if they notice the changes.

5800 Product codes
The product code for a 5800 can be found under the battery and is a 7 digit number starting with 05XXXXX. Different product codes contain different language packs, 0558982 is the code for Euro1 RED phone and contains English, French, Dutch, Italian, Portuges and Spanish languages.
Use the Nokia product code for your region unless you want different or additional languages. Here is the list 5800Productcodelist



Getting Started
Tools: PC with XP or Vista OS, Software, Phone USB cable and 5800. I have changed my Product code with this system using Windows Vista. The Best way i have found is to use the OGM Suite with a JAF PKEY emulator. The good news is you only need to change it once.The Nemesis Suite commonly used to Debrand the N95 does not work on the 5800 at present. Some people have used the Phionex phone Suite to change the code but have had problems with the codes it uses.


Debrand Nokia 5800 XpressMusic
1. Download the 5800 Debranding Apps Zip folder i have provided.
It contains 2 applications and important release notes regarding Anti virus and Firewall settings. The PKEY folder is password encrypted password = sjc77


2. Install JAFSetup_1.98.62.exe
3. Connect your 5800 to PC via USB cable and select USB mode: PC Suite. DO NOT open Nokia PC Suite.
4. Make sure your Firewall is active on your PC. Read the release notes about anti virus i provided in the Zip.
5. Unzip and Run the JAF PKEY v5.0.exe from the desktop and click GO. When the error dialog box appears Driver not installed click OK to run the application. Shown below:















6. If you Firewall alerts you select Keep Blocking.
7. Select the Tab BB5, then tick Prod. Manager, then Click the SERVICE button on the right. Shown below:














8. Now a new dialog box will appear and with the current product code should appear (if it doesn't click read values)
9. Enter the Product Code you want to use and click the Write Values button. Shown below:


10. Thats it! Now you should have a new product code and you can update your phone with the latest firmware using FOTA or the NSU mentioned in Tip 1.

I would also unistall/delete the 2 aplications as the J.A.F will show as a Trojan if you are using AVG Anti-Virus.


Thanks to nottinghamjazz Blog for initial info.






3. Freeware

I have created a separate Freeware Page HERE. Below are a few examples of freeware applications.


Handwriting Calculator from Nokia Betalabs









Paint Pad v.1.0 by Zensis from Nokia Hong Kong website
















4. Video Converting for the 5800

The Nokia 5800 can play video formats: MPEG-4 (MP4), H.264/AVC, RealVideo 7,8,9/10, WMV 9, 3GPP formats (H.263), and Flash Video (including .swf and .flv)
MP4 is a common video type frequently used on the internet. It is also the most reliable format for Converting videos for the 5800.
The 5800 can play .WMV9 files but i have found playback problems with every .WMV i have tried. They can also play MP4 with H.263/AVC video codec but i have found that some play and other will not. It can however play.FLV files via the Flash player which are commonly used on Youtube. The Divx mobile player used on N95 can play .AVI video files but it is not currently compatible with the 5800, but hopefully soon the will release a S60 5th edition version.



Aspect Ratio
The 5800 can view videos in 16:9 Widescreen as well as other more traditional formats like 4:3. When converting files i would always keep the original aspect ratio to avoid stretched details. The 5800 phones built-in video player has 3 Aspect ratio settings Original, Stretch and Zoom. The 5800 screen resolution is 640x360 so there is little point having larger video Scale sizes like 768x576.



Main Screen Scale Sizes for 5800 are: (Video Preview Compatible)
640x360 Widescreen 16:9
480x272 Widescreen 16:9
640x480 4:3
480x360 4:3
320x240 4:3

Gallery Video Previews
The 5800 shows a Preview Image for video files which makes it easier to find the video you want to play. If the Preview image does not show up and instead you see a broken video symbol, then this is because the Video files Aspect ratio is not exactly correct. You should be able to play the video without any problem even if you cannot see the preview, i.e 480x272 will show previews while 480x270 will usually not show previews. I would use the Video Scale Sizes listed in the section above for converting videos.



Converting Videos for the 5800
My favourite freeware application for converting Video is SUPER by eright. The good thing about this application (apart from being free) are the settings. They allow you to manually set bitrates and exact Aspect ratios. I recommend converting videos into MP4 formats as other types like .WMV9 have problems in playback.
The Screenshot below shows the correct settings for converting mp4 videos for 5800. Make sure to set the Output Video codec to MPEG-4 and Output Audio Codec to AAC LC.
The variables to remember are: Video Scale Size, Click the "More" box twice to set your own sizes (depending on the original source) Video Bitrate Kbps, which depends on the original quality and your own preference/file size.















