More in the news today about the source code for a Symbian based virus which spreads over Bluetooth. It's availability is expected to make the virus more common among Smartphone users) Things like this are frustrating because you have to wonder what it is these virus writers are trying to achieve.

When it comes to Windows on your desktop, virus releases usually exploit gaping vulnerabilities in the OS, but when it comes to infecting a Symbian Smartphone, the success of an infection attempt depends entirely on the user; if the OS did any more to stop the virus installing itself, it would render the Smartphone locked down in the same way Microsoft Smartphones are, not letting you install anything that has not been approved by the 'Powers that Be'.

The good news is that at the moment, being safe from a Symbian virus is as easy as not doing anything, and it's what you're not doing that will keep you safe...

Keep your Bluetooth switched off. Windows viruses come over the internet but the current bunch of variations on the cabir virus comes over Blue tooth. You can use software such as Extended Profiles from PsiLoc to turn your Bluetooth on and off according to the time of day, so maybe you can use that to only have Bluetooth active when you're driving, for instance.

If you don't want to keep your Bluetooth off, make sure you can't be discovered. You can do this in the Bluetooth settings by changing 'My Phone's Visibility' to Hidden.

If you want to remain visible, or discoverable, then don't accept messages from strangers. If you're on the train and your phone tells you that there's an incoming connection, reject it every time. Don't go looking for the evil offender who cunningly tried to send it to you, however, since the chances are that they don't know what their phone is doing.

If, though, you want to receive a file from a stranger (some innocent fun can be had by sending and receiving funny pictures to and from strangers in public places - keep it clean ;-), then check the file before opening it. If the name of the file ends with .sis, DELETE IT! The chances of a stranger sending you an innocent application at random are very slim and so if they've sent you an installer (which a .sis file is), it is very likely to be a virus.

If you've accidentally opened the file, just cancel the install when you're warned about it's security. Symbian Smartphones are very careful about security and will hold your hand all the way through an install process for new software - the only thing it won't do is force you to not install it.

So, as you can see, you can make it impossible for your Smartphone to become infected. Here alone, you can see the steps you can take to make a virus' life difficult.

Ultimately, nothing can be installed onto your Smartphone without your permission so, unless you're in the process of installing some software, reject everything that tries to install.

For extra peace of mind, you can install anti-virus software onto your phone (see online shops such as Handango for a number of available applications - but keep away from TSG Phone Safe though), but ultimately, your Smartphone's security is only as strong as the weakest link. Don't let that link be you.

Did you know that you can watch a whole DVD on your Smartphone? Aye, you may have heard of it but maybe you thought that you need one of those dead expensive large capacity memory cards that would cost an arm and a leg and have enough space to store Peter Andre's chatup lines.

Using some easy to use software, you can compact a whole DVD (that is, the movie and its sound) into a file as little as 110Mb with excellent quality sound and video! That means that if you have a 128Mb card, you can watch a movie from it. Of course, that doesn't leave you with much space for other stuff (which, in my opinion, makes the whole 128Mb card claim a little silly), but if you have a 256Mb card (which are really cheap these days, especially if you shop around on the internet (I got mine from Amazon ), you'll have plenty of room to mess about.

Your first task is to get the video off of the DVD and onto your PC (make sure that you own the DVD and don't go copying other people's DVDs because that's naughty ;-) To do this, I use DVDx, which is a free program to take a DVD and make it into an MPEG on your hard drive. This is the process that will take ages (many hours, depending on your PC spec). I generally have this running overnight since it takes so long on my 1.3Gz processor.

Then you convert it to something your Smartphone will understand. The cheapest option is to use the free Nokia Multimedia Converter (it comes with your PC Suite software) which will take your file and convert it into 3GP format. This format is Ok, but the player isn't the best in the world and you don't have any bells and whistles with it (seeking within a file and so on).

If you have a means of converting it to Real Media format, then that is an option since all Symbian Smartphones come with support for Real Media.

Failing that, you can pay some money for software which does the converting and the playing for you (some will even copy the movie off the DVD for you). Applications such as SmartMovie (shown in use in the screenshots), DVDPlayer and DVD Catalyst.

As I said, I use SmartMovie and the quality is quite outstanding. It's good enough to hear and understand a stand-up comedian and also good enough to watch (the screenshots may look low quality, but that's because of the screen-grab software I've used).

So, the possibility is there and the process is really, really easy. The only problem with the whole thing is that it takes so long to get a movie off the DVD onto your phone. But if you're going away for a while, or you could do with some light relief in your lunch-break, then give this a consideration.

