-
Website
http://www.symbian-guru.com/ -
Original page
http://www.symbian-guru.com/welcome/2008/05/nokia-talks-n95-3-firmware-update-coming-in-june.html -
Subscribe
All Comments -
Community
-
-
Top Commenters
-
Popular Threads
You can't tell me 8 second camera load times is something that should be acceptable.
I don't have first hand experience, but I assume the firmware was nontheless ok compared to the original N95-1 firmware.
mixrdrivr,
I'll give you a tip: by the variation that has sold millions upon millions, not the one that has sold probably a couple to a few hundred thousand units. And voila, you can enjoy frequent updates. Even better if you live in a country where people by high end phones on a business as usual basis. :)
But: What about Nokia's horrendous FIRMWARE UPDATE PROCESS? It's PC-only, clunky and confusing as hell, and risky -- it bricked my brand-new N95-3 last month.
With this forthcoming update, lots of N95-3 users will be running that ugly firmware update process. It would be nice if Nokia could tell us whether -- and when -- they'll work on making that less of an ordeal (and Mac-friendly, too). After all, their main US competitor (Apple) doesn't force those kinds of obstacles upon its customers.
Also, it would be nice if Nokia could start shipping newly purchased phones with up-to-date software. Right now, as far as I've been able to determine, all N95-3s are shipping with firmware that isn't even the latest version *currently* available.
I've asked Nokia about these issues in my comment to their blog today. We'll see what they have to say.
On the bright side, at least Nokia is updating its N95-3 firmware. And at least they're publicly talking with consumers about their myriad US service problems.
If you have concerns about Nokia's US service, I suggest you chime in on the comments to service-related posts on Nokia's blog. I just posted a roundup of that conversation so far (blog post, video).
- Amy Gahran
1) It was difficult getting the updating software installed on a Win XP laptop. I don't know why, but it took 3 tries for that to happen in my case.
2) It was difficult getting the update software to "see" my N95 once it was connected to the laptop running the update software
3) It took over an hour to complete the update process, with no visual indication of how far in the process the update was. I was concerned that perhaps the process had frozen, it seemed like a *very* long time. But eventually the update process finished.
4) After the update process finished, I didn't receive a message that it was OK to disconnect my phone from the laptop, so I was nervous doing that.
...And after all that, the update bricked my phone.
I don't know how representative that experience is, but I'm not the only person who's been baffled , frustrated, and worried during this process.
YMMV, of course.
- Amy Gahran
Regardless of update or no update, is there word of when Vista is to be supported again by the Software Update program?
I'd make a video, but obviously I don't really have a way to do that, lol. Honestly, you might want to uninstall it and start over if you're not getting that experience. Something must've gone funky with your install.
Yes, It's possible that something went unusually wrong with my firmware update process. But the thing is, I followed Nokia's instructions *exactly* and I still had that experience. And after it was done, my phone was bricked, so there was no way I could try it again.
I'm not the only N95 user who's experienced difficulty or severe problems with the firmware update process. I'm not the only person who has not found it to be intuitive. I'm also not a PC user -- but I'm also not a techno-newbie by any means. I have updated firmware on many other devices, and it's never been such a hassle as it was for the N95.
So I know for a fact, from my experience, is that for me it was a very time-consuming, clunky, and worrisome process that ultimately ended in failure. And this was using Nokia's firmware updater, on an XP laptop, following Nokia's instructions exactly. I can't speak for other people's experience, except to say that I'm far from the only person who's had this trouble.
I will say I described to the Nokia support rep how the firmware update process went and he did not indicate to me that I'd done anything wrong, or that it was an unusual experience.
After the phone bricked and I spoke to Nokia, I learned it was possible I might not get it back from them before my refund window from Amazon would have closed. That just seemed to foist too much risk onto me, so I gave up -- returned everything. So I couldn't troubleshoot the update process further.
- Amy Gahran
That said, the Nokia rep did ask me to describe how my firmware update process went, and did not indicate that anything about it was unusual. In fact, I got the impression from him that problems with that process are common.
So yes, it's possible that my experience was unusually difficult. But at the time I did not get that impression from Nokia, or from the other N95 users I spoke to after the event. Nearly everyone I spoke to either strongly disliked Nokia's update process, or experienced actual problems with it, or feared and avoided it altogether (and often accepted reduced options/functionality as a result).
Also, Nokia's own reps mentioned that they've heard of bricking problems related to firmware updates, and some of those reps actively discourage users from doing the update except as a last resort. (My friend Beth Kanter recorded a Nokia rep telling her exactly that.)
I'm glad that others here have not experienced Nokia's update process as a problem. But there are others who have been having a very different experience. Something is definitely amiss here -- either in the process itself, or in communication and support about the update process.
- Amy Gahran
- Amy Gahran
When you get these "impressions" from Nokia reps (it would be good if you were a bit more specific about what gave you that impression), why don't you ask them straight on how common these kinds problems are and see what they tell you. Interesting experiment, although I wouldn't expect them to give a straight answer. :)
Amy, I think you have a few good points - Nokia's update process is nowhere near as straightforward as the one for say, the iPhone, but like the other commenters here I haven't personally experienced any problem when upgrading.
In regards to your comments on Mac support, all the software features (Message center, Nokia music center, Sync) work fine using VMware on my Mac. Not the perfect solution, but it works. I haven't tried a firmware update yet but I can't see why it wouldn't work.
I'd agree that newly manufactured phones should ship to vendors with the latest firmware. However, if those vendors sell phones that they have in stock after Nokia issues a firmware update I'm not sure Nokia can be held responsible (unless, of course, Nokia itself was the direct vendor).
v20.2.011
Having lived in three continents (Asia, Europe and North America), my personal view as to the problem with firmware upgrades is that many parties are at fault. Nokia is certainly guilty of not managing / communicating the firmware releases better.
That said, I place most of the blame on the screwed up USA telecoms industry (of which the regulators have a huge blame). It is a dumb system where different operators are on different types of networks / standards and phones from one operator cannot be used in another (this has nothing to do with unlocking). And instead of following the GSM standards set by the rest of the world, US, as per past tradition (e.g. adoption of metric system), insists on going her own way such that even GSM phones designed for European networks work suboptimally here (e.g. different high-speed data access). So, not only is the US internally conflicted, it chooses to be in conflict with the rest of the world (sounds familiar?).
So while I am angry with Nokia sometimes, I can see why they would spend most of their effort on the largest base of users rather than pandering to the warped US market.