Yay! :D (hacked phone needed, for a summary in how to do it, scroll to the bottom of the post :P)

After a lot (a lot!) of trial and error, I finally figured out a way to get a Games folder with the proper icon on the 5800′s menu. It was a battle of googling, extracting then compressing files, messing with .svgs that do not open in computers and more.

It all started with Flahorn’s latest theme. Flahorn, being the awesome guy he is, created an icon set that follows the Ovi icons styling for use on S60v3 themes, and it included the Games icon. I installed it to see how it would look on my 5800, and editing the skin_id (I visited this before, wow that post is outdated!) for a folder that I created to a s60v3′s games folder id, the icon appeared.

But I didn’t want to use a theme to see the pretty icon, and if OPDA’s menueditor could change the icon, there should be a way! Using SisXplorer from Symbian Toys, I got to the .mif file inside the theme, and the packed .svgs. Of course the svgs are compressed (or maybe that’s just how SVG tiny works), so trying to view them in my computer didn’t work. I unpacked and sent all the 1000+ svgs to my phone, and it could open them!

I found the Games icon .svg there (try transfering it to your phone if you want to view it), but I can’t link appshelldata.xml to a .svg, only to .mifs. Found a Forum Nokia page explaining how to pack a .svg to a .mif.

But that wasn’t the end of it, to properly point the menu app to the right icon, you have to know the icon_id to fill in the appshelldata.xml. I tried lots of values, but no one worked. Finally, after a couple different searches, I learned that the first svg always has the icon_id set to 16384 (random value much?) in a Forum Nokia thread.

With that, I had my icon packed in a .mif, and all the values I needed. So my appshelldata.xml looked like this:

<appshell:folder positioned=”1″ title_name=”Games” long_name=”Games” short_name=”Games” applicationgroup_name=”games” icon_file=”C:\System\Games.mif” icon_id=”16384″ mask_id=”16385″ icon_skin_major_id=”101F86E3″ icon_skin_minor_id=”1977″/>

I threw the .mif in C:/System, and set the skin_ids to the games folder value so that they’ll change with themes. Uploaded the appshelldata, and it worked!

So, in conclusion, get this .mif, transfer it to somewhere safe on your phone, and edit your appshelldata.xml (found in C:\Private\101F4CD2\Content\). Copy and paste the block quote above to .xml, right after a “</appshell:folder>”, just changing the path to the .mif, reboot (or kill the Menu app) and presto! There’s your folder!

Yay another 400~ post about folders~

From CJ’s E75 review, comes screenshots of the second S60 phone in the market with Ovi icons, and guess what? It does have a GPS folder that’s not an application and has the Maps app inside of it!

It doesn’t have the Positioning Settings icon, however, but I’m sure doing an app that’s simply a shortcut to the appropriate pane in the Settings app would be a doddle (pheer my brit. informal skills). So pleeeeease Nokia! :P

This morning Nokia Conversations released a new theme for older S60 phones that want the new Ovi icons look. Being the icon nut I am, I downloaded to see if there was any new icons that would come in a future firmware update for the 5800. In a quick look I found those 6 new icons (excuse me if I missed any). I like the “new” Music folder icon, as I wasn’t too keen on the reflection effect of the Album cover like one, it seemed a little forced.

It also fixes a couple 3d-ish Nseries icons, and the Video Centre icon (which I knew didn’t look right in the first place). Although I did not get the new Share Online icon, weird because it did appear on my N95. I’d also change the dict icon, as ABC doesn’t represent translation that well, maybe a stylized globe?

Shame the Music Folder and Games and GPS folder on my N95 wasn’t changed, I really don’t like that Nokia is moving away from folders, but then again, I never like the default menu order.

And at last, I’ll leave a shout out for the 6600, as its theme app let you use the icons of one theme with the graphics of another, a feature that was cut and never came back sadly. Best mention of this feature I could find: A thread on AAS about how to replicate it on later S60v2 phones.

Update: Just notice the ringtones included in the theme are the same one I found here. :P

So with a less than official v5 Sports Tracker out, I finally gave in and made a GPS folder. As we still don’t have a MenuEditor for V5, or a suitable .mif file with cool icons, it looks like the standard new folder icon. (example.)

But I noticed that the “Location” application, simply links to other applications. You can notice the “link” because of the screen flash you see, that doesn’t happen when switching views inside an app. It links to the known Landmarks and GPS data apps, and the positioning pane in the settings app (let’s ignore that the positioning settings’ icon is the same as landmarks’, it’ll probably get changed for a “map with wrench” icon soon enough).

So, what’s the use of making it an app? A folder with those icons would be much nicer, as it would give people like me an opportunity to customize it, and it wouldn’t be any different for people that don’t mess with the original menu layout (therefore, saying this is anti-clutter is not an answer)

If it was a folder, it would give me a nice link, and stop me from having two levels of GPS-related apps.

I think the reason behind it is political, people often complained about S60′s menu having too many icons and being too cluttered (fools!). S60 just clumped stuff together in apps, as if they left it in folders the licensees could (and would) mess with them. (*cough* Nokia and Samsung *cough*)

I say this approach kinda worked on the communication apps (bluetooth, usb, etc) as those had redundant panes on the Settings app. I still think they should have gone the other way around, dumping every communication related app from the settings app and having a separate “Comm. Settings” app, but, oh well.

