E71 Screensaver: Blank & Big Clock, Now Playing, Or Animation

Posted by Mike Macias


One of the small flaws of the E71 and other S60 phones is the settings arrangements. People new to S60 always have a hard time trying to figure out what does what and where to find certiain tasks.

For instance the screensaver of the Nokia E71. I hate how it's so buried deep down in the phone and hard to find. I'll show you how at the end of the article.

There are a few different settings you can have when your phone goes into screensaver mode.

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First up is my favorite - None. This is a blank screen and a hell of a battery saver. If you need to know the time and status of your phone just hold down the center d-pad button and it will show up for a few seconds, just like the picture above. I don't know why all S60 phone's don't have this option, especially battery drainers like the Nokia N82.

Next is Now Playing screensaver. Not sure why they called it that but this is pretty much the generic screensaver that comes with all Nokia S60 phones, but a little prettier. It's a little hard to see and kind of pointless in my opinion. I'm sure it drains more battery than the "none" setting. See the image below (it's kinda hard to get a picture of it)...

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And lastly is the animation screensaver. This is all for looks. If you know your going to be near a power source then why not. Right? The gradients move around in nice colors, check out the image below and imagine more colors...

Photobucket

To change your screensaver go into
Menu > Tools > Themes > Power Saver.

Enjoy!

What screensaver do you prefer?
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42 comments:

  1. I am using e71 from singapore, even when I set the power saver to off I still get a time band similar to the now playing. I can't find the setting to disable this anywhere
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  2. did you go to the settings I showed you and select "none"?

    Menu > Tools > Settings > Personalisation > Themes > Power Saver > None.
    ReplyDelete
  3. Damn! o.O
    I LOVE the 'hold down d-pad' trick!!!
    ReplyDelete
  4. I would like to mention that, at least on the E71-1 RM-346 (Philippines) it's:

    Menu > Tools > Settings > _General_ > Personalization > Themes > Power Saver > None

    You may have missed "General". Of course, why not just go the shorter route?

    Menu > Tools > Themes > Power Saver > None

    =)
    ReplyDelete
  5. hey thanks follerec, just fixed the article!
    ReplyDelete
  6. Second time I find myself screaming "Tragedy", Mike.

    First, The "Now Playing" screensaver shows the title of the song you're playing in the Music Player, if you're playing anything. If not, it shows the date & time.

    Second, the big clock when u press the middle d-pad is available in all screensaver modes and not just blank, or so I remember from my trial E66.
    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey thanks Rita, I hadn't noticed it shows the music titles. I usually keep my phone in the "None" screensaver. That makes sense now.

    This leads me to a question Rita. Why would Nokia put the "now playing" screensaver on a phone that isn't meant to be media centric. I'm glad it's there but I'm wondering why it's not on Nseries phones that are more geared for music. You know what I mean?
    ReplyDelete
  8. 1st poster again, From what I understand now if you turn off the "breathing" notification light in your profile, you will be given the default power saver no matter what.

    Even if you have none selected and there is no way to disable this that I can tell! Very odd. (I'm using a e71 apac version from singapore)
    ReplyDelete
  9. Going a bit off-topic. Has anyone figured out how to keep the keypad light from staying always on? Regardles of what the Light Sensor is telling it to do? I have been looking for a hack to do this, no luck. Why? you may ask. I am in the Middle East and my keypad is dual language with the English printed in blue. Hence not visible without backlighting.

    -Keith
    ReplyDelete
  10. Guys,

    Do check this application out:
    http://home.pacific.net.sg/~welic/cClock.html

    it is a beefed-up application in comparison th the clock screensaver on our phones.plus, it doesn't require pressing the d-pad button to view! just an alternative.

    Thanks to Symbian-Freak.com for the info.
    ReplyDelete
  11. Mike,
    I do agree with you concerning the fact that this isn't a music-centric handset. I first found the Now Playing screensaver on the N81 8gb, and I liked it, I hope that with its introduction to the E66/E71 line, Nokia hints that this screensaver will be on all S60 handsets later, since I find it very convenient to have.

    Keith,
    I hear you. I only handled the middle eastern version of the E71, and the blue lighting for the latin keys vs while lighting for the arabic keys was awful. When I get my E71, I am planning on replacing the keypad with an all-english one.
    ReplyDelete
  12. @ Rita. Thanks for the info. You never let down.

    @ Kulam. That is indeed a great application but haven't installed it on my E71 since it has a big clock that I like. Does it work fine on your e71? Maybe you can take a picture for me if you can.
    ReplyDelete
  13. LeoB

    I have my screensaver set to "None." But when I press the D pad, it just opens up the active home screen. I would LOVE to have a big clock screen pop up, and been trying to find an application to do that.

    I'm using the E71 NAM.
    ReplyDelete
  14. you could always hold your finger over the light sensor (left of the speaker) to force the backlight back on...
    ReplyDelete
  15. 2 LeoB:
    The central key on D-Pad brings the big clock only when the keypad is locked or the whole device it locked.

