As all of you know (the 3 of you who read these posts) I own a Sony Ericsson P1i which is a powerful little smart phone.  With a ARM processor clocked at 208MHz and 128MB of RAM it is capable of doing loads at once.  The phone runs a variant of Symbian called UIQ (Nokias use the S60 3rd version) which is currently at its final version, UIQ3.

Sadly, its the end of UIQ due to the symbian merger but also due to the fact SE and Motorolla no longer have interest in continuing its development.  Its a shame to see an operating system with huge potential to be ditched.  Looks like we will have to rely on all the modders to supply new stuff because we definitely wont be getting updates and bug fixes from SE.

UIQ3, compared to its previous version UIQ2  have security features implemented which blocks access to all of the system folders and more annoyingly requires applications to be signed before they can be installed.

Well lucky for us, there is a large active community who provide various hacks and mods to over come these “security” features and allows you to install whatever you please.  Over the next few weeks i will be showing you in a step by step guide on how to mod your symbian phone to run apps which make it a more capable phone.  Bear in mind my guides are based on the fact that im using a P1i, though most of these mods should work for other UIQ phones such as M600, W960 but dont take my word for it.  Also you are doing these mods AT YOUR OWN RISK.  If you brick your phone i am not responsible but there are ways to unbrick your phone.

Before i begin, i would like to thank swmail for the work he has done.  Without his work, modding would be far harder to do.  So please consider donating so that he may continue providing excellent hacks and ports.

Before we start, make sure you  have backed up all your files just incase: texts, notes, contacts, multimedia, calender, porn, and whatever else you might have on your phone.  I would recommend that you invest in a reasonable sized memory card for storing files.  Firstly head over to swmail’s website (click here).  Now on that page are many mods, i will show you how to install many of those over the coming weeks but if youre inpatient by all means do it yourself!  There is a mod called CapSwitch, download that.  Now this mod has to be the best one out there.  It disables those annoying security features present in UIQ3.  Once downloaded transfer the .sis file (these are symbian installers) and transfer it onto the memory card.  Locate the file and run it.  It will come up with an install dialogue. Press install.  It will then ask for the language, English is default.  Press continue until it asks where you want the program to be installed. Select Phone Memory.  Select continue and it should start installing.

Once that is done.  It will ask if you want to run the program.  Check the tick box and press continue.

This is what you should now see if you gone through the steps properly (left screenshot, click on any pics to enlarge them (ehehe enlarge)):

When it says “Capabilities are switched ON” it means the UIQ3 security features are enabled.  Now to switch the security off simply press “Switch” it should now say “Capabilities are swtiched OFF”.  Please note that when you reboot your phone, capabilities are automatically switched back on.  Now lets have some fun actually delay that order theres is one more thing to do first.  On swmail’s site is another download called “SIS installer mod for Symbian 9.2″ (the 9.1 version is for phones running UIQ2).  This mod allows users to install unsiged symbian applications which is very handy.  Download the file and save installserver.exe (strangly its an exe) onto your memory card.  Now is the trickpart of getting the file into the right place.  The file needs to be in: c:\sys\bin\ on your phone.  In order to get it there you will need a file explorer (the default one cannot go into the C:\ directory).  The program i use is called Swiss Manager, but there is a free alternative called X-Plore.  Before you do any moving make sure CapSwitch is at the OFF position.

1. Switch CapSwitch to poistion OFF
2. Launch Swiss Manager Pro
3. On the tabs at the top, press File
4. Locate the MemoryStick Drive
5. Locate the installserver.exe file
6. Press Copy (highlighted in red on the second screenshot)
7. Navigate to C:\sys\bin
8. Press Paste (highlighted in red on the third screenshot

Thats it! Just reboot your phone and you are now able to install any program you want, regardless whether it is signed or unsigned and you also have access to all the system folders.    When TR becomes live (which is probably never at the rate we’re going at…) , i will be showing you how to install files ported from the G900i so stay tuned(please)!

- Cooper

Man Windows Live Writer sucks ass