Nokia

[Johno]

Looks like the 5800 has had another update, which is now available for generic fones via FOTA

Can't find an official list on whats new, but over at Symbian-Freak i did find this rumoured Changelog.

Changes/Improvements/New features v21.0.02 to v30.0.11:

Standby screen:
*When Music Player is operating, and seeing the track name on the screen, and then when one song ends and goes to the next track, the speed at which this happens has improved yet again from 21.002, although the noticeable change is not as much as from 20.149 to 21.002.
Call log, Contacts and calling function:
*Calling speed (from standby screen to Contacts or Call Log) and transition to call/disconnected screens even faster than 21.002, is more than the instantaneous that I stated for the 21.002, it has improved yet again.
*New menu option in the in-call menu to Send MMS during phone call.
*Loudspeaker maximum volume has seemed to decreased
Maps:
*Maps startup is now almost instantaneous, speed through all the Maps menus very fast, even faster than Maps 2.0
*Switching to different views is very smooth and fast now, i.e. to Map 3D etc.
*Maps version 2.0 week 39 remains the same, although the Maps is able to be upgraded to Ovi Maps 3.01 flawlessly
Music Player:
*The biggest change is the equaliser improvements. There is a huge improvement in sound quality, even background sounds and other channels are more noticeable. The default equaliser settings are quite good. And bass is less crunchy than before.
*Split-second delays now do not exist when pressing the volume keys to change between volume levels. In the past, there was some degree of delay, even running multiple applications now, that behaviour has been improved remarkably.
*Freezes in the music player have not been evident to me yet in my days of usage with the new firmware. Which is a marked improvement in the functioning and stability of the music player. Screen tearing and slow speed for album art to appear is still present though.
Camera and Photos:
*Biggest change is the reappearance of use of the volume keys to zoom while taking photos/recording video
*Going into Details is faster than 21.002, almost instantaneous now
*Scrolling speed through thumbnails is only minimally jerky now, also scrolling through photos at 100% view has improved in speed so it is now very smooth and almost instantaneous
*When going into menus in Camera, the speed is instantaneous
Video centre:
*Logo has changed for the video centre in the menu
*Appearance of video menu is different and seems to have inherited the newer N-series/E-series style simplified logos
*Speed in the video centre is much improved and is almost instantaneous
*Changing between volume levels in RealPlayer is instantaneous, fast-forward/rewind speed and resume of playback after these functions is improved and almost instantaneous. Sound quality appears to have been improved also.
Search:
*Application has been upgraded from v4.08 to v4.10.0904
*Logo has changed and is now reminiscent of the newer N-series/E-series simplified styling
*Performance is faster and Yandex search service has been removed in favour of Live Search and Google (Note: this is for the APAC variant, will vary between different regions and specific countries)
Web:
*Rendering of webpages has improved in speed since 21.002
*Rotate Screen option speed is now almost instantaneous
*Speed in Web options menu is now instantaneous
*Loading of Minimap on side when scrolling down pages does not have pixelation anymore
Other:
*Overall system speed has been improved so it is somewhat faster than 21.002
*Scrolling in the Multimedia menu from one tab to another whilst multiple applications are running, has improved marginally in speed
*Overall stability seems to also have been improved, have not had one crash or freeze where I have had to remove the phone battery. The slight freezes that have occurred, the phone has recovered from flawlessly.

Vodafone: Don't be last out of the blocks this time with the release, please.

/wave

[steveng]

Any bets on how long before we see it? I go for 5 weeks.

[dcarmi]

Nearer two months and Vodafone will still break functionality (i.e. Internet Search).

We never did get any feed back as to a possible fix for this, which means either Devices have no clue or more likely couldn't be bothered looking. The Vodafone Devices Team are clearly less capable than those of their competitors.

Basically this is a maintenance release (and welcomed as such). Seems like no new features until a further Firmware update in the pipeline appears probably nearer the end of the year. (2010 for us!). Unfortunately by then the phone will be over a year old and Vodafone will most likely have lost interest in it.

[ColinTaylor]

The supposed changelog is actually for the N78 and was stolen from this post:

http://discussions.europe.nokia.com/discus...thread.id=54690

Changes/Improvements/New features v21.0.02 to v30.0.11:

The original read:

Changes/Improvements/New features I have noticed from v21.002 to v30.011:

There's a clue there, it should be v21.0.025 for the 5800.

[dcarmi]

30.2.11 currently has very limited release, in fact it looks to have been pulled for the time being.

Seems Nokia does this. Release new firmware in selected markets and watch as things break. I guess they get a fair few hacked phones grabbing new firmware and testing it to destruction. It it is a deliberate policy, then I suggest it is a good one.

[ColinTaylor]

Assuming Nokia keep to their standard naming convention V30.2.011 is just the American version of v30.0.011.

Probably not of much interest to us in the UK.

[Jon_V]

Hi guys,

I just need to pop in and give our usual disclaimer - the installation of any firmware unauthorised by Vodafone UK will invalidate your warranty, and is not recommended.

We also can't comment on potential firmware releases, as is our standard policy

Jon

eForum Team

[dcarmi]

Assuming Nokia keep to their standard naming convention V30.2.011 is just the American version of v30.0.011.

Probably not of much interest to us in the UK.

