Games for the Sciphone i68

Games for the Sciphone i68.
There are plenty of java games for download on the net but most of them don't work.
The reasons could be that internal phone memory is not enough or lack of touchscreen support.

After testing many jar files we could find the ones that did work on this phone.

There are 25 and this is the list:

GAME	Keyboard
Age of empires 2	Touchscreen
AstroPop	JAM Keyboard
Backgammon	Touchscreen
Checkers	Touchscreen
Devil May Cry	JAM Keyboard
Eragon	Touchscreen
Flexis Extreme	Touchscreen
Frogger Evolutions	Virtual Keyboard onscreen
Hitman Blood Money	Virtual Keyboard onscreen
Ice Age 2	JAM Keyboard
Kojak Detective Puzzle	Touchscreen
Magnetic Joe	Touchscreen
Maya Temples of Secrets	JAM Keyboard
Medieval Combat	Touchscreen
MobiChess	Touchscreen
Othello Deluxe	Touchscreen
Pang	Touchscreen
Paris Hilton DQ ML	Touchscreen
Platinum Sudoku	Touchscreen
S Club Manager	JAM Keyboard
Sherlock Holmes	JAM Keyboard
Sims 2 Castaway	JAM Keyboard
SkyForce	JAM Keyboard
Solytare	Touchscreen
TomCatDogFight	Virtual Keyboard onscreen

These games have three different modes to handle the movement on the screen (menus and gameplay) as noted on the table.

Touchscreen: It means we can move the stylus or finger as a mouse selecting objects with a tap.

JAM Keyboard: JAM is a program to migrate games to be able of use touchscreens (this doesn't work on most of them though). The arrows are made with gestures on the screen like a movement from left to right to make the "6" or what would be a right arrow.
A tap on the screen as a "5" or a click to select.
In the next image we can see the way to accomplish the arrows and selections.



Virtual Keyboard onscreen: Like the image noted before but we don't need to make a move. We just need to tap the region according to the number needed.
If you want to go to the right you just need to tap the region with the "6" (as in a virtual phone keyboard).


Download games for the Sciphone i68+


When we get more games we will upgrade the list.

Gmail in the Sciphone i68+

Having a phone like this, with a big screen and an internet connection, one of the first things that came to my mind is how to check emails.

And in this days the account will probably be a gmail one, when almost everyone has one or more of these.

To be able to enter Gmail on the i68+ we can navigate through gmail.com on the Opera-mini browser (see previous post) or we can use a Java app called Gmail-g206

The application uses https so be warned that if your carrier blocks all ports except the 80 you won't be able to access Gmail through this app.
If that is the case the only way will be using Opera-Mini.

Download Gmail-g206

Solution to Speed Dial on the Sciphone i68+

Something as simple as speed dial on a cellphone doesn't work on the Sciphone i68+
This is the bigger problem i had with this phone but i found a fix for it.

Even when you turn on the option and assign the numbers (all options on the menu) it wont work.

At the end the phone use automatically the numbers stored on the SIM card in the ordered they were saved (the first 9).

That means that in order to get it work the way we want, we should store them in the card one by one.

In my case, i had all the contacts stored in the memory card so the only thing i had to do was copy the ones i need to the SIM card in the proper order.

To do this:

Go to the icon "Phone" (down left), then to "quick search" and search for the contact wanted.

Select it and go to "copy" and then "Copy from phone to SIM1"
Same thing for the other contacts.

Now to use the speed dial just go to de "Dial" menu and press the number followed by #
The contact should appear and now press the little green phone in the lower center and select the SIM to call from.

Opera Mini on the Sciphone i68+

One of the best apps we can add to our phone is the Opera Mini.

This portable web browser has many advantages compared to the one included with the phone and one of the best features is this. It optimize the web pages making them smaller and faster to load and it even can be used to load complex pages through WAP or use ports blocked by our provider.

They are two versions at the moment, the 3.1 and 4.2
Even many people says the 3.1 is better we should try them both and decide for ourselves.

I left both links to download and try


Opera mini 3.1

Opera mini 4.2

For instructions to install Java apps see the previous post.

Many people had problems connecting with opera mini. It just get network error.

To fix it try changing from HTTP to WAP...

These are the steps:

Service - WAP - Settings - Edit Profile - SIM1 - OK - Edit Profile

and in the "Connection Type" change from HTTP to WAP
Check the IP address and make sure "Security" its ON

Besides you need to go to Service - Data account - GPRS - Edit
and change "Auth. type" to "Secure"

With this settings Opera Mini 3 worked well in my phone and i even could check gmail from gmail.com

How to install JAVA apps in Sciphone cellphones

One of the best things these phones have is the JAVA support, which gives us the power to add programs and games to the few it includes.

