Blocking incoming calls and messages on a mobile phone
In our example, we want to configure a Nokia 5800 mobile phone to be able to
- block incoming calls from hidden numbers,
- block incoming calls and messages from numbers, that are not listed in the address book, and
- block incoming calls and messages from specific numbers.
When such incoming call is made, the caller should be automatically rejected by a busy tone.
The Nokia 5800 mobile phone has the Symbian operating system and the S60 user interface. Symbian is very close to being released as open source software and users can already download, install and run open source software on it.
An example of an open source application for Symbian is the well known PuTTy client for secure shell (SSH) access on Linux og Unix servers. Another example is the well known DOS emulator DOSBox.
This is done by installing an application, that will start automatically at phone operating system boot time, do the incoming call analysis and do the automatic rejection (blocking).
A search on Google leads to a blog about Nokia 5800, that has a review of an application, called Black List, that seems to meet our requirements. Black List is not open source software, but, we hope, that it or other similar application will be released as open source soon. We register and download the software, which is delivered in the Symbian Installation Source (SIS) format, transfer it to the mobile phone and install it.
Black List is now presented by a neat icon in the application menu. It asks for an update via internet, which we accept. The available prices are listed. We will choose the one day trial. The menu is now shown. In “On/Off” we confirm, that the application is activated. In Contacts, we add a test person from the phone book. In Settings, we activate autoboot, activate calls from hidden numbers, activates calls from unknown and deactivates the “Hide from tasklist”.
We are now ready to test Black List.
The blocked test person from the phone book will now make a call. The call is rejected by a busy tone. There are no delay nor sounds, that indicate any application blocking software. The blocked test person will now send a message by SMS and a picture by MMS. These are blocked and are not available from the main screen nor the inbox.
The call from a hidden mumber and the call from an unknown number is also tested and are rejected by a busy tone as well.
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