E61 Setup

The Nokia E61 is quite a funky device, here's some rough notes on how to get yourself up and running with it.

Software

web browsing: Opera IRC: jmIrc email: Nokia's biz software site or Gmail mobile terminal emulation: PuTTY for Symbian moblogging with Vox: http://help.vox.com/cgi-bin/blogs_us.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=570 AutoLock - Automatic keypad lock Google Maps for mobile - see footnote

Settings

WiFi: see Menu -> Connectivity -> Conn. mgr. -> Availab. WLAN Access Points setup: see Menu -> Tools - > Sett. wiz Migration from an old phone: see Menu -> Tools -> Transfer Very first thing I had to do was turn off keypad tones, they're annoying and antisocial, and there's no reason for them to be that loud by default: Menu -> Tools -> Profiles -> General (personalise)

Tips and tricks

copy and pasting text: select the text by holding shift and moving the joystick. Copy with Ctrl-C. Paste with Ctrl-V. E61 keyboard shortcuts (via Erik). Can't find an fm/am radio? Point the E61's browser at Mobile Radio and listen over the net (beware data charges).

Gustaf: how to connect to a private Fon router

Here's how I got WLAN working with the Fonera's private node.

The problem was that I simply couldn't connect, event though I had the correct password set. Googling turned up a tip, which seems to work.

First, you can't create an access point directly from the WLAN discovery tool (Menu -> Connectivity -> Conn. mgr. -> Availab. WLAN) if the access point is encrypted. You have to go into Menu -> Tools -> Settings -> Connection -> Access points and define a new one there.

Now, according to this post, the Fonera uses one transmitter and quickly switches between the 2 SSIDs it broadcasts. By turning off the automatic power save in the E61, you can "lock" it to the SSID you want (which is the private one, in my case).

Turn off the power save like this:

Menu -> Tools -> Settings -> Connection -> Wireless LAN

Press Options and choose Advances settings. You'll get a warning, which I duly read and noted. Continue, and choose to disable the Power saving feature.

Note that this will probably drain your battery if you use it for push email etc.

Jim: Google Maps footnote

I was reading one of Ian Rankin's Rebus books the other day, it makes a lot more sense when you have the book in one hand and the Google Maps app (pointed at Edinburgh) on the E61 in the other, hurrah for WiFi!

E61 Gripes