We're not saying you should hack your phone, but we know some of you will try it anyway. Here are the details.
Working on a hot tip from a reader, we've discovered a means of jailbreaking Nokia handsets – like the N95 – which are restricted by operators in the range of applications they offer.
The most notorious example of this practice has been the removal of the 'Internet Telephony' app on Wi-fi enabled Nokia handsets. That's meant that VoIP software – such as Truphone, won't work. Well they will now.
The tip directed us to a British site called B-phreaks which offers a handy Nokia utility tool called the Nemisis Software Suite. One of the facilities which this app offers is the ability to pick a different product code and install that into the handset.
This tiny change effectively jailbreaks the handset, enabling its owner to go onto the Nokia web site and download the very latest version of the Nokia firmware. In our case, the N95 jumped from version 13 to version 21.
The tool for installing the new firmware is the 'Nokia Software Updater' which is freely available on the Nokia web site.
To our great delight when the new software was installed, the Internet Telephony app made a magic appearance and Truphone's software started working fine.
Here's a crazy thing, though. When a handset's firmware is updated, naturally it loses any personal data stored on the phone. Such as all of your contacts and telephone numbers. To prevent this from happening, it's possible to store all user data on the handset's memory card and then restore it again.
Bizarre side-effects mean that if you do this restore, the Internet telephony app disappears again. So just copy all the telephone book entries to the memory card and then copy them back to 'Contacts' again.
Incidentally, this whole procedure isn't for the feint hearted and it is entirely possible to corrupt the handset's firmware completely. Especially if you let the battery go flat during the 15 minute installation process. So be warned. Carrying out this modification almost certainly will invalidate the handset's warranty.
Curiously, the hack was originally outlined as a means of installing Nokia's Music Edition software on old N73 handsets which didn't possess it.