The Nokia N95 and ultra convergence

[slitchfield]

Ultra convergence, as exemplified in the Nokia N95, is a topic I've commented on in the past, and not always in a positive way. Read on for some thoughts on the recent v12 firmware upgrade and a link to a very relevant essay...

Read on in the full article.

[raymasky]

yeah...i really expected much more from this firmware update ...and have been seriously disappointed this time.Lots of more bugs have crept up ..and my phone restarts more than it did from V11.sad...really..

[clive1]

if you dont like it stop picking it up and trying again.
i love the N95 and use it day after day and after updating to V12 i havent seen this missing keypress yet even after sending loads of sms messages.

Steve's running a Symbian site.

People want him to pick it up and report back what he thinks.

Why do people become all definsive of something they have bought (I'm probably guilty of it to, but much less so these days). You have bought something with your money. You should be expecting things from it. There is no need to start defending it. It is not your child.

Constructive criticism can lead to improvements. And the comments from Steve are very much along constructive lines.

Zuber

[luarvique]

Well, it is normal for people to get disappointed about a product, after it has been hyped to the skies. As I said before, N95 is just a phone, with rather regular (albeit plentiful) OMAP-based hardware. Personally, I would rather have an upgraded E70 with a new OMAP chipset and more memory.

[neilhoskins]

Agreed. The infuriating thing is when they just abandon a product and move on to the next thing. I never forgave Opera for giving up on their Epoc 5 version to concentrate on Symbian; and I never bought anything from Logitech again after they failed to release Windows XP drivers for the QuickcamPro. We need to vote with our feet by only buying stuff that is going to be continuously supported.

Hi, i have upgraded to version 12 do not receive any of the bugs you are talking about.
I can search by category from within the maps without a problem.
i dont get the key press problem.
everything seems to work great.
Maybe there is some other program on your phone or setting causing it?

"The infuriating thing is when they just abandon a product and move on to the next thing."

I know where you are coming from. But from a manufacturer viewpoint. Provided they supply you with something that works (another topic on its own), they have fulfilled their obligation. Unless they claim that they will supply future version for future OS etc. that is.

I think, there is an expectation that they should provide updates etc. for a reasonable timescale. Depends on the product as to how long. For smartphones, I think 2 years from when they stop manufacture would be sufficient. Though I'm probably being optimistic to expect that.

Zuber

[slitchfield]

Interestingly, the official Nokia Discussions thread on all this now has a post saying that the v12 upgrade has been withdrawn. Hopefully there's a fix on the way.

w.r.t. the Maps bug, I just don't buy the fact that it might be a clash with something else loaded. I only had 2 or 3 other apps installed. For an app to cause a complete restart of the OS means that it was trying to do something at a very low level and that there was a bug of some kind....

Anyway, roll on a fix for all the problems mentioned. As indicated in my post, I LOVE the N95 and really want to keep returning to it, but only if the software can get up to about 99%. Currently I'd say it's down around 85% reliable on the (patented) 'Steve Gut Feeling Index' (SGFI) 8-)

Steve

[Ratkat]

I have the 'Keypress' bug, but don't have any problems with 'Maps', search by category works fine for me.

Since the the V12 firmware upgrade just over a week ago by N95 hasn't restarted once, I still get the 'odd out of memory' problem with the browser with large sites.

Battery life is what it is with a daily charge required, I've even got used to the 'Turquoise Nokia Theme' after they cruelly removed the 'Default (blue/white)' one, this may be a bug as the files for it remain on the rom but are unaccessible

But by far the my biggest gripe with the N95 is the amount of Ram which is responsible for 80% of the problems with the N95, Nokia really should have learnt that lesson with the N80, E70 etc and although it would have used more battery life I think the benefits would outweight the the hit on battery life.

Having said that on the whole I am pleased with my N95, and since the release of Opera Mini 4 even the built in browser memory problem is less of an issue as I only use the built in browser when in range of my router now. When out and about I exclusively use Opera Mini which tends to handles big sites like eBay better, and if you set the 'Higher Image Quality' on in settings, pages look as good as in the Nokia Browser.

Not a bug in the N95 but it is a shame that the 'All About Symbian' site fails to display correctly in both the Nokia and Opera mini browsers, due it would appear at first glance in the Nokia Browsers case to the advertising banners, but no advertising = no site I guess!

[Ratkat]

Just out of interest Steve, Did you do a clean install of apps etc after the firmware upgrade or did you restore a backup.

If the latter it could be the reason for your Maps problem? as I read on another forum somewhere the bug only occured after a restored backup and that a *#7370# cured this.

[slitchfield]

I did 'Restore' the basic 'Settings', now I come to think of it. Which might perhaps explain why Maps was misbehaving. But the keypress bug has been widely reported and is surely something very fundamental.... And in any case, wasn't Ewan's rant in yesterday's audio podcast partly about the way it's becoming almost impossible to use the provided 'Backup' systems?

[Ratkat]

I listened to Evan's rant about backup and totally agree with it and is the reason I never use it, I much prefer to do a clean install.
If there was a new firmware every week than it might be a different story, but while updates only appear every couple of months the clean install lets me get rid of the junk I have accumulated on my phone. (and most likely a ton of left over files from apps I have tried and uninstalled)
I like to think that it leaves me with a 'more stable' system, which is a hangover from growing up with Windows I guess!!

[2more]

I have the 'Keypress' bug too. In the browser a click in the empty space wont bring up this menu bar and the browser itself crashes more frequently (App closed KERN-EXEC 3).
I think that the more we "complain" loudly - the more info we give to the ppl who can fix it

PS:

Originally Posted by Ratkat

I like to think that it leaves me with a 'more stable' system, which is a hangover from growing up with Windows I guess!!

Very true!

[slitchfield]

Add another major camera bug to v12. I was holding focus on a shot just now and the entire phone shut down instantaneously. Needed the battery out and back in to get things working again. 8-(