Find Your N82 MAC Address With This Code

Just a quick heads up. If your router is asking for the MAC address you can find it by typing -

*#62209526#

from your Nokia N82 standby screen.

I've never had to do this but I've recently got a few emails asking for this code. I guess they were having problems connected to WLAN.

ps. I think this is the shortest post I've ever done.

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N82 Freeware: T9 Nav - Search Contacts, Apps, Etc. From Your Standby Screen With T9 Input

Once in awhile one of those applications came along that make you say - "damn, what the hell took so long for this". You know what I mean right? The functions that should already be party of our Nokia N82's but they're not. Thanks to this article from Vaibhav Sharma from The Symbian Blog I recently discovered T9 Nav beta. This application for the N82 and all S60 phones is one of those apps that adds so much convenience with such amazing simplicity.



What does T9 Nav do? Basically it allows you to search Contacts, Bookmarks, Calendar Entries, Applications, & Media Files with T9 input from your N82's standby screen, similar to how Jbak Taskman works except for it uses real T9. As you type each letter you start getting real time results which is quickly narrowed down based on what you've type. Once you see what you want you can simply scroll to that item and decide what to do with it. If it's an app or game you can launch it, same with calendar entries, bookmarks, and media files. If it's a contact that your looking for than you can just hit the green call button for a quick call or hit options to send a message.

I've only had this application installed on my Nokia N82 for a day and have already eliminated the Contacts shortcut on my standby screen. Accessing contacts using T9 Nav is ten times faster.

Keep in mind this application is still in beta and may have bugs. For instance I can't find the Music Player launcher. Also it seems that all text input on my N82 has a slight lag now. It's something I can deal with given the functionality T9 Nav brings. I'm sure all these problems will be worked out in future releases.

For more screenshots of T9 Nav beta for S60 phones click here.

OR

To download the application click here.

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N82 Tips: Specify Message Contacts Faster And Set Your Default Contact Fields

I just discovered how useful this simple little tip is the other day. When I start a new message and I'm selecting who it's going to, instead of clicking in the "To" field and going down the list I can simply type a few letters of the name of the contact within the "To" field and push the center d-pad. If you typed enough letters to filter out only one contact, that contact will be automatically added.

Default Numbers & Fields
There is something you can do to make this process even easier...
For contacts with more than one phone number you can specify which one you want to be the default.

For instance under my girlfriend I have a cell number and work number. When I'm creating a text message of course I'm not going to text her work number. I specify her cell number as default, and now when I create a text to her I just type in part of her name in the "To" field and push the midddle button. Her name is found and put there automatically. If I don't set her cell as the default number the phone will ask me which number I want to send the text to, taking up extra steps and time.

To set numbers as the default for each contact follow these steps:

Go to your contact in the phonebook and bring up his/her information. Push Options and scroll down to Default. Here you can specify all the default fields including texts and emails.

This also makes it easier for calling a Contact from your phonebook. If you rarely call your buddies work number you can make is cell number the default. Now when your going through the Phonebook you can just highlight his name and hit the green Call button and it will patch you through instead of taking more time to select which number your going to call.

Hopefully these tips help you be more productive with your Nokia N82 like they did for me.

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Your N82 And Music - Enhance Your Experience With These Tips

Besides my huge and annoying coffee buzz I have right now (got the shakes and everything) I just remembered that I've been meaning to show you guys a great article about music and the Nokia N82. One of my favorite bloggers Rita El Khoury, who's always keeping me in check ;), from Symbian-Guru is impressed with her new N82 that she won and came up with some great tips to enhance your music experience with your camera-oriented smartphone.

She goes through a few things that I often overlook including quick access to your music and different ways to control your music. Click here to see the article and leave your comments.

Oh and she also wrote up this article about re-configuring the keys on your Nokia N82 using the MagicKeys application. Another great read.

I'm kind of curious to see how many people use their N82's on a daily basis for music. I listen to mp3's just about everyday. I no longer have the need to carry around any ipod.

