Step 1 - get Cyanogen Mod on the phone
No choice, the following instructions will NOT work on the stock builds running on the Nexus One, unless you root it and install the Cyanogen Mod’s Messaging app (MMS.apk). At that point, might as well put Cyanogen Mod since it’s got a lot of goodies. But hey if you want to keep your current ROM, find the Messaging apk from Cyanogen Mod and install it on your Nexus One, it’ll probably work. No guarantees.
Without the Cyanogen Messaging application, you will only be able to get notifications that you received new emails, but will never be able to download or send emails.
Alternate Step 1 - Use Go SMS Pro
I noticed recently that Go SMS Pro has MMS Settings that allow inputting a custom user agent, so Cyanogenmod’s MMS.apk isn’t as necessary as it once was. Still untested by myself, though.
Step 2 - configure APNs
The first part, after getting your SIM card into the phone and testing to make sure phonecalls work (they will), is to get the phone hooked up to the Softbank 3G network. Note that you will only be able to send/receive emails, not browse the web, using prepaid service.
These APNs worked for me, courtesy of « Around the doubt » blog. I recopy the APNs here:
APN: mailwebservice.softbank.ne.jp
Proxy: leave blank
Port: leave blank
Username:softbank
Password:qceffknarlurqgbl
Server:leave blank
MMSC:http://mms/
MMS Proxy: sbmmsproxy.softbank.ne.jp
MMS Port:8080
MCC:440 MNC:20
APN type:either "mms" or leave blank doesnt make a difference with prepaid
Step 3 - configure the Messaging to send/receive emails
This is the crucial step, and the whole reason Cyanogen’s MMS.apk is needed. You need to change the User Agent string that Messaging sends to the Softbank server, in order to identify as a Softbank phone rather than a Nexus One or any other Android phone. The default MMS.apk doesn’t allow this, and even though all over the web the search results say that ChompSMS and Handcent SMS can change their user agent, it appears that now they share the user agent set in the default Messaging app, so they’re not suited now.
I used the following user agent string, courtesy of « Around the doubt » once again. Go to Messaging -> Settings -> Custom User Agent String (I don’t have my Nexus One handy at the moment so I can’t confirm the exact place where the setting is found)
Vodafone/1.0/V802SE/SEJ002 Browser/VF-Netfront/3.3 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1
(all in one line!!!)
It’s too long to type by hand, so I used Google’s Chrome-to-Phone extension for Chrome (or Firefox) and the accompanying app from the Android Market. I select the user agent string, click the chrome to phone button in my browser, and it gets sent to the clipboard on my Nexus One. Then I can paste it.
And there you go! You can now send/receive emails through your Softbank email address, right on your Nexus One. I had to configure my email address itself using the actual Softbank phone, since I couldn’t use the browser on my Nexus One to configure my options.