Nokia Video Manager
Nokia have created the Nokia Video Manager application as a part of the PC Suite which can convert and transfer videos from your PC to your 5800. I have tested it but i was disappointed with the settings. It is supposed to recognise your phones video capabilities but it squashed a 16:9 video down to a 4:3 clip and reduced the quality even though i set "High quality". It can easily convert Videos and transfer to your phone so if you want an easy converter then this could be good for you. The screenshot below, shows the comparison of a Video converted using SUPER (Left) and Nokia Video Manager (right). Super has maintained the Aspect Ratio and Image Quality while NVM has reduced the Aspect ratio and quality of the Video.










5. Remove Deleted Artists from Music Library Fix.
You may have noticed with early 5800's (firmware v.10 & v.11) there was a problem with the Music Artist lists. I found that around 8 songs came preloaded on my memory card like Che DuBois, Joe Bagale etc. I deleted these Artists but they were still showing after a Library refresh and when you tried to delete the entries an error message would come up saying corrupt file. The refresh problem now seems to have been fixed with v.20 but old artist entries will still show up and need to be manually removed.

I found that this manual clean up fixed the Refresh problem and now deleted artists no longer appear in the Artists list.

Problems Associated with this Fix. You will loose Playlists References not the Music tracks.






Manually remove deleted artists from Music Library
1. Connect your 5800 to you PC in Mass Storage Mode
2. On your PC you will need to have allowed to "Show" hidden files, do this from Explorer/Tools/ Folder Options/ View and select "Show hidden files and Folder"
3. Open your SD memory card/Removable Disk in My Computer on PC
4. Go to E:\ Private there you will see 3 folders 101f8857, 101ffca9 and 10281e17 . Shown below left.












5. Go to Private\101f8857\Cache\E there you will see .dat files. Delete all the .dat file BUT NOT the E Folder. Shown above right
6. Now go to Private\101ffca9 there you will see another .dat file, Delete the dat file NOT the folder. Shown below Left.












7. Finally go to Private\10281e17 There you should see 4 files 2 are Mp3 files other are Podcast files. Delete mpxv2_2.db & mpxv2_2.db-journal for Mp3 files list and Delete pcv6_1.db & pcv6_1.db-journal for Podcast files list. Shown above right
8. Close all windows and disconnect your Phone. Go to Music Library and it should automatically start a refresh.



6. Changing Your 5800 Font

It is fairly easy to change your font on Nokia 5800. You do not need any external applications but you do need to create a Font Folder with the Files inside.


You can use any Open Type Font (.OTF) from your PC usually found in C: Windows\Fonts. True Type fonts (.TTF) do not work correctly and should be avoided they can cause errors. You can simply copy a font from your PC usually located in C:\Windows\Fonts just make sure it is an .oft type. If you use fonts from your PC i would avoid thick or large fonts.














Below are some examples is different fonts i have created. Click image to enlarge.
Click on the Name to download Left2Right Harlow Solid Italic, Eurostile, Pristina, Calibri , Bauhaus93.















Creating your Font folder
1. Create a folder called "Fonts"
2. Place 4 copies of the same Font in the folder.
3. Rename the fonts: s60snr.ttf, s60ssb.ttf, s60tsb.ttf and S60ZDIGI.ttf
4. Now the folder is ready to move to the Phone.


Transferring New font to 5800 phone
1. Connect the phone in "Mass Storage" mode to your PC.
2. In "My Computer" go to Removable Disk or Memory Card.
3. Navigate and open the "Resource" folder (create one if it does not exist).
4. Copy the "Fonts" Folder into the Resource folder.
5. Close open windows and Disconnect the Phone from PC.
6. Restart your Phone and you should see the new fonts.


To Reset Original 5800 Font
1. To Reset your Phone to the Original Default font simply Delete the Font folder that you created in E:\ Resourse\Fonts and Restart your Phone.


7. YouTube on your 5800

Google have created a 5800 Application for Youtube, But what is the difference between using the standard WEB browser and this New Application? I have created a simple guide to compare the two.
Google Youtube App. YouTubev2.0.9.









YouTube Application
The first thing you will notice is that it works in Landscape mode only. The home screen is pretty much the same as YouTube mobile version. The Search function integrates with your 5800 writing input type. Once you have selected a video it will play with some navigation buttons on the right as shown in the images below.










YouTube from your WEB browser
When you type http://www.youtube.com/ into your web browser you will be directed to the Mobile version of the YouTube website. You can view the pages in both Portrait and Landscape mode. There are 2 types of video player available a Standard Video Player and Flash Video (beta) both of which work on the 5800. Once you have searched for a video, if you click on the video image it will play the video in previous setting style, But if you click on the title ie. The Beatles -- Help! it will open a window that will allow you to switch video type by clicking "Switch to Flash Video (beta)" or Standard Player. The Standard player plays in full screen with the ability to change to aspect ratio video the 5800 player controls. The Flash Video however does retain the progress/play bar at all times but the picture & sound quality is greatly improved over the Standard player.