    When keypad is not locked, any key basically just wakes up the phone.
    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Keith, I just block teh light sensor and type with the other hand... but it's only an aletrntive solution.
    ReplyDelete
  17. I've pressed the d-pad on my E71 but it does NOT produce the Big Clock. SW version 100.07.76.
    ReplyDelete
  18. ...either with locked or unlocked keypad.
    ReplyDelete
  19. ...ok, it doesn't actually show
    *immediately* rather after some elapsed time the d-pad can be pressed and then it shows. Case closed.
    ReplyDelete
  20. Hey there, I have a E71 Spanish keyboard and my wife has the US version on hers the button press does bring up the clock on my it does not. Might be a different sftware on the phones. Also mine is hacked and hers is pretty much standard
    ReplyDelete
  21. I have a E71-2 (RM-357) with new firmware (110.07.127). After the firmware upgrade I have 3 optiones under "Power Saver": None, Now Playing, Animation. When I set to "None" it display the usual nokia clock. Before the upgrade when I set to None, it was a blank screen. I would like to have the blank screen again, Do you know how? Regards from Argentina, GermanG
    ReplyDelete
  22. thanks for the tip, the big clock is helpfull.
    ReplyDelete
  23. To Germang: Go to Profiles - Option - Personalize - Breathing Light (ON) and only then the clock will disappear.
    ReplyDelete
  24. hey there Mike!
    just a quick question, do you know how to select an image as a screen saver? i just got the Nokia E71 yesterday and i can't figure out how to! when i go to my photos, and click Use Image, the options i get are "as Wallpaper" and "as contact picture". how do i use it as my screen saver?
    ReplyDelete
  25. I have noticed that Nokia also incorporated the regular S60 series screen save like in the older models such as e61 or N95 where you get the blue horizontal bar with time and date and information about sms, missed calls and current profile. I noticed it to appear for a quick second and then it would go away or get replaced by the clock screen saver. It seems to me that it is overwritten by some other screen saver app, but it does exist in the core of OS. However, I am sort of an experienced user with few years of S60 experience but I still can not find a setting to activate it in the menu.
    Just an observation, not like it bothers me. Overall I like the clock screen saver.
    ReplyDelete
  26. Hey i have recently bought E 71. Though its a classy phone but at the same time little tough to understand. I m not able to activate my keypad lights & its creating hell lot of problem for me. please help......
    ReplyDelete
  27. anyone knows how to select "high quality" on .swf screensavers like in the photo browser??
    ReplyDelete
  28. Fantastic trick with the d-pad clock. Thanks!
    ReplyDelete
  29. how to use image powersaver ??
    ReplyDelete
  30. An spit! It don't work on the E71x. ATT again I sure.
    I think I understand when people say to get the unlocked version.
    ReplyDelete
  31. Hi, I've just got the E71, I have the background theme set as E71 3 Theme. I like the black colour, however I was to change the digital clock to white, is this possible?
    ReplyDelete
  32. Hi!
    I use E71 with SmartSettins. When I swich off standard keylock I cannot get trick with big clock with any powersavers. Do anybody now how swich off standard keylocking and save possibility swich on big clock with D-PAD?
    ReplyDelete
  33. Recent firmware update has taken away the screensaver bar that would roll up and down the screen???
    ReplyDelete
  34. I have selected the NONE power saver but everytime the clock shows, the time is not being updated unless I press the d-pad to show the big clock... Is it really normal?
    ReplyDelete
  35. To anonymous above re the power saving clock not updating itself, I have the exact same problem too, can anyone help?
    ReplyDelete
  36. Hi all,
    Is there way to keep that big clock on all the time in screensaver mode, instead of having to puch the navi pad all the time?
    Is this possible?
    ReplyDelete
  37. Hi,

    actually the "none" option is not a real screensaver. If you look closer, the screen is black, there's a white line with time on. The lcd units are energized to get the black color, and also if they are still in use, how can this so called screensaver save them? There should be an option of completely empty screen like the turned off status.

    Kivanc
    ReplyDelete
  38. I have happily had the first two conditions occurring on my E71 since I got it about 18 months ago, and just love the ability to hit the scroll button and see the time even when the keypad is locked. Somehow over the last few days I must have changed the settings accidently when I put the phone in my pocket, with the keypad unlocked. And try as I may I cannot get it to reset either the "none" condition or the "now playing". there must be another setting required???? Can anyone shed some light on this???? JH
    ReplyDelete
  39. I should say that I had both "none" and "now playing" operating at the same time. ie now playing when the phone was idle and none when I pressed the scroll key. Also, I tried the settings already suggeted to no avail. There must be another condition required in the settings???? Feeling very frustrated. JH again!
    ReplyDelete
  40. Would you believe it! RE-booting the phone did the trick! JH
    ReplyDelete
  41. Hi there!
    How to disable the energy save mode in the E71?
    Thanks,
    Paulo
    ReplyDelete

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