Your are most certainly right. As far as I can see nowhere is getting V30 at the moment. Hopefully when it does reappear and spread more widely, Vodafone will take the opportunity to fix the bugs they introduced.

[original_red]

Your are most certainly right. As far as I can see nowhere is getting V30 at the moment. Hopefully when it does reappear and spread more widely, Vodafone will take the opportunity to fix the bugs they introduced.

I just had a look at navifirm and v30 is already available on H3G in the UK (see screenshot)

Please vodafone, can we have a timely release - and without any vodafone specific bugs this time.

[dcarmi]

It seems Nokia tend to release new firmware for popular phones in batches. I assume this is so their servers don't get overloaded.

Regardless it would be good to see a timely release (i.e. before everyone else in the UK has it, this time). It would be most wonderful to have the VF introduced bugs ironed out.

[Daz_V]

Hey guys,

I can only reiterate Jon's post above that we cannot provide info on unreleased firmware

As soon as we know more, we'll let you know!



Daz

eForum Team

[dcarmi]

Not even a promise not to break it, this time?

[original_red]

(i.e. before everyone else in the UK has it, this time

Not going to happen - it's already on 3 (H3G) (see above post).

Come on vodafone, if Hutchinson 3G can get the v30 fw, bung in branding AND A WORKNG SKYPE CLIENT in a couple of days, whereas you dragged the v21 debacle on for TWO MONTHS (and introduced bugs) - doesn't this seem like you're being a bit lax?

Please release the firmware soon, I am a (monthly contract) paying customer and I feel I am getting a third rate service thanks to your software updates and quality policies (I say quality as all your previous RM-356 firmwares have all been broken (random resets, homescreen search, A2DP dropouts, email client crashing, web browser crashing (especially when launched from email), fade to black bug, etc)).

[original_red]

And as for new features:

Email notifications on home screen
More free RAM
Performance improvements
Camera quality improvements

[BrutalUK]

And as for new features:

Email notifications on home screen
More free RAM
Performance improvements
Camera quality improvements

Sounds good but when will get it....... (looks into crystal ball).......maybe before the end of the year!! LOL :rolleyes:

[original_red]

Heh, gave up on having a broken firmware on my phone (and waiting for vodafone's software updates) and got my phone debranded (well, a friend offered to do it for me) - yes, i know it invalidates the vodafone warranty, but not the 24 month Nokia warranty.

To my surprise, there's a fair bit that is broken in vodafone's firmware - here's a list.

Nokia search (known to be broken)
OTA update (won't connect to server) - v30 may well be available OTA for voda's fw (apparently it's available OTA for most product codes)
App. update (won't display list of updates)
Messaging (dies when opening email attachments)

Ok, i only briefly used nokia's v21 firmware - i'm now using nokia's v30 firmware (apparently it is a bugfix release), but the bugs above are specific to vodafone's v21 firmware (the bits i tested before updating to v30 OTA).

A WORD OF WARNING: if you are going to debrand your phone to use v30, take note that the alarms are broken in this release (they still sound, but at least 5 minutes late), automatic email retrieval suffers a similar bug and the small icons mode doesn't work anymore (medium icons with text). there is also some instability where apps just die unexpectedly, but this seems to become less regular after a few days.

***********************************************
Please note, i am not saying that everyone debrand their 5800 (it's a very risky process) - the whole reason of this post was to notify vodafone of bugs i've noticed in their firmware.
***********************************************

[original_red]

Also, regarding vodafone's claim of "unifying user experience over many brands" - the only noticable difference between vodafone's firmware and nokia's is the extra bugs and the vodafone specific apps (the useless piece of that is vodafone search, the vodafone splash screen and the plethora of (duplicated) vodafone bookmarks) - unless that is the actual "vodafone experience".

[rgammans]

 yes, i know it invalidates the vodafone warranty, but not the 24 month Nokia warranty.

I think you'll find it now invalidates your nokia warranty as well.  the product code is now stored on a nokia server when you change/update the firmware, and they'll know that you did it, the time and date of the change, and what it was before.


I was kindly given a printout showing all the above when I bricked my n96 and a service centre refused to help me.  Got it working eventually, but with no help from nokia.

Thats not to say I wouldn't debrand again though!

[original_red]

I think you'll find it now invalidates your nokia warranty as well. the product code is now stored on a nokia server when you change/update the firmware, and they'll know that you did it, the time and date of the change, and what it was before.


I was kindly given a printout showing all the above when I bricked my n96 and a service centre refused to help me. Got it working eventually, but with no help from nokia.

Thats not to say I wouldn't debrand again though!

I had a chat with the guy at my local nokia carepoint before doing so, and he said "as long as it's an official nokia firmware, then your nokia warranty will still be valid".

Anyways, I'm not likely to be claiming a warranty repair (touch wood) as the phone is now pretty much perfect (the only problems i was having were software problems).

[rgammans]

I had a chat with the guy at my local nokia carepoint before doing so, and he said "as long as it's an official nokia firmware, then your nokia warranty will still be valid".

Anyways, I'm not likely to be claiming a warranty repair (touch wood) as the phone is now pretty much perfect (the only problems i was having were software problems).

maybe i just got unlucky then, or maybe carphonewarehouse is best avoided?