I always wondered what usage we can have for a Wi-Fi capability in a mobile phone other than using it for internet connectivity. Wi-Fi is the fastest connectivity method that Nokia 5800 has among Bluetooth and USB connectivity. I am of course talking in terms of the data transfer speed. Nokia 5800 can read and write data to the external memory card at a maximum speed of 6 MB/sec but we hardly utilize this when it comes to transferring data from/to your computer system. This is because the data speed in most of the cases gets limited during cable (PC-SUITE MODE) and Bluetooth connectivity as they have their own limitations with reference to data transfer.

Over a Wi-Fi connection, the data transfers at the speed of 54 Mbps or more which is way too fast than cable and Bluetooth. So the whole idea of discussing this is that if we can have data connectivity with your computer like mass storage over a Wi-Fi. Yes, this is very much possible. To accomplish this, we need to map the phone’s memory card as a share drive in our computer system. Once, it is mapped as a share drive we have the same speed for data transfers as we have when we connect an external hard disk to our computer over USB 2.0 connectivity. You don’t need any internet connectivity to accomplish this. It is just a Wi-Fi router that you need or if you have a Wi-Fi enabled laptop.

So let’s go through the step by step guide

Part 1 - Setting up the web server on Nokia 5800

1. Installing Nokia Mobile Web Server application on Nokia 5800
we will install the Nokia Mobile Web Server provided by Nokia Beta Labs on the device. This application is available free of cost. To download, click here.

2. I assume you have installed the Web Server application successfully. The Web Server application will launch automatically after the installation completes. Click on NEXT.

3. Do not check the “Allow Public Access” option and click on NEXT.

4. Key in a user name and a password. Click on NEXT.

5. Do not check the “Open front page” option and click on FINISH.

6. After FINISH, do not select any option at this moment and click on CANCEL.

7. Select SETTINGS from the Web Server menu options.

8. From the SETTINGS menu options select the “Access Point” option. Select “User Defined”. Select OPTIONS => SELECT ACCESS POINT. Select your Wi-Fi access point. Click on OK.

9. Now , that you have successfully setup your access point, we will now setup the “Connection Type”.

10. Select “Connection Type” from the SETTINGS menu options. Select Local and click on OK.

11. Now we are all done with the settings. Click BACK. Select OPTIONS => START SERVER. Click on HIDE.

Part 2 - Mapping the Nokia 5800 memory card as a Network Drive

1. Please download and install WebDrive. Launch WebDrive.

2. Click on NEW SITE button at the bottom.

3. Type the name of the drive and select the drive letter. The mapped drive will have this name and drive letter. Click NEXT.

4. Select the "Server Type" as WebDAV and click NEXT.

5. Key in the URL for the server. URL format is "<Phone IP Address>/WebDav". Everything is case sensitive. Phone's IP Address is the Nokia 5800's ip address on your Wi-Fi network. Click NEXT.

6. Key in the username and password used while configuring the Nokia Web Server on Nokia 5800. Choose to save the password. Click NEXT.

7. Click on FINISH.

8. Go to My Computer.

Now you can copy, delete, edit any file to/from this drive just as you do with normal windows drives. Any file that you copy here appears in your phone under this location - "E:\Data\Web Server\htdocs\". If you wish to see your existing files on the phone in this mapped drive, you need to move the file/folders to "E:\Data\Web Server\htdocs\". Caution: Remember to move your files back from this location before uninstalling the Nokia Web Server otherwise all the files will get deleted.

Please post your views and comments on this post. In the next post i will detail the steps to map the nokia's  external card as a web folder on your computer which does not require Web Drive to be installed.

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