Nokia allowed people to receive 72x14, 1bpp pictures over a series of binary- or hex-encoded SMS messages, and have them show up instead of their carrier name on the home screen. In the 2000s, magazine ads and webpages would distribute them using premium-SMS.

This service, also featuring ringtones, games etc. has been revived, free of charge, by MtF hacker @Manawyrm@chaos.social of the Chaos Computer Club. You can go to Blåmba.de and download all kinds of content into your retro phone.

The service has been discussed in detail at her 38C3 talk: media.ccc.de / YouTube mirror

I also made 10 logos mostly related to Blåhaj, these are already in the Blåmba logo repository.

I welcome feedback and suggestions for future logos!

  • 3dmvr@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    5 days ago

    I miss jailbreaking to grab a custom loader, now I see the apple logo for 2 seconds max so it eouldnt be worth it

    • ChaoticNeutralCzech@lemmy.mlOP
      0·
      5 days ago

      These are more like wallpapers (although most phones that support them also support actual wallpapers and often also “screensavers”). The boot logo can be customized on some models by flashing a modified ROM using weird cables and programs that don’t work on modern Windows.

  • miss phant@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    0·
    5 days ago

    I love these and immediately went to dig out an old Nokia to try them but I can’t really seem to figure out how. Sending an SMS to register immediately responds with “die Kurzwahl ist nicht vergeben” (number not assigned).

    • ChaoticNeutralCzech@lemmy.mlOP
      0·
      5 days ago

      It’s not very clear on the website but Blåmba normally only runs on CCC event networks. However, if you privately chat with Manawyrm she can fire up her modem and send you the SMS manually. Make sure to know which operator (by MCC/MNC) the logo should be assigned to, you can’t store ones for other networks.

  • kora@sh.itjust.works
    0·
    5 days ago

    What a nostalgia trip. I love it. I owned and used 3310 for several years back in early 2000s.

    How did you end up drawing all of these? Do they serve a purpose or was it just an artistic pursuit?

    OP has already provided details in the post description.

    • ChaoticNeutralCzech@lemmy.mlOP
      0·
      5 days ago

      The 3310 and other 84x48 LCD models are special in that they use a non-square pixel aspect ratio, approx. 7:8. Logos in green were designed for such phones and will look vertically squished on color screens, and vice-versa.

  • NONE@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    These are amazing! I specially love the dithering effect you did in the RedHat logo!

    • ChaoticNeutralCzech@lemmy.mlOP
      0·
      5 days ago

      Flood-filling with a pattern is very easy on a technical level, even Nokia 3410’s picture message editor can do that automatically. You lose half the resolution by area (pixels are basically √2 bigger on each side and in a 45° grid) to get a shade of grey. The hard part is knowing when such a sacrifice is worth it and when not (not often for a height of 14) and to guess or A/B test which phase of the pattern preserves most detail. Sometimes you want more complex dithering or even combined with an outline like the glossy FreeBSD logo.