BBC TV on your Nokia smartphone

Take your first steps with iPlayer on the Nokia N96, from streaming TV to storing programmes for later watching.

Operating System: Symbian s60
Difficulty: Beginner

The BBC’s iPlayer has revolutionised the world of TV, it seems, with the traditional TV schedules seeming even less rigid than before. And you can join the iPlayer revolution if you have a Nokia N96, streaming TV programmes while you’re at home or watching them on the move, catching up with your favourite series during the day, at break time and while commuting.

Step 1 iPlayer setup
The chances are your N96 came with iPlayer pre-installed, but if not, or if you get prompted to upgrade it, head for www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer on your smartphone and you’ll be asked to download the latest version (1.5 at the time of writing). It’s a Web runtime widget (Fig 1) and installs in the same way that a native application would.

Grabbing iPlayer The .wgz file is a Web runtime widget, using the power of S60 Web for its own purpose

Step 2 Wi-fi needed
Once started up, iPlayer will ask which connection to use. You’ll need wi-fi for all practical purposes, because only a couple of UK networks allow TV streaming,
on account of the video files being so enormous. A simple one-hour documentary will be approximately 100MB. Now you know why Nokia specified 16GB mass memory inside the N96!

Step 3 Radio and Search
iPlayer’s interface is fairly self-explanatory, but it’s worth noting that a) you can also grab radio programmes, and b) there’s a search system built in, should the programme you’re looking for not appear in the ‘Most popular’ or ‘Highlights’ lists.

Step 4 Time limitations
In theory, programmes are only available in the iPlayer system for two weeks or so, but in practice some are left for much longer – just don’t rely on this. It’s better to grab programmes using the ‘Download’ system while you can. Even downloads (DRM-encrypted 3GP files) are themselves time-limited, but at least you’ve then got an extra week or three, depending on when you grab them and also on the programme concerned.

Step 5 Look for the Download version
As you might expect, simply clicking on the Play command on each programme will start it streaming using RealPlayer, but move out of wi-fi coverage and you’ll be brought to a complete stop. If you’ve got the time to wait for a few minutes before starting to watch, it’s best to scroll down a programme’s page and see if a ‘Download’ version is available (Fig 5) – they usually are, and make for much more flexible watching.

Download! Most (but not all) programmes in iPlayer have ‘Download’ versions

Step 6 Batching downloads overnight?
If you’re stocking up on watching material, note that you can start multiple downloads – these are handled by Web itself (Fig 6) – and leave them going overnight, for example, ready for your commute the next day.

Multiple downloads Within reason (three or four maximum), you can set off multiple iPlayer downloads

FAQ

Why can’t I run BBC iPlayer on other S60 phones?
The N96 is unique in two ways. Firstly, RealPlayer is tweaked to automatically pick up the wi-fi connection from the iPlayer widget – this can be set manually on other devices but it’s fiddly. Secondly, the all- important ‘Download’ system uses DRM (Digital Rights Management) that so far only the N96 supports.

Tip

Don’t leave Web open
After downloading programmes, Web will be left open in RAM. This is normal but you might want to switch to it and close it anyway

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