Your Symbian Smartphone is capable of doing a helluva lot more than just making phonecalls (though you may want to try and ensure that you have some electricity handy since playing movies on any platform will drain the battery somewhat - having a charger handy doesn't cost much more than a tenner these days anyway).

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Orginal Story from : http://twyn-y-berllan.com/blog/2005/01/smartphone-watching-full-movies-on.html  

As mentioned in my review of Stunt Car Extreme, I wanted to get a really good piece of camcorder software for my Smartphone. The best one I could find was Philips LifeVibes Camcorder PRO which is actually for the Nokia 6600/6620.

Since it's not designed for my phone's hinged-flip pform factor, it has some problems, but I found the quality to be excellent and so went for it. This is what I think is coolish and foolish about the application...

The first thing I've noticed is that it tages ages for the software to start. This isn't the camera initialisation process because that takes place after. No, this is something else. I don't know what it is, but it does take a long time. This means that 'capturing moments' (something at which that Symbian Smartphones excel) is a little harder to do with this software.

The other issue is how to use the software as a camcorder. Usually, the Nokia 6260 is highly intelligent with the built in camera software that can tell when you're in 'tablet mode' or 'camcorder mode', but since this software isn't designed for the Nokia 6260, you're either going to have to use it in 'tablet mode' but sideways, or go through a whole process of using it in a strange quasi-camcorder mode.

The process is this (assuming the software has already been started);

• Before you start recording, swivel the screen according to what you want to records (you or what's in front of you)
  
  
• The built in camera software will start, but without any exit controls so, activate your favourite Task Management software and kill the 'Camera' application
  
  
• Record your stuff!

my preferred use
The problem is that you have to go through this process every time you unswivel/swivel the screen. It's at times like this I wish Nokia had put in a setting to turn off the automatic camera mode.

That, the fact that it hogs the video filetype from 'Gallery' and the long startup period are my only complaints since the rest of the software is amazingly packed with useful features.

For example, you have two levels of digital zoom (I know that there are some reactionary purists who say that optical zoom is the only zoom, but zoom is zoom and this zoom works well), which can be adjusted while recording. Also, you can preset Brightness and Colour/Contrast which is cool because, if you want, you can record movies in Black & White!

The ability to pause recording is always a good thing, not only because it allows you to use just one file leaving out the boring bits of whatever you're recording, but you can have a good laugh with some 'vanishing people' tricks! Cool or what!?

You can also specify a maximum file size for your recording. This is extremely useful since if you're recording a video to send in a Multimedia Message, you can tell the software "I don't want to record more than 70Kb" (my operator is analy retentively limiting video message sizes). But far beyond using it to conform to MMS standards, this facility is useful for ensuring your files will be easy to send in an e-mail. As you can see, the limits you can set ar 50Kb, 75Kb, 100Kb, 150Kb or No Limit. That's what I call thinking about what the software is supposed to be used for! Nicely done.

The built in video album makes it easy to watch videos without having to go out into another application. I don't like the way the software has changed the default file's application to be this Camcorder software, since I prefer to watch using the built in Gallery software or Real Player, but there we go, we can't have it all I guess.

There are plenty of options available for the user, many of which will make you think "Hey! That sounds really useful!". One that made me think that was the ability to Add/Replace Audio on an already prerecorded video. Wow! That's a brilliant idea! That's the kind of functionality you'd expect on a PC multimedia authoring application!

The Settings functions allow you to configure the Player, Recorder (including Sound on/off, format (MPEG-4 or H263), Quality, Framje Rate and Frame Size), File options (including the afore mentioned maximum size and also the location (internal RAM or memory card)) and network.

There is an option to activate the camera (I think) but that doesn't work on my phone and crashes it. That's a shame, but there we go.

One final thing to watch out for is that while I've been able to send videos to other video capable phones, and the videos have played in Nokia Lifeblog, there may be issues with compatibility on some PC media players.

Here are some examples for you to see for yourself what kind of videos you can expect to record and watch;








Costing $25.95, this software isn't cheap, but it is feature packed and if you have a phone for which it was designed (ie, not a flip phone who's camera is on it's side), then it's probably perfect.

As long as there's some way for me to transfer my registration for this software to a new Symbian Series60 Smartphone when I upgrade, I'd say it's a dead cert, but if not, it's a probably-good.

I've already used to to great extent to record my little nephew, Steven, and I can imagine using it elsewhere as well so I'm glad I bought it and I've not yet seen anything like it on a Microsoft Smartphone. So, what does that tell you?