Any Symbian O/S people here? (Nokia 700)

[peterh337]

I have two of these, identically configured. Both have 30-40MB space left on C: despite having only a few apps installed and all possible efforts having been made to install them elsewhere, in the ~1GB bulk memory or (with Nokia Maps) on the 32GB micro-SD card.


The low memory now prevents even Nokia updates installing.
I have been browsing around with both Files (the native browser, rather crippled by Nokia as to what can be browsed) and ActiveFile (a 3rd party browser which can see everything that is permitted, and can see everything on a jailbroken phone which this one is, using the HELOOX hack) and done a lot of googling on how to clean up trash and temp files (low c: space is a huge issue on the later Nokias, evidently, with mobile forums covered in desperate pleas for help but with very few suggestions) but cannot get it any better. On Phone #1 the free space is showing as 33.5MB. #2 is about 40MB.


There are a pile of apps like CheckIn, Guides, Video Editor, etc, which either have no Delete option, or the delete option says Removing Cancelled (in the case of e.g. Orkut, Movie Teasers, etc.

I am suspecting that all is not as it should be and something left behind some temp files.

Is there a "garbage collection" utility (like ccleaner for Windows) which actually works on the 700 (Belle)?

The only apps I have installed myself are

AFtrack
Maps
Drive
ActiveFile
KeepitOn
Joikuspot
LeGPSdata
AdobeReader

and that is all I want.


The stuff I don't want, but cannot delete so I moved the icons to a folder called Crap are

PublicTransport
MsgReader
OviMusic
CheckIn
Zip
Guides
Video editor
Photo editor
Topapps
Movie teasers
Orkut
NFC tutorials
Nat Geo
E!
CNN video
Tops and offers
Dictionary
About
Videos
Weather
Microsoft Apps
Clock

but none of them can be deleted, either from the front menu or from the Installed Apps list under Settings.

I see Nokia Store Installer under Settings / Already Installed as 5MB, which is a lot, but don't I need this app to install software on the phone? Same with Ovi Store, 3MB. SSOUI shows there as 2MB but cannot be removed.


I am a software developer, so not exactly dumb, hopefully http://discussions.i.lithium.com/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-happy.gif But it is very hard to find information on this stuff. It is a subject that is rather, errmmm, several years old :) On the Nokia Community forum nobody is answering...


I suspect that there are some orphaned temp files which can be removed, and also that there is a way to remove a lot of the built-in apps, by simply deleting them.


Being jailbroken, I can browse the directory fully but Nokia have done what Apple do on the IOS: a lot of the directories have obscure numeric names, containing files whose names don't mean anything. So I don't just want to go deleting stuff. And I don't even know where apps (or their icons) are stored on the phone.

[Milo Minderbinder]

presumably its possible to do hard reset on it somehow? that should at least give you a clean sheet to start again with
It was always possible to do that on the old Psions

[peterh337]

One can, but I don't think that is the issue because I have two of these and the second one, hardly used, is not a lot better.

So really I think my temporary file theory is not holding up very well :)

I need to delete some of the unwanted apps.

[green granite]

I presume you've found this:

Help - Eclipse Platform (http://library.developer.nokia.com/index.jsp?topic=/S60_5th_Edition_Cpp_Developers_Library/GUID-35228542-8C95-4849-A73F-2B4F082F0C44/sdk/doc_source/guide/Base-subsystem-guide/f32/FileHandlingOverview.guide.html)

[peterh337]

Gosh that is very interesting :ok:

Bedtime reading for the next 12 months :)

I will ask there - many thanks. Actually I have been to that forum before and got told off because I was a phone user and not a developer :)

[green granite]

Glad to be of service. :)

[Milo Minderbinder]

considering the platform has effectively been abandoned, I'd have thought they'd be pleased if ANYONE posted there now!

[peterh337]

:) :)

How true. But the N700 is still an excellent phone; much smaller and lighter than an Iphone but does the same stuff (for me) while making a lot of things easier (compared to a non jailbroken Iphone). It has a file system, for a start :)

[peterh337]

OK, I have found a solution.

I am going to post it here, because the Nokia forum mods delete anything discussing the Symbian phone directory usage.

Update:

There were a couple of things, neither of which is "right" and I suspect both are bugs in the OS.

One was a temporary file. After a lot of work I found c: \private\1000484b is where Mail messages are stored. Actually, knowing this and doing a google on 1000484b one finds various hacking forums where people have found this already ;)

On #1 phone there was a .tmp file there of about 5MB, so I deleted that. #2 phone doesn't have that file. So this got me 5MB.

Next, I scanned the whole c: \private directory for a .mp4 file. This is possible using ActiveFile, but obviously only on a jailbroken phone. The other way to do such a search is to copy the c: \private tree to the micro-SD card which can then be fully accessed over USB with the winXP Explorer :)

Fairly quickly I found this

c: \private\00001001_S\d\0010077d_F

where there was a 67MB .mp4 file!!

This is after I deleted all media!

Now, the Files app shows free space on c: as 126.7MB.

Possibly, one this may have happened is this: When the phone is shipped, all media goes to c: (which is brain dead) but anybody with a brain will change the camera app to use the micro-sd card (or bulk memory, but not c:). But if you have recorded any media, and *then* you do the change, the media recorded on c: will never be seen again. However, why does the phone store .mp4 media in the c: \private directory in the first place? That is completely wrong. It may have been an emailed (sent by me) attachment which got orphaned.

[peterh337]

Just in case anybody finds this thread in a search...

I have put a lot more time into this and have posted some findings here (http://www.developer.nokia.com/Community/Discussion/showthread.php?237008-How-to-remove-preinstalled-Belle-apps-%28Nokia-700%29&p=900896#post900896).

Basically, you need a hacked (jailbroken) phone to make any impact on this low-c: - space issue. If you haven't then just about all you can do is a factory reset and start from fresh, carefully setting the Ovi Suite preferences to install to E: rather than C: for example.

There are also hacks e.g. here (http://forum.dailymobile.net/index.php?topic=70509.0) which can be used to recover a lot of space. Deleting the unused language support files would recover close to 20MB, but unless you use another hack to make the Resources directory accessible over USB (on a PC) deleting the hundreds of *.rxx files (but not *.r01 etc) is going to take some time using a phone file browser (ActiveFile is the only one that works under Symbian Belle and sees everything on the phone).

Nokia have not by any means given up on Symbian phones. The Pureview phone (808?) is amazing. And they are having no end of problems with Windoze Mobile (as one would expect).

Nokia are going to have to fix this issue because once you get below about 60MB free space on c: you cannot install any more updates :)

And to arrive in that situation, all you need is for somebody to send you a dozen large-attachment emails :) The best hack is the one which causes emails to be placed onto the e: drive.