The Google Application is a really quick way to access Youtube and the video playback and search feature work well but for me the improved image & sound quality available from the Flash Video(beta) via the WEB browser makes this easily the best choice for viewing Youtube on your 5800.










8. Changing the look of your 5800 browser

You may have realised that different phones have slightly different internet page layouts. When you view a webpage on a mobile phone the website often has code that directs you to a mobile version of the webpage automatically. Apple was able to get special optimized webpages by many major websites, Google, Facebook etc for the iPhone which means it has a slightly different layout to the 5800. There are obviously some differences in the look of mobile webpages from standard webpages as mobile versions have been simplified for faster loading with Standardized text and resized images. Also you generally don't view Sidebar/ most Adverts and more importantly you are often unable to download files from certain website like Rapidshare.





Below show the difference in a Google Search and Google Image Search pages with 5800, iPhone and Firefox browsers from the 5800 web application.




















Firstly i would like to recognise Knowmorestuff.com for the source info on this tweak.
The iPhonesque Modification allows you to view webpages on your 5800 in iPhone, Firefox(via XP) GoogleChrome and many others. Both Applications are written in Python, so you will also need to install Python1.4 for the applications to work.
iPhonesque
This is a software technology developed by Harri Salminen which allows you to view webpages on your 5800 as they are displayed on an iPhone.
User Agent Change
This software created by Snatcher adds additional browsers to the list.
Please Note that both iPhonesque and user Agent Selector both need to be signed and apparently the online symbian signed process will not work on these applications therefore you will need to follow the "Sign Applications Yourself!" guide i posted on 17 April 2009 to get your own dev cert.

Install all 3 .sis files to the Phone memory not SD memory card.

1. First download and install Python 1.4 on your 5800 if you don't have it already. Install all 3 .sis files to the Phone memory not SD memory card.
2. Download the iPhonesque1.3UAChange zip folder and extract the 2 applications
3. Sign both applications via "Sign Applications Yourself!" guide i posted on 17 April 2009.
4. Install iPhonesque_fp1-1.3-UAChange.sis first! to your 5800 via usb cable.Install all 3 .sis files to the Phone memory not SD memory card.
5. Install UserAgentSelect_v1_0_3.sis to your 5800 via usb cable. Install all 3 .sis files to the Phone memory not SD memory card.
6. IMPORTANT : Run the UA Changer from your Applications folder. If you don’t run it for the first time, your web browser will just crash whenever you visit a website.
7. Select the Mode you want to use ie. iPhone and then Exit the User Agent. You will not need to run the application again unless you want to change the Mode.
8. Now start your Web browser and it will automatically direct the website to show the page layout for the phone you selected.

Note: I did notice some images did not load as well in the iPhone mode compared to the original 5800 mode although the font size on the iPhone was easier to read as well as having extract preview images on some pages.





9. Sign Freeware Applications Yourself!

If you are familiar with Nokia S60 devices you will know that some freeware applications are Signed and some are Unsigned, as yet i haven't found many applications for 5800 that are Unsigned but i expect to find more in the future.

The Symbian Foundation have an online signing process, Where you upload the applications and they sign it for your phone and send it back to you.
If you have tried it, What do you really think about Symbian Online Signing Service? DON'T Answer out loud there maybe children listening! Yeah the whole signing process in rather complicated and often doesn't work. Well the great new is thanks to the OPDA developer website you can now sign applications yourself is the same way as before the current system was introduced.
Firstly i have to give the credit to The Nokia Blog who highlighted the fact that OPDA are issuing Signing Certificates and Keys as Symbian once used to before they changed the system. These Certs/Keys are specific to your Phone so you will need your IMEI/Serial number number (*#06#). OPDA is a Chinese Developer website so understanding the website isn't easy but The guy's at The Nokia Blog have given good instructions.
I know a lot of people will be very happy to avoid the online signing process. I tested the whole process and it really works, i can now sign applications for my N95 and 5800.

10. 5800 Best Tips & Tricks Visual bookmark

You can now download a Visual Bookmark from GetJar.com or you can download it from the "Download BookMark" link at the top of this page. This will allow you to visit the Mobile version of this website directly from your 5800. Many thanks to getjar for producing that for me :)
If you download the bookmark from GetJar i would select device as N97! not 5800 as the java app. with a small menu icon!! i have hosted the improved .sis version in the download link at the top of each page.
If you want to create V.Bookmark for your website, you can learn how to do it from WapReview
Please note that if you view the mobile version on a PC it will not show a simulated webpage/mobile device rather than actual wesite that you will see on your 5800.