Stay tuned tomorrow for some new themes and the N82 at the Car Show.

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Be More Efficient By Rearranging Your Menus & Learning Shortcuts

When you first start up your brand new Nokia N82 you might find after a few weeks that the menu setup has some applications and folders that you might find useless. The great thing is that these folders & icons can be rearranged to better suit your needs and help improve your efficiency when navigating through various menus. Towards the bottom of the article you will also find a shortcut that will reduce the number of buttons clicked to reach your menu item.

Below is a screenshot of how I have my menu set up right now. All of my most used applications, tools, or folders that aren't already on my standby screen are displayed in the root menu. Now I don't have to dig around to find anything that I'm always needing.

The folder I have at the bottom called "Dump" contains a bunch of stuff I don't need or use often. Inside that folder is N-Gage, Download!, Video Centre, Nokia Maps, Search, Calculator, Web, and Contacts. Some I don't use and others I already have on my standby screen like I said earlier. This freed up a lot of menu space in the root menu and other menus. Basically our goal is to just get rid of the clutter.

To rearrange your N82 menu just push options then "move" or "move to folder". You can also create a new folder to assign different applications to it. You'll find that it's not possibly to move some folders so you'll just have to make do with what you can. There are also some applications that you can't delete which is why I moved them to the dump. Don't forget that when you see a half circle just above a certain icon that means it's being used and open in the background. You'll notice in my menu I have applications open in the Tools and Applications folder as well as Shozu.

The last tip I'll show you is the shortcuts. When viewing any menu screen there are twelve icons visible. There are twelve buttons on your numerical keypad. Each button corresponds to the menu icons. The 1 button will be the top left icon and the # will be the bottom right, with everything else in between. This gives you one click access to your icons, similar to a touchscreen menu like the iPhone.

If anyone else has any tips for efficiency in navigating a Nokia S60 smartphone I all ears. Let me know if you have any questions.

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A Look At The Active Standby Screen, Whats On Yours?

Seems as though everyone enjoyed the "Here's my applications, what are yours?" post the other day so I decided to take a look at the Active Standby Screen of our Nokia N82 and how we have it customized. I love seeing how everyone else uses their phone, it helps give me ideas. The point of having the active standby screen is to make us more effecient and organized. I'm curious to see what everyone else has going on and I'd also like to show you what mine looks like...

In order from left to right the applications are...

Contacts, Email Inbox, Web Browser, Google Maps, Music Player, & Calcium Calculator.

As you can see I do use my Calendar application even though I am not extremely business oriented. It helps me keep track of bills & due dates, important dates, non important dates, birthdays, to-do's, etc.

I rarely use the Search plugin, mostly for searching emails. I love the Wlan plugin and use it all the time. Maybe if Nokia would add prioritization of Wlan access points I wouldn't find a use for it, but for now it's great. I don't have Share Online 3.0 installed so there are no Ovi or Flickr icons on the bottom. I hate that you can't get rid of those, I find them useless. And of course the Music Player plugin is great, but I really think it needs more. Why not add little pause/play/skip icons next to it? That would be great instead of having to launch the application just to pause the music.

My two shortcut buttons are Clock & New Text Message. I do alot of texting and probably set 2-3 alarms a day so the having these on my standby screen is crucial.

Don't forget you can add bookmarks from the Web Application to your standby screen. I sometimes have a link straight to Google Reader as one of my standby apps. A link to weather, sports scores, myspaces messages page, etc. might come in handy for some.

More Options Are Needed
What we really need is more options. Don't you agree? I think we should have the option to remove anything on the Active Standby Screen and have more plugins. Recent emails or/and text messages, rss feeds, sports scores, alerts for new podcasts we are subscribed to, etc. The possibilities are endless and I'm sure many of you can come up with more ideas.

