How to install Symbian S60 3rd Edition games and applications

To get the most out of this tutorial, watch the video above and then read the text below.

What are Symbian S60 3rd Edition games and apps? Why would I want to install them on my phone?

If you have an N-Gage-compatible phone, it can do far more than just run N-Gage games. It can also run a kind of software called Symbian S60 3rd Edition, which includes games and serious applications.

S60 games and apps are very special because they are "native" applications, which means they can access the phone's hardware very directly. Because of this direct access, S60 software can do more with the phone and run much more smoothly than Java games or apps.

In fact, if you want to know a secret, N-Gage games themselves are technically S60 3rd Edition games. That means that, in theory, S60 games can look and sound just good as N-Gage games. However, in real life S60 games tend to have much smaller development budgets than N-Gage games so they usually don't look quite as good (there are exceptions though, for example the S60 games Lament Island and K-Rally are just as high quality as N-Gage titles).

S60 3rd Edition software is sometimes called S60v3 or Series 60 3rd Edition. S60 files usually end in ".SIS" or ".SISX".


So how do I install S60 games or apps on my N-Gage-compatible phone?

There are actually two main ways: either directly onto your phone, or via your PC.

The direct method is very simple, just open the phone's web browser and go to a site that contains S60 software for download and click on the relevant link. The installation process will start automatically, just follow the on-screen instructions and select the memory card when it asks where you want to put the game or app.

Another direct method is the "Download!" icon on the main menu, just click on it, select whatever you want and follow the on-csreen instructions. Note that not all of the software in "Download!" is S60, some of it is Java, which will generally look worse and run more slowly than S60 apps and games.

However, not all S60 software is available as a direct download. It's far more common for S60 software to be sold and/or distributed through websites intended for viewing on a PC. A lot of people buy S60 games (or download S60 freeware) onto their computers and then install it on their phones. The easiest way to do this is to install Nokia's free PC Suite software on your computer, and then use that to start the installation process. This is the method described in the video above.

You can get Nokia PC Suite totally free from the following website:

http://www.nokia.com/pcsuite/

As well as letting you install S60 software, the PC Suite also lets you back up the contents of the phone, update the phone's firmware, and all kinds of other interesting stuff.


How to install S60 games and apps using Nokia PC Suite

1. Launch PC Suite on your computer.

2. Click on the Install Applications logo (the three squares and a plus sign).

3. When the Application Installer appears, use the section on the left to choose the directory on your computer where you have the S60 games or apps you want to install.

4. On the right side of the App Installer, click on "Phone Memory" and select the "Memory Card" or "Mass Storage" option. Note that if you've given your phone's memory card an odd name, it will appear instead of "Memory Card".

5. Click on the S60 game or app you want to install on the left, and then click on the arrow button in the middle. A box will appear telling you to continue installation on the phone. Do NOT close this box, just leave it where it is for the moment.

6. On the phone's screen, follow the instructions and select "Memory Card" or "Mass Storage" or whatever the memory card is called. Be patient, the game or app may take a long time to install, especially if it's particularly large (many megabytes for example).

7. When the game or app has been successfully installed, you'll see a message telling you so. You can now go and use it. You'll probably find it in the Applications folder of the main menu, but some games or apps may install themselves elsewhere, perhaps creating their own menu folder for example.

And that's it, that's how you install S60 games or apps from your computer onto your phone. You can now close PC Suite if you want.

If you want to remove a game or app, just go to its icon in the phone's menu system, click on Options and then click on Remove.


Where do I get S60 3rd Edition games?

Our sister site the Unofficial Nokia Gaming Blog has its own S60 3rd Edition shop you can buy games at. Click here to visit it.

If you're just looking for a free game to get you started, click here and download the excellent Snakes from Nokia, which works on all N-Gage-compatible phones. It's the same game which was released on the original gen N-Gage, but it's been updated so it works on modern N-Gage phones with higher resolutions.


Help! When I'm installing the game, a security warning appears saying that it's potentially harmful! What do I do? Is it dangerous?

No, you don't need to worry, it's not dangerous.

This "security warning" appears if you install ANY piece of software which hasn't been pre-approved by Symbian, the makers of the phone's operating system.

All it means is that the game or app hasn't been personally checked by Symbian themselves, but most S60 software isn't checked by Symbian, so most S60 software produces this warning even though the software is safe.

Obviously installing software always carries a small risk, whether it's for a computer or a phone, but this security warning is way over the top. Even if an application did try to do something bad, the Symbian operating system is locked down in such a way that unapproved software cannot access the most important functions of the phone.

In theory all S60 software makers would want to get their game or app approved by Symbian to stop this warning appearing, but in real life this "signing" process is very slow and cumbersome so most software makers don't bother.


Why should I always install onto a memory card? What's wrong with the phone's own memory?

The phone's built-in storage memory is usually very small compared to the storage space on a memory card, so it's best to avoid clogging it up.

Applications and games run just as well from a memory card, and memory cards can provide many times the storage space of a phone's internal memory, so it's sensible to install apps and games to memory cards whenever possible.

Memory cards now are VERY cheap, you can buy a gigabyte of storage for about 10 euros. You don't need to buy Nokia-branded cards, companies like SanDisk and Kingston make perfectly good third party memory cards. Avoid buying memory cards on eBay though, as there are a lot of con-artists on there.


The S60 game or app I've installed asks for an activation code. What do I do?

Some S60 software is sold with an activation code that unlocks the full game or application. You should receive your activation code when you buy the game, but if you didn't, contact the support services at the place you bought the game.


The S60 game or app I've installed says it can't run because the certificate has expired. What do I do?

If you've bought the game, get in touch with whoever sold it and explain what happened.

S60 3rd Edition software often has to go through a process called "signing" before it can work, which means it's submitted to the Symbian company for inspection to make sure it's not a virus or anything damaging like that. If it passes this inspection, it gets a certificate to say it's been "Symbian Signed". Unfortunately some of the earliest certificates issued by Symbian were ridiculously short, so some S60 3rd Edition software ought to work but automatically prevents itself working because the certificate has run out.

One rather awkward way round this is to set your phone's calendar further and further back until the game or app starts working again.

Certificates issued more recently avoid this problem as they have expiry dates far further in the future.


What about S60 1st and 2nd Edition?

Nokia's older smartphones ran older versions of S60, with the original version called 1st Edition and the next one 2nd Edition. The original N-Gage and the N-Gage QD ran S60 1st Edition, and the original gen N-Gage games were technically S60 1st Edition games.

Software written for these older phones does NOT run on modern N-Gage-compatible phones, because the S60 3rd Edition software platform is not backwards compatible.


What is Symbian? Do all Symbian games run on S60?

Symbian is the operating system used by all S60-compatible phones. It's not exclusive to S60 though, some other types of phone called UIQ also use the Symbian operating system.

S60 is very different to UIQ, and the two standards are incompatible. You cannot use Symbian UIQ software on your N-Gage-compatible phone, only Symbian S60 3rd Edition.

Contrary to popular belief, Symbian is not a part of Nokia, it's actually jointly owned by a number of phone manufacturers including Samsung and Sony Ericsson. Nokia is the largest shareholder in Symbian, but they do not control Symbian.