Tutorial: How to find, install and change Symbian S60 3rd Edition themes

(To get the most out of this article, please watch the video above and then read the text below. If you have any comments or questions, please click on the comments link at the end.)

Themes are packages of graphics which give a phone's interface a new look. They can redesign the background, the icons, the clock, and other built-in apps such as the music player.

S60 3rd Edition themes come as .SIS files, just like S60 applications and games. Themes are installed just like S60 apps and games too.

It's often easiest to find, download, unzip and store themes on your computer, but you can also download themes directly onto your phone using the S60 web browser by just clicking on a theme's download link. However, this tutorial will concentrate on the slightly more complicated computer-based methods.


Finding S60 3rd Edition themes

There are many many sites out there which have themes for download, but perhaps the best one from an S60 3rd Edition perspective is Mobile 9:

http://gallery.mobile9.com/c/series-60-3rd-ed-themes/1/

Another good site belongs to one of the world's best S60 theme designers, Babi:

http://www.babinokia.com/

If you're going to download a lot of themes, it's well worth putting them all in a dedicated folder to avoid confusion.

Once you've downloaded a theme, you have to install it on your phone before you can use it.


How to install S60 3rd Edition themes

1. Using Microsoft Windows:

This method requires Nokia PC Suite to be installed. You can download the PC Suite for free from the following link:

http://europe.nokia.com/A4144905

After you've installed PC Suite, do the following:

- Attach your phone to your PC using the USB cable.

- Select "PC Suite Mode" on your phone's screen.

- On your PC, right click on the theme file that you want to install, and select "Install With Nokia Application Installer". You may have to do this twice to get it working if the main PC Suite application isn't currently active.

- Follow the on-screen instructions, which will tell you how to continue the installation on your phone. Ignore any warning messages on the phone, these appear automatically when you install practically any third party software or themes. (The warnings are basically just telling you that Nokia and Symbian have no responsibility for any problems caused by third party stuff.)

- The installation process will ask you if you want to install themes on the phone's internal memory or on the phone's memory card. Either works fine, though of course themes installed on the card will not work if you remove the card.

When you've done all of the above, the theme should now be installed on your phone.

2. Using a computer with any operating system (Windows, Linux, Macintosh etc):

Alternatively, you can move the theme's SIS file onto the phone's memory card and install it manually using the phone's own file manager. To do this, do the following:

- Attach your phone to your computer with the USB cable.

- Select "Mass Transfer Mode" on your phone's screen.

- The phone's memory card should appear on your computer as an external drive, perhaps with the name F: or G: or some other designation. If you've given your memory card a name, this should appear next to its drive designation.

- Open the folder for your phone's memory card.

- Copy the theme's SIS file into the memory card's folder.

- When the copying has finished, deactivate the USB cable connection. The method for doing this varies from one computer to another, but it's usually called something like "Remove Device Safely". The point of this action is to prevent damage to the memory card, which can happen if the card is disconnected while it is transferring data. In Windows this option should be accessible by right-clicking on a small device icon in the bottom right corner (this icon only appears when you have a device connected by USB).

- On your phone, go to the File Manager application (it may be in the Tools or Settings sections).

- Press the direction pad right to select the memory card, scroll down to the name of the theme file you want to install, and then click on it with the direction pad button.

- As with the previous method, ignore any warning messages that appear, just say OK to all the questions you are asked.

The theme should now be installed on your phone.


How to change themes on an S60 3rd Edition phone

To activate a particular theme, click on your phone's Themes icon (which may be in the Tools or Settings sections), scroll down to the name of the theme you want to activate and click on it with the direction pad button. Select "Apply" to activate the theme, or "Preview" to test it.

Most themes work in both horizontal and vertical mode, and you can switch freely between them.