So how does the standby screen look on your Nokia N82 beauty? Similar to mine? Maybe it's more business oriented, or more for fun. Leave links to screenshots or just list them out. And stay tuned in a few days I'll talk about the re-organization of the N82 menu & folders.

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Browsing Tip: What To Do When There Is No "Login, Ok, or Go" Button

You know when your filling out a field or form on the internet and sometimes you just have to press enter on your PC to go to the next step? They leave out a Go, Login, or Ok button sometimes which can be really annoying. Imagine if Google had no "Search" button beside the search field. Not many websites have this style anymore but I've ran across a few that still do.

On the N82 and all S60 3rd Edition phones you simply push the "0" key 3 times repeatedly and this will act as the "Enter" button like on your computer.

This simple shortcut also acts as the "Enter" button when texting or emailing as well, allowing you to create a new line in the message.

What other tips or shortcuts have you found on your N82?

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How To Silence The Camera Sound On Your N82

For whatever reason you need to turn off the camera's sound here's a small tip that will let you do this. I've found this useful when taking pictures of some text in a book I was reading at the library. You don't want the shutter sound going off in a quiet room do you?

Follow these steps.

Go to Tools > Profiles > Whatever Profile You Want > Personalise > Warning Tones "Off".

Holding down the # button will also put your phone in the Silent Mode profile which already has warning tones disabled.

Simple as that. All warning tones will be disabled including the Nokia sound that happens at startup every time you restart your phone.

Note: Keep in mind this solution will not work on North American N82 models because of some apparent privacy laws in the United States. There is a way around this but it involves changing your phones product code which is a risky procedure. Check out this article at Eric's Corner where he shows you the step by step instructions to changing the Nokia N82's product code.

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Firefox Like Multiple Tab Browsing Plus More On Multitasking With Your N82

It's no doubt that the Nokia N82 is a highly capable multimedia computer that comes with plenty of RAM to get more done at once. Juggling different applications and tasks is a breeze, allowing you to be more productive and efficient with your high powered S60 handset.

I recently wrote an article over at Symbian-Addict.com about the Nokia N95 and it's multitasking power. I showed how much these phones can handle and a situation I had where I was switching between about five applications at once without any problems and also linked to a great article by Devin from The Nokia Guide.  All of that applies to the Nokia N82 as well since it does just a good job at handling all these applications. Click here to head over and read that article, but you might also want to read the article below.

Now this is one of the most useful tips I've seen for S60 smarphones. Mark Guim from The Nokia Blog has posted an article showing you how to browse multiple tabs on your Web Browser. I've tested this method out and it works great, giving you more multitasking power just like the highly recommended desktop browser Mozilla Firefox. He mentions that using the browser shortcut #5 key will show you all open tabs so you can easily switch between your open websites. Click here to head over and learn Mark's multiple tab browsing methon for your Nokia N82.

What other tips can you give for multitasking and productivity with your Nokia N82?

Did you find these tips useful?

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Tips: Shortcuts For Productivity On Your Nokia N82

This post is more for the beginners or people new to S60 phones and the Nokia N82. Heck I've been using S60 for almost a year and just learned some of these shortcuts. Over the past few days I've had a few comments and emails from people asking about simple tips and shortcuts for their phone. I'll list a few below that you may have not known.

• The # key allows you to mark multiple contacts, messages, photos, emails, etc. for mass deleting, retreiving, sending, etc.
  
• correction: Copy and paste words by holding down the # key and dragging across the word(s).
• Hold down the menu button to get a list of all your open applications which you can then swith to.
• Double tap the menu button to minimize the screen your on and quickly get to the standby screen. You can then hold down the menu button and see the application you were working in and go back to that exact screen.
• When your done typing out a message you can push the green call button to send it quickly instead of pushing options, send.
• When your viewing a photo in the gallery push the green call button to quickly send an image.
• Don't forget you can have speed dial contacts with numbers 2-9.
• Holding down the 0 key brings you the internet.
• On some phones holding down the # key buts your phone in the silent profile.
• Press the left softkey then * to lock the phone manually.