You should remember though that not every game and app out there will work on this phone. Many of them won't load and others will but you wont be able to move it inside because of lack of keyboard support with our Touchscreen.

In this post we will explain how to install the apps to test them if they work. In another post we will put a list of apps and games that work for this phone and the links to download them.

We should start with a .JAR file. I give you a sample with a game to try.

Othello_Deluxe_3D.jar

Connect the sciphone to the USB port of your computer and copy the file to the JAVA folder.
Once done, unplug the cable and in the phone menu go to "Documents", then "Memory Card" and go to the JAVA folder.

Here they are some chinese games you can install and it should be the file we just copied.
Let's click on it and select "Install"

A cup appears and the installation begins. In the middle it asks us if we are sure to install it and we answer YES.
Then let us decide where to install. We should select the memory card.

The installation continues and in the end we can decide if we want to launch the app.

We should test it to see if it works and if we like it. If not we can always go to the JAVA menu, then Java again and in the list of installed apps, just select the one we don't want and then select "Delete".
By doing this we uninstalled the app but the file is still on the memory card. To completely erase it we should go to the Java folder and delete it too.

Caller ID in the Sciphone Cellphones

Just like in the previous models, these phones have the caller id annoyance.
When you receive a call or SMS, doesn't recognize the caller name in one of those two cases.

This is a problem with the local code. To fix it we should save every contact that can call us and send us a SMS with two phones in the same entry.
Meaning that on the cellphone field we enter the number as we dial it and in the house number we enter the same number but with the local code before (like +34). To be sure of the code we can always tell the other person to call us and send us a SMS to see how we receive the number.

The FM Radio on the Sciphone i68+

One of the new features in this phone is the new FM Radio.

With a simple interface and design it allows us to enjoy the FM we like wherever we are.

To access it we should go to "Multimedia" and select "FM Radio".

When opened it reminds us to connect the earphones because it doesn't work without them. This is because it uses them as antenna and won't turn on if not connected.

If we want to listen the radio through the speakers we should go to "options" - "Settings" and change to on the "Loud speaker".

The "Bakground Play" option allows us to listen the FM even when returning to the main menu or in another application.

In the main screen of the FM we can use the buttons to move ourselves over the frequency in amounts of 0.1 or we can use the "search" to jump from stations with a good signal.

In the options we have a Channel List to add the radio stations we like

Ebooks in the Sciphone i68+

Electronics books are still one of the main uses i give to the phone and there isn't one day i pass without read at least a chapter of a novel on it.

In the i68+ model things are pretty much the same as in the P168.
The supported format is TXT and the only visible change is the background of the fullscreen in the ebook reader. It now has a clear blue sky instead of the old white.
Looks weird at first but it gets comfortable to read when you get used to it.
I also think the fonts are better in this model.

All the rest is the same as in the previous cellphones.
If you have ebooks in PDF format you can allways select all the text, copy it and past it in a notepad. Then you can save it as TXT and transfer it to the ebook folder in the phone.

It is possible to read a PDF directly in the phone but for that you need to install a Java app dedicated to that purpose. We will explain how in another post.

Sciphone i68+ features

Today we start this blog about Sciphone Cellphones like i68, i68+, i69 etc.

Let's begin with the Sciphone i68+ features

Size: 111 mm x 60 mm x 11 mm
Double Sim, two cards active at the same time
Built-in gravity inducer supports auto horizontal, video and picture
Touchscreen) 3.2" ,262K colors, 240*320
Internet: WAP, GPRS
SMS, MMS, Voice Mail
JAVA - Allow loading games and apps
Internal memory : Micro SD 1GB (included). Supports up to 4GB.
Bluetooth: 2.0 High speed data transfer.
Audio format supported: MP3, MIDI, WAV, VMA.
Video format supported: 3GP/MP4
Weight: 100g
USB charger and car adapter included
Camera: 640x480, 320x240 (works as a webcam too)
Multilanguage menu
GSM GPRS 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
Data transfer type: USB / Bluetooth
Vibracall
Games, Calendar, Alarm, Calculator, 64 tones
USB cable for PC connection and battery charge
Includes 2 batteries
Standby Time: 200 - 420 horas
Talk Time: 200 - 380 minutos


These were the features

From all the chinese phones this is the most similar in looks to the Iphone. It doesn't have all the features of that one but is a much improved phone compared to previous models.
It now have JAVA support, dual sim dual standby and FM radio.

The Operating System is also newer and easy to navigate with more menu options.

Overall it's a good phone and a much better experience than my previous P168. I still miss the lack of 3G, GPS and a good camera but we are still talking about a very cheap device with good features like touchscreen, dual sim dual standby, FM, Bluetooth, built-in gravity inducer, shake to change songs and images feature, Java support and all for little more than a hundred bucks.

You can ask for more but it sounds a little exigent