So you've just downloaded and installed a nice theme, with good looking icons in the main menu. You apply the theme and all is fine - except, to your dismay, that the main menu icons are not the same as the screenshots that accompanied the theme.

It so happens that if you turn on "icon animation" in your S60 device, it automatically changes the icons of the main menu and subsequent menus back to the default ones - as those are the only ones that are equipped to animate on your phone.

So, if you want to get the nice looking icons from your theme rather than the default Nokia ones, simply head to the main menu, select Options >> Icon Animation >> and turn it to "Off". And enjoy.

Note: S60 theme above is "Entangle", created by Inanov from S60Theme.

Remember a while ago when I reviewed emTube? Well, I'm pretty sure right after Youtube saw the software, they were so impressed that they decided to come up with their own, fully supported Youtube Mobile Beta.

Although it's only released for Nokia N73, E65, N95, 6120c and 6110n (as well as the Sony Ericsson K800 and W880), I managed to use a little hack via Firefox to obtain the Java application - which is available here. Simply install it, and you're good to go with Youtube Mobile on your N82.

Apart from a much more familiar looking interface to Youtube (and the mobile site, m.youtube.com) you can now basically search, upload, flag, and even access your own account using this nifty app. Despite being programmed in Java, which is synonymous to 'lag' and 'slow', it does offer quite a decent performance, allowing for Cover Flow like scrolling if a search for a video is done.


Similar to emTube, it accesses the normal Youtube site rather than the WAP version, which means virtually the entire catalog of Youtube videos are readily available via this mobile application.

Uploading is extremely well integrated with the smart phone - you can preview the videos before you upload, and with HSDPA/WiFi you can pretty much expect uploading to be done rather quickly. With everything seemingly well connected, from searching to uploading, I won't be surprised if many users switch from emTube to Youtube's official application.

With the N95 in mind, rotation of the app is also supported, so you can view cover-flow like effects whilst searching as well when you turn your phone horizontally. Videos are zoomed out to full screen mode when it starts playing, and there is also the ability to fast forward or to rewind, perhaps even bettering the features on emTube.

Even though it's still in Beta, it's definitely one of my favourite apps on the N82. And future beta releases (or maybe even the final release) are promising the added feature of rating and commenting from your smart phone, so I'm pretty sure this software should spread like wildfire within the S60 community.

Although it's meant for the N95, there is no reason why it doesn't work on the N82 - the phones are essentially alike, and both are flagship models. Hardware-wise, they're more or less the same; so click here to download Youtube Mobile Beta!

Note: if you use other Nokia S60 phones, you should still be able to download this application, providing you have the same screen resolution (320 x 240), run the same Java version as the N95, and have a valid GPRS/EDGE/3G connection.

Update: Make sure the access point setting is set to your WiFi access point in the Realplayer app if you want to use WiFi to watch video via YouTube; otherwise you'll get "Could not connect to server" errors.

There's a brilliant guide from the N82 Forums on changing the font of your Nokia N82, so for all the adventurous enthusiasts out there, this is definitely worth a look. It's quite a safe method without needing to tamper with system files of anything, so there isn't any chances of voiding your warranty with something like this.

Note that this only works for the Nokia N82's which are sold WITHOUT East Asian Font support. This is because for the N82's with Asian firmware, a different font is used so Asian languages can be supported by the phone. If you own one with Asian firmware (that is, one that can read East-Asian languages), then await my guide (which I shall be posting up shortly) on changing the font for your N82.

And please, don't use that hideous font in the picture. It totally ruins what the N82 should be.

PyNetMony is a free network and phone monitoring tool allowing the user to obtain virtually everything you're curious about on your phone and on your network. Apart from logging network data (which network tower you're nearest to, network ID, area code, etc), it also shows you how many WLAN and Bluetooth spots are active in proximity to your phone, as well as giving an exact fix on your GPS location.

Definitely one for the curious. You get to know everything that's within range of your Bluetooth and WLAN chips; who knows if there are other apps out there to 'take advantage' of the data?

And it's great for showing off. So why not get it now?

I've compiled some answers to questions some N82 users have asked regarding charging on the phone:

• Can I charge the phone via the given USB sync cable?
  Nope. Sorry for being so blunt. The N82 hardware simply does not support it, and even if the wire carries charge, the N82 would not be able to take advantage of it because it simply can't.
  
