It’s been nearly two months since we last looked at Nokia firmwares, so let’s see what’s happened in that time:

• Nokia N95 – No new firmwares (latest for generic phones is still v31, which came out in January), and we’re pleased to say that T-Mobile and O2 are now offering this version.  Orange are offering v30, which is still commendable, whereas 3UK and Vodafone are in the doghouse for v20 and v21 respectively.

• Nokia N95 8GB -No new firmware (latest for generic phones is still v31, which came out in February) and although no UK networks seem to have that version available, O2 now joins Orange and 3UK who have been offering v30 since November 2008. Vodafone are in the doghouse as well with “only” v21.

• Nokia E71 – v210 has been out about a month for generic phones, and well, most operators are still on v100.  Shame, v210 goes a long way to fixing the purple tint camera problem, so you would have thought the networks would want to help out and offer this version to their customers.

• Nokia 5800 XpressMusic – v21 came out this week for generic phones, but is currently only available as an Over-The-Air Firmware upgrade.  This adds the ability for a breathing light (as featured on many other recent Nokia smartphones), so well worth considering, and with UDP (User Data Protection) you shouldn’t lose your data when you apply the firmware (unlike the phones above).  Some networks have finally started to offer v20, which is a promising start.  Update: This is now available via NSU (Nokia Software Updater) as well now.

Can you help us out? We don’t have a full range of all operator-specific codes for the last two phones, and would love to be able to quote the position on every UK network…  If you have a Nokia E71 or Nokia 5800 XpressMusic which was supplied by one of the UK networks, please leave a comment with the network and the product code (found on the label under the battery, and usually of the form 0569999.  This will allow us to offer more information on these two phones.

We’ve covered this issue before, but The Register has spoken with T-Mobile about it today, so we thought we would provide a summary of the recent changes T-Mobile have introduced to voicemail redirection.  Firstly, T-Mobile still charge if you redirect your phone to another number, although they now no longer directly charge you for the call being directed to voicemail.  That’s the change; now the voicemail redirection comes out of your Flext allowance, instead of costing you 12p per minute.  However, as The Register point out, redirecting your number to another UK phone number, for accessing services such as SpinVox, will cost you 17p per minute, and does not come out of your allowance.

T-Mobile are alone in the UK with this stance; all the other mobile networks will take that redirected call out of your voice call allowance (as long as it’s to a normal UK landline number), which companies like SpinVox use.

The article also takes about how HulloMail, which offers an Android based solution, was hoping for a better deal with T-Mobile, as the exclusive supplier of the Android based G1; we say to HulloMail; concentrate on the HTC Magic, which goes on sale on Friday with Vodafone, who are less petty about voicemail redirection (and who support twitter for their users too).

If you fancy an HTC Magic, Vodafone are currently offering a £5 discount (per month) off the line rental for people who pre-order the HTC Magic before Friday on a £35 per month contract.

Here’s an interesting piece of news; Plaxo and Facebook are working together to simplify your friend connections.  If you have friended someone on Facebook, you will be able to access their information on Plaxo without having to bother them with a new friend request.  The current situation can be quite embarrassing; you find a friend on one service, and as you go round all the other services you use, you friend them on those services too; your friend now ends up with ten friend requests from different sites.  At least with Plaxo and Facebook, you’ll no longer need to send out a Plaxo friend request.  For those worried about privacy, Plaxo have stated “we will honour Facebook friendships on Plaxo (for anyone who wants us to)”; so it looks like it’s customisable as to whether or not you let this happen.

Also, you can feed the content you’re sharing on Facebook (such as photos, videos, links, and events) over to Plaxo for sharing to your friends there. In addition, you can sync your status updates between the two services (in either or both directions). And, when you share a link or post a review in Plaxo, you can also share it over to your friends on Facebook.

This is the Samsung i7500.  It’s due out around June time, and will be a similar form factor to the HTC Magic (available on Vodafone UK); ie no hardware keyboard.  In other respects, though, the spec is pretty impressive:

• 3.2″ AMOLED 320×480 display
• HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
• 8GB internal memory, microSD card slot
• 1500mAh battery
• 115 x 56 x 11.9mm
• 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus

This will be an interesting device to compete alongside the HTC devices, especially for those who do not want or need a hardware keyboard…

Update: For existing Android G1 users, we hear that the “Cupcake” (Android v1.5) OS should be available some time in May via the Over-The-Air firmware option (Nokia really should learn from this), and T-Mobile have announced they will be selling a second Android based device during 2009.  Now, they’ve said it’s not the HTC Magic, so we wonder whether it’ll be this Samsung…

Over at nokiAAddict, Gerry have been told that Carphone Warehouse will have exclusivity on the White Nokia N97 from June 2009.  Normally, exclusive arrangements last between 1 and 3 months, so if you particularly want the Nokia N97 in White, you’ll have to head to CPW in the short term.