Also refer to this old post from a few months ago about shortcuts in the Web Browser on your N82.

Please share more shortcuts if you know of any with the rest of us.

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Best Taskman - The Most Essential Commercial Application On My N82

Keep in mind while reading, this was an article I wrote a few months back over at Symbian Addict. Everything still applies here. Best Taskman is one of the most important applications I have installed on my phone, and since it's a Task Manager, I use it most often. I used almost everytime I pick up my phone. I know, a lot of people swear by the other task manager Handy Taskman, but I think Best Taskman blows it out of the water. Not to mention its half the price. Main reason I like it over Handy Taskman is the Quick Start button and the Hotkey Switcher.

The Hotkey Switcher
There are many reasons why I love this application, and the main one being you can assign a hotkey to act as your Switcher, like "Alt-Tab" on your Windows PC. Thats right, in any application or screen, use just press a hotkey that you assign, and a small window pops up with Icons of all your applications that you are currently running in the background, and it allows you to scroll through and switch to that application immediately.

Using the Switcher Hotkey, I can see all of applications I am currently running while I'm using Google Maps. On my N73, I use the Music (aka Multimedia) button as my hotkey.


The Quick Start Feature
Another awesome feature is the Quick Start Menu. You can go into the main Best Taskman Menu, and add whatever applications you want to the Quick Start menu. These are applications that I want to be able to access quickly at any time on any page.

While checking out out the latest Southern California traffic with Google Maps, I can quickly push the Quick Start Hotkey to launch any of the programs I want, and it will open the program over the original, while keeping the original in the background. I use the Gallery Button on the side of the phone for this hotkey, and if you hold down the button, whatever application you have listed first, will open. So essentially, this key is also my Music hotkey.


Other features include Close All, Memory Status (for the Ram, Phone, & Card), view hidden tasks and applications, auto start, and much more. Holding down the default menu/switcher key will bring up the following screenshots, pretty much similar to Handy Taskman.

A rundown of the currently open applications. If you go to options or press the Clear button on your phone, you can close down each application. You also have the option to Close All, and view detailed application info.


This is where you setup your Quick Start applications.


And where you view the memory status of your phone.


For only $9.95 at SmartphoneWare, I think it's a great deal and a must-have application. You can try it out and if you don't like it, then don't buy it.

Click here to check it out.

If you don't like Best Taskman, or if it's not working right for you, you can check out Handy Taskman by clicking here. (keep in mind it's $10 dollars more).

Have any of you used this application in the past? Feel free to ask any questions or problems you might have with Best Taskman for the N82.

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Dialing A Number With An Extension Or Pin On Your N82

I just discovered today how frickin easy it is to make your phone automatically input the extension or pin number of your contacts. For instance, every time I call my girlfriends work I have to dial 324 once the call connects to get to her extension. It can get annoying, especially if you call these contacts all the time. Some people like having a pin number for their voicemail. With this feature, you can have the phone automatically input the pin number so you don't have to.

Here are the instructions for adding extensions or pins to your contacts:

1. Type the phone number into your S60 device, then insert a 'p' by pressing the '*' key three times. P stands for pause, it will pause the dialing for one second. Need it to pause for three seconds? Simply insert three p's.

2. Next you'll insert the extension or pin ID followed by a hash mark, then insert another 'p'.

3. (if more than one extension) Finally you'll insert the PIN number followed by the hash mark and push SEND.

4. The number you dialed will look like this: +3585012345678p12345#p6789# - It dials the number, pauses for one seconds, inserts the conference ID, pauses again, then inserts the PIN code.

This can even go for numbers of companies you call all the time, like your bank. Multiple extensions are supported! You know, press 1 for English, 1 for account balance, 2 for savings, bla bla bla. Jot it down, and input the digits as pictured above.

Hope you guys & gals find this handy.

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A Few Shortcuts In Your Web Browser For A Better Experience

If you didn't know, there are a few shortcuts when using the N82's built in Web Browser.