  
• But I really need to charge the N82 over a USB connection!
  Okay, okay. There is a solution, but it involves buying this accessory from Nokia. What Nokia should have done is to create a 2-in-1 wire (2 heads, one microUSB, the other a charge pin), thereby allowing for synchronising and charging.
  
  
• What about travelling to America/Europe/Asia?
  Get the correct information about your destination's voltage. The Nokia charger supports voltages from 100V to 240V, so you will not need a transformer to charge your phone, only a travel adapter. Just remember, when you're charging your phone with 110V, it takes twice as long (if you're used to having 240V), and vice versa.
  
  
• Any other solutions for charging?
  Yes. Well, you can always purchase a spare battery for those "just-in-case" scenarios, as well as taking a look at these 2 different Nokia travel chargers. The Nokia Extra Power DC-8 uses AA batteries to charge your phone, which makes it really handy for those long backpacking trips; while the Nokia Power Pack DC-1 stores extra juice by charging it first with the Nokia charger, then releasing it to your phone when you plug it in.

I hope this helps anyone with questions related to charging. And as usual, if you still have questions, feel free to contact me or post it in the help section!

Recently I've been having streaming issues on my N82. For example, if I want to listen to BBC World Service or Virgin Radio, I click on the link to start the streaming which brings up a popup window with the link "Back" on it. Then it just stops; Realplayer doesn't start the stream, and it's been pi**ing me off for half a week. It only affects users streaming on GPRS/EDGE/3G/HSDPA; if WiFi is used to stream then everything works as it should.

I finally figured out that the problem was with my settings in the S60 browser, and after tweaking one of the settings the streaming problem on my S60 device was fixed.

Furthermore, in case others experience the same problem as I do, I created the following guide. If you're having streaming issues on their N82, you might want to check the following details:

1. Have you set your Internet settings correctly?
   Under Tools >> Settings >> Utilities >> Sett. Wizard, you can reset your 3G data access points to the operator default ones.
   
   
2. Is something wrong with your Realplayer settings?
   Check out the Realplayer settings and under the Streaming menu, make sure you've set a default access point. I know for some operators they tend to use a proxy server for streaming videos, but most don't. Try switching and experimenting to see if this is the issue.
   
   
3. If it still doesn't solve your problem, check your S60 browser. Under "Settings >> Page", make sure automatic reload is turned "On". This is because the popup window is just a redirection page to the actual stream, and if your auto. reload is turned "off", it won't bring you to the stream at all.

I hope this actually helps other users. I looked all over online to no avail; it was after countless hours of experimentation before I actually found out how to solve this issue.

As you may recall from my previous blog post a few days ago, N-Gage First Access (Public Beta) has been released exclusively for the Nokia N81. Well I don't like things released exclusively for one model - in particular, considering that the N82 is the flagship product along with the N95, and has even more functions than the N81, shouldn't us users get a chance to participate in this public beta?

I managed to find a method to install this new public beta on this Chinese forum - it's working fine for me, so I'm happy to share it with you guys.

First off, download this archive file. It contains the N-Gage application that you're going to need to run your games. Install Pips. sis (if it hasn't been installed yet) and NGageInstaller.sis. You should numerous prompts for multiple components needing installation when you install NGageInstaller. Just keep clicking next until it installs. And it doesn't really matter where you install it, it still runs either from the Phone memory or your Memory stick.

After your installation, you should notice that the N-Gage application is missing from your main menu. It's now located in the "Applications" Folder under the main menu. The logo should be coloured blue now instead of the orange you've seen for the past months. Beats me why they've changed the colour...

Now the easy part. You've gotten N-Gage installed; the only thing missing is the games. Download this second package which includes the first 3 games offered from the Nokia website (since the app is in beta, all the games are only trial versions). All you need to do now is to connect your N82 in USB Mass Storage Device status (or take the memory stick out and connect it via the card reader) and drag all the downloaded games (which are conveniently in the n-gage file format) in to X:\n-gage.

Now disconnect the cable, boot up N-Gage, wait for it to lag a bit before the app starts, and you're there. The last step is to install the game in to your system - notice that all the game titles are slightly transparent. Scroll to the game you want to start and click on the middle button; it prompts the user for installation. Once that is done, click again on the game title and start gaming away!

Source: Sogi! Forums