But it wasn’t well realized on the GPS-related apps, as there is still a redundant Positioning Settings pane in the settings app (Settings>Phone>App. Sett. > Positioning). Plus the two level thing if you wanna have everything related in the same folder (like me).

Changing this would be incredibly easy (literally just adding a folder + icon and editing those apps so they show in the main menu), but it’s the kind of thing I don’t expect to see changed in a while. Maybe once the first Symbian Foundation powered UIs come along, but I bet Nokia has bigger things to worry about than menu organization.

btw, lol @ me for writing ~400 words about folders, again.

Just put this .txt (Save as) in C:\private\10202be9\ and reboot. It works!

From Nokioteca, via Daily Mobile

As usual, this one’s for hacked phones only. I thought I had made a post about this earlier but no. Better, since now this post can be updated with phones that come with Share Online on the rom (e.g. v30 N95)

Let’s start with identifying what puts that in the standby. The culprit is a file called SoActiveIdle.dll. It stays at !:/sys/bin/

So if your phone didn’t came with SO3.0, it is mearly a case of hacking your phone, disabling caps, and deleting that file.

But when that file is in the rom (Z:/), it gets trickier. UPDATE: You have to make the OS look for the file in drive C:/, and to do that you have to install a Share Online Upgrade from europe.nokia.com/A4388352 (The one it comes with is 3.0.08(13) and this one is 3.0.08(23). After that you can modify the SoActiveIdle.dll.

You can’t just erase it, as then the OS will load the Z: version, you have to corrupt it. I did this by opening the .dll in notepad, changing a few characters in the file, and then copying it back to C:/sys/bin. Rebooted and the shortcut was gone!

So long story short, you can just install a Share Online upgrade, download my modified dll, throw it on C:/sys/bin, reboot and enjoy the clean active standby!

Thanks Ben for noticing I had missed something :P

UPDATE 2: Or you could just do this. Which removes share online AND search, god bless Symbian-Freak :P (found here)

The internets are buzzing with themes that use this new pack of icons made by Flahorn, ICEman made one, p@sco made one, Flahorn himself made one, but they all require a certain appshelldata.xml (the file that saves your menu order) and menu.mif (the file with the icon graphics). I uploaded them here. Included in this file in is my personal xml, the one you see on the screenshot, because the included one does not change the folders name together with the phone language.

I was posting in mobile-review about my experiences, for now I’ll just copy the post, if I get something conclusive I’ll update it.

“I thought just using Menu Editor I could get them. But alright, I got the .mif and .xml and will try pronto!

edit: yup, I got it!

edit2: aha, it messes with the folders name (no more changing name according to language), I’ll have to edit the xml myself. Like the real name for the music folder isn’t music, it’s &qtn_apps_musicfolder;, and the OS replaces it with a name according to the language.

edit3: yep, I got a modded icon Games folder, that becomes Jeux if I change the phone to french, now I just need to find the real names of the GPS and etc folder

edit4: ok, better post my research/etc here:

<appshell:folder title_name=”&qtn_apps_gamesfolder_title;”
long_name=”&qtn_apps_gamesfolder_list;”
short_name=”&qtn_apps_gamesfolder;”
applicationgroup_name=”games”
icon_file=”C:\resource\apps\Menu.mif”
icon_id=”16388″ mask_id=”16389″
icon_skin_major_id=”101F86E3″
icon_skin_minor_id=”1977″>

is the code for a well named, iconized game folder, not available on the N95.

And if someone who is reading this has a hacked E90, I’d LOVE to get a copy of your appshelldata.xml (found in C:\Private\101F4CD2\Content\) because it might have the real name for the help and GPS folders (the other two I’m searching).

edit5: woo stream of thought post
now my factory themes don’t show the GPS icons, while ICEman’s and P@sco’s do. Guess I’ll have to keep 2 xml files depending on the theme I’m using. Or maybe it’s just because standard themes weren’t expecting the GPS icon? Sometimes I just hope restarting will fix things :P”

edit6: I think the original themes tell the phone explicitly to use the Z:/resources/apps/menu.mif file, that’s why they aren’t showing. And if you remove the “icon_skin_major_id=”101F86E3″ icon_skin_minor_id=”1977″” from the xml, the icons will stop obeying to the theme, and use the C:/resources/apps/ mif. But as as they don’t listen to the theme anymore, they don’t change icons with the themes, leading to the screenshot a couple posts above.

Although I was experimenting with the xml I got together with the mif, sometimes the Games folder would keep it’s icon. Unfortunately I can’t reproduce the situation. Also, it seems that the N95 .mif has the Extras folder icon (the stars one) unused.”
So my solution for now it keep switching between XMLs, using the ones linked to the theme for Flahorn icons, and the ones unlinked to the default themes. And of course, the final solution would be include the complete mif in drive Z, but that won’t happen.

There’s no arrows icon besides the Log name.

This looks like a bad decision in my opinion, since apps that do have that will look unconsistent with the rest of the phone, like Quickoffice

They also seem to be using the icon space for smaller descriptive icons of the current action, like in messages, discerning Text from audio messages

And in IM to show the status.

In my opinion this change is for worse, and there is no technical excuse, since icons are vector graphics.

My only hope is that they took out the icons to remake simple forms of them, like the messages one, but I’m not counting on it.

Edit: Just noticed FP1 already has the IM status indicator little icon!

That doesn’t mean much, but as I never noticed it, I can post about it :P