Web Browser Shortcuts:
1 - Bookmarks
2 - Search
8 - Page Overview
9 - Go To URL
* - Zoom In
# - Zoom Out

Below is a video made by Nokia to give you a few more tips to enhance your browsing experience on your Nokia N82. This video is using a N95, but the functions are the same.

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Get The New Google Search On Your Standby Screen

I just recently posted about this over at Symbian Addict, and I'd like to share it here for N82 users as well. This new Google Search application for the N82 and S60 handsets brings you quick access to anything Google can find on the web, right on your standby screen.

The application comes with a standby screen shortcut which places itself right above the left and right shortcuts, conveniently out of the way of your calendar entries and other shortcuts that you have displayed. The Google shortcut is only viewable when you first get to the standby screen from another application or when you press the pencil key. Thats the catch. The damn N82 didn't come with a pencil key, as featured on older S60 phones. Solution? You can make the application a shortcut on your standby screen and it works the same way.

Google Search for S60 brings you results nearest to your location if it's something physical your looking for like restaurants, movie times, or a specific business. I've been using Google's movie time service in my browser for a while now because the interface is so clean and convenient. They use Fandango's database so the movie times are always accurate. This new application makes movie times even faster. Just type movie times in the search box and your results show up within seconds, depending on your phones connection speed. While you are typing what you want to search for, Google Search automatically connects to the web so that when you push search, it's already connected. Nice little touch be Google.



Below is an example of me on the road, and I need to know where a Big 5 Sporting Goods store is in the area I'm in. Search "Big 5 near Anaheim" with Google Search and it brings up results of all the Big 5's in the area, along with the phone number. If you click the link of the location you want, the next page you get has a small map with the cross streets of the business. You also have the option of getting directions to that location.

Google Search's implementation of the desktop shortcut makes me wonder why other developers haven't done something similar. I've always wanted a little icon of the weather displayed on the standby screen, or maybe some sports scores of my favorite team. Who knows?

Best of all, this application is FREE!

Download this Google Search for S60 application by pointing your phones browser to the http://www.google.com/mobile/ and click "Search" download.

Oh, and I'm still waiting for a native S60 .sis Gmail application to be released.

What do you think? Do you find Google Search for the N82 handy or useless?

Small Update - I just learned that besides quick movie listings, you can also get quick weather, sports scores, stock quotes, and glossary "define: Existentialism".

Type "la kings score" and it gives you a simplified screen with the current score of the game or previous game. Or for weather type "weather new york". And there you have it. Pretty neat huh? Click here for a demo of Google's mobile search.

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A Few N82 Tips From The EverythingN82.com Forums

I just checked out the forums over at www.everythingn82.com and came across a pretty good post with some cool tips and shortcuts for the Nokia N82.

Here are just a few tips taken from this post at the EverythingN82.com Forums...

*Did you know you can end an active data connection by holding down the Red Button on standby screen?

*Did you know there's a faster way to go back one page in the browser than to use the right soft key? Press 3.

*In gallery if you want to send a file, instead of scrolling through options then send, did you know you can just hit the green button to pop up the send menu?

*Did you know that pressing 5 will open the list of open windows in the browser when 2 or more windows are open?

*Did you know that on S60's in bar form, pressing the left soft key and then * locks the keypad?

Pretty handy right?

Here are a few more tips I'd like to add to this post...

- Holding down the pound key should put the N82 in the "Silent" profile, or silence the phone. This should work on all handsets, but I believe there are a few product codes that don't have this feature.

- When viewing a photo in the Gallery, the 5 key zooms in. You can use the D-pad to scroll around the image, than zoom more by pressing 5 again. The volume keys also do this same function. To zoom back out you push the 0 key. To delete an image quickly, push the "C" button.

- When your done writing your text or email, instead of hitting "options-send", you can just push the green call button.

Do you have any other tips not listed here? Leave a comment to share them.

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