Recap of the latest news

Symbian Related

The Nokia E90 Bug list – I got it and I like it – despite the bugs

No VPN for Symbian – Why ?

Installing Exchange Certificates on S60 – Tutorial on S60 VPN

Nokia N95 - RIP – dead and gone – never Nokia N95 again

HTC & WM6 Related

Sneak Peak at HTC Shift – Mini Review HTC Shift

HTC Shift to Launch at Gitex In Dubai – The Launch is confirmed

HTC Athena / Advantage X7500 Windows Mobile 6 Review – the WM6 Mobile ROM review

12 New Phones from i-Mate – i-Mate launch at Gitex

Being HTC Touched – HTC Touch Review

Skype Related

Skype in Dubai – Skype is again working in Dubai without tricks

VPN for Symbian – astounding figures!

I know there is a need for S60v3 and Symbian VPN. I just did at statistics run on my search engine referrals.

35% of you come here to find out about some kind of VPN solution for Symbian devices – and we are not talking small figures.

Now which supplier will come out with a solution to give the users Symbian Based VPN?

Nokia WAKE UP!

anthavpn WAKE UP! Get Movian VPN out in a E90 supported Configuration!

Stop sleeping there is a gigantic need for VPN for Symbian Devices!

Nokia S60 VPN gone missing

Guys – how hard can it be to put VPN on a Symbian Phone

I do really love my new Nokia E90. Great screens – easy to use. My Roadsync is up and running with my exchange private certificates (see previous article). But the biggest missing object from my phone is ability to use VPN.

I'm constantly on non-encrypted Access Points everywhere. I don't check anything with passwords, unless I can get through a VPN connection on my computer.

But checking the built in Nokia E90 Communications tutorial – it states:

"For VPN usage..." (go through tutorial..) Contact your systems administrator." - Nokia – are you taking the piss?

But Nokia forgot to inform the world's system administrators on how to provide VPN access to a Nokia Phone. Hacks exists on the Internet on how to use "older" E series Nokia Phones Mobility VPN package, and install it on the E90. But that requires mechanical software skills most people do not have. You have to do a LOT of work to get your VPN up and running, including getting special security certification to "encrypt" the settings you send to the phone. And Nokia has strategically removed the "download" options around the world for the "old" VPN software, leaving even hard ball techy guys in need of VPN with only one solution – find a "pirate" copy.

MovianVPN used to be a solution. But Certicom does not offer that anymore. You can still buy the Movian VPN for S60 from anthavpn but despite 3 attempts to contact them about E90 compatibility I have so far to succeed. Not a single answer so we must assume they have gone bust or are to busy selling anthavpn solution for Microsoft Mobiles. And that is despite Microsoft Mobiles got VPN built in out of the box.

So dear dear Nokia, please wake up and make a good VPN client available for the S60v3 series of phones. I would not mind to pay – as long as it can connect to standard VPN boxes out there like Cisco or my Microsoft Server based VPN – or even OpenVPN. I just need something so I know my browsing is secure and no one can sniff my passwords – and when I am in "Protected" areas, where VoIP is blocked by network operators –that I can tunnel home and establish my phone connection anyway.

My only alternative is changing to the HTC Kaiser (TyTN II) when it comes out and once again be able to surf and call with piece of mind – which pretty much have the same specs as the E90. So Dear Reader – write your Nokia representative J and complain! I did!

Kaz911

Installing Exchange Certificates on S60 - Update to my N95 Review

I just got a Nokia E90 for testing, and decided to get certificates to work with Roadsync, so push-mail with Microsoft Exchange works without constant confirmation. Nokia wants signed certificates or downloaded x.509 certificates it seems. So not as simple as on Windows Mobile where you just “click” on the file to install it.

The problem is only present when you have a certificate for Microsoft Exchange you have generated yourself – which our exchange server have. So Nokia has among its many documents hidden instructions on how to generate the certificate. But in the document there is a small shortcut and I’ll publish it here :-)

Basically the easy way is to add a mime type to your web server, rename the generated certificate file from .cer to .der – place it on the web server – and then download it via the phone browser.

I did that – and in less than 5 minutes my certificate was installed – and now Roadsync works like a charm with no bugging messages about server security all the time. Perfect. Roadsync should put this on its FAQ list for sure.

If anyone of you need it – and trust me – you can send me a certificate and then I'll put it on the webserver for you to download via your phone – if you do not have access to a web server yourself.

Instructions from Nokia:

Installing a self-signed certificate to an S60 device

This chapter describes how to install a non-CA self-signed certificate to an S60 device. This is an alternative solution to the one described in Chapter 2, “Steps.”

To install a self-signed certificate, you can do the following:

1. Export the certificate in DER format (without private key).

2. If the certificate file extension is .cer, change it to .der.

3. Copy the certificate file to your Web server.

4. Set the MIME type for the directory where the certificate is to application/x-x509-ca-cert.

* In some servers, this can be done from properties of the Web directory -> HTTP Headers -> MIME Types… and adding the mentioned MIME type for the .der file.

* When using Apache server, edit the mime.types file.

5. Use the Web browser in the S60 device to browse for the certificate.

6. Save the certificate (as described in Section 2.7, “Install the CA certificate to an S60 device,” from step 3 onwards).

Thanks Nokia for the information :-)