They've done it again: a group of mobile phone freaks have analysed Nokia's Series 60 firmware and found references to wireless LAN functionality. Further analysis revealed code that allows for re-tuning the bluetooth chipset to enable WLAN mode. Technical background: wireless LAN and bluetooth both operate in the 2.4 GHz spectrum, so they share the same core technology. Although the range will not match that of dedicated WLAN cards, it should be good enough for sitting in a cafe and browse web pages with Opera, far faster than it ever could be with GPRS. First tests have shown transfer rates up to 2.4 MBit/s.

There have been no comments by Nokia yet as to how they intended to use the technology in the first place.

The patch will work with the following list of Nokia phones only (you can check the firmware version by typing "*#0000#"):

• Nokia 3650 (NHL-8) v 4.13
• Nokia 3660 (NHL-8) v 4.57
• Nokia 6600 NHL-10 V 3.44.1
• Nokia N-Gage (NEM-4) v 4.03

As a service to our readers, we will supply a download for the patch courtesy of Mobitopia and AllAboutSymbian. Please point your WAP browser to http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/symbianwifi.php and follow the instructions. Please make sure to select the correct phone model and verify the firmware version. We will not take any liability for this.

Posted by Frank Koehntopp