However, we think this is good news for consumers; Nokia rarely give a new product more than one colour exclusive, so it’s quite likely that no single network has any other exclusive on the device, and therefore we should see the device on more than one network in June / July.  We already know Vodafone will be selling the phone, and we’ve heard rumours that O2 and Orange will also be carrying the device.

Apparently the Nokia N97 is going to be priced inline with the iPhone, which given the new iPhone(s) due around the same time will make for an interesting dilemma for many.

Telecom operators may not like it, but OfCom has just announced a new set of rules for 0870 numbers (which, many years ago, would be included in voice minute bundles, but haven’t been for some time).  Of course, we say, simply head off to http://saynoto08070.com and find out an equivalent number that can come out of your minutes, but OfCom new rules, which come into effect in August, may make it a little better for you…

Firstly, they are trying to encourage all telecom providers (of fixed and mobile phones) to include the minutes anyway, and not separate them out (they are also hoping to reduce the cost of calling these numbers).  But for those that do separate them out (and charge for them), the customers must clearly know how much they are going to be charged; if the call will be charged at above normal geographic rates, then there are now strict rules on the how prices must be publicised on promotional material and at point of sale areas.

OfCom state “Under the new requirements CPs [Communication Providers] will be obliged to include a prominent statement in advertising/promotional material whether or not 0870 calls are included in inclusive packages and bundles. One other new requirement is that CPs will only be permitted to refer to 0870 calls as ‘national rate’ in their advertising and promotional material and retail bills where their 0870 and national geographic prices are the same as for geographic calls”.

This should hopefully bode well, and we’re hoping that many of the mobile networks include 0870 in their voice bundles again.

Garmin regularly release new firmwares for their latest and greatest devices, but, even for their elder devices, they occasionally continue to release updates.  Over the last few months, we’ve seen updates for the Garmin Forerunner 305 (v2.90) and the Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx (v3.90).   Also, Garmin have updated their WebUpdater software for Windows (v2.4.2) and for Mac (v2.0.6), and back a little further, there have been updates for the Garmin Training Center for Mac and the Mac ANT Agent.  Finally, back in January, Garmin released a beta firmware for the Oregon range (v2.8.5) which offers some new functionality as well.

Update: Since then, Garmin have released a few more beta versions, with the latest Oregon beta now v2.96.

Although there are slight risks associated with firmware updates (for example, some of the latest Nuvi firmwares have introduced a bug with the way the devices handle mp3 and speed camera alerts making them useless as media players), normally Garmin move forward with their firmwares, and they are worthwhile applying; some will be needed for supporting the latest map updates, and Garmin will normally ask you to apply the latest firmware when dealing with any tech support issues, so fire up WebUpdater (it should check itself for updates before checking your device) and ensure you are upto date.

Incidentally, the picture is of the new Garmin Oregon 500, which Garmin confirmed to me the other week would be released, but could not confirm the exact release date (we previously mentioned it here).  They also stated that they recommend the Oregon series over the Colorado series of devices due to better battery life in the Oregon range.

It looks like 3UK have been busy recently, with a range of new handsets launched last week, and all should be available to purchase as from today…

1. BlackBerry Bold – Nothing special here, it’s been available for a while on other networks, but it looks like 3UK is getting serious about attracting business customers, with this phone being available on a £25 “Unlimited” deal (500 voice minutes and unlimited 3000 texts).
2. The LG U990i – This seems to be a new variant on the LG Viewty (U990), however, we note that the LG U990i also supports Skype-Skype calls, which 3UK announced would be at no cost to users from next month.  3UK have also said it supports “Upload videos to YouTube at the touch of a button” which makes this phone, combined with a data tariff a good non-smartphone phone to consider, as it nearly offers the same range of features as a smartphone.
3. Finally, they have also launched the Samsung i8510.  Now, this is a Symbian S60 handset, with a whole range of features, including an 8megapixel camera.  We covered the spec of this device here, and it’s good to see this phone available on 3UK.  This isn’t the Samsung i8910, which features a touchscreen too, but it’s still a S60 phone from someone other than Nokia.

Canon have released new firmwares for the Canon EOS 50D (v1.0.6), Canon EOS 450D (v1.1.0), and Canon EOS 1000D (v1.0.5), which adds support for the AF assist beam feature of the new Canon Speedlite 270EX flash.  Also, the Canon EOS 50D firmware update should fix the vertical banding problems that have afflicted the device.

News courtesy of Digital Photography Review.

One thing that has been seen as a very nice feature that comes with S60 3rd Edition FP2 is the addition of the time on all screens.  Without this, you need to return to the standby screen to find out the time.  Well, there’s now a solution for FP1 devices, and Mike at the Nokia E71 Fanatics blog has written up about the application, and how to install it.

You can read more about it here, including a link to download the software.

Picture courtesy of Mike as well.

LG launced the LG Smart this week.  This is the direct follow on device to the LG Viewty.  It enhances the Viewty by increasing the camera to 8megapixel (with sensitivity up to ISO 1600), a high resolution WVGA touchscreen (same as the LG Arena), and the new S-Class UI which also features on the LG Arena.  As this is a device heavily weighted towards imaging, the camera includes several new features including Multi Face Detection and DVD-quality D1 video recording.  Other camera features include Touch Shot, Art Shot, Beauty Shot, Panorama Shot and Continuous Shot.

With Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and A-GPS for geotagging photos and 1.5GB of internal memory (plus a microSD card slot), this phone seems to tick many boxes.  It’s only 12.4mm thick, making it the thinnest 8megapixel camera on the market today.

Unlike companies like Nokia who announce phones months and months in advance, this will be available on Orange next month.

This morning at a press briefing, 3UK have announced that from May 1st users with a 3UK SIM and a 3-provided Skype-enabled handset will be able to use Skype for free.  This means no need to topup (previous deals for free Skype involved a monthly topup of £10 on PAYG), and there will be no data charges at all; Skype will be completely free (subject to their standard fair use policy).

Even better, later this year (around Summer), 3UK will also open this offer up to 3UK SIMs and non-3-provided phones (they still need to be compatible with 3’s “Skype on 3″ solution).  However, 3UK also mentioned they are hoping to expand the range of phones that the Skype on 3 service supports.  3UK also confirmed the free Skype will apply to 3UK contract customers too.

The free Skype applies both to Skype calls and Skype instant messages, and there are even hints of Skype video calls coming to 3UK at some point.  Kevin Russell, 3UK’s CEO added “In future you will be able to buy a 3 SIM for unlimited Skype-to-Skype calls for less than the price of a cup of coffee and talk for as much as you want without ever paying us another penny. We won’t ask you for a top-up or a monthly commitment. If you want to talk on a mobile for free, just join us and give it a go. This is for everyone.”

3UK even confirmed how popular Skype has been; “Currently, 3 UK’s growing Skype community enjoys 1.5 million minutes of free Skype-to-Skype calls every day.” and added

“3 UK has found that regular Skype users:

• Are less likely to churn than non-Skype users
• Use more traditional voice minutes than non-Skype users in addition to calling their Skype contacts
• Use Skype IM, but also send more SMS than non-Skype users
• Are more likely to browse the internet on their mobile
• Are higher margin customers
• Are twice as likely to access social networking sites as non-Skype customers”

3UK will, from May 1st, offer a 3UK SIM for £1.99 which can then be used in (initially) a 3UK phone for free Skype access.

3UK also announced that there will be a new Skypephone device coming in Q3/Q4 this year, and there was mention of a new PAYG handset supporting Skype available soon for £79.99 too (possibly a new INQ device?).

Finally, whilst speaking Kevin Russell mentioned the “acquisition of Skype“; was that an error on his part, or will we possibly see greater ties between 3 and Skype in the future…?

We weren’t able to attend the press briefing this morning, so thanks to Ant Carroll (who was there) and Gerry at nokiAAdict, and you can get more information direct from 3UK here.

Ever since we tried the Vodafone netbook, aka Dell Mini 9 with 3G, we have been impressed by the device; it’s small, lightweight, but still powerful enough for most needs.  However, until recently the only way to get one with the 3G module was via the networks like Vodafone, but now, to offer a choice, they are available from PC World.

PC World are selling the Dell Mini 9 for £299 with 3G, Bluetooth, 8GB SSD, 1GB RAM, and a webcam, although they are also selling the Dell Mini 10 for £329 (which offers the larger screen, and a much larger 160GB HDD, and it’s available in a range of colours too). Even better, most of the networks have yet to offer the Dell Mini 10 with 3G, so this may be a way to upgrade to a larger screen whilst still in your existing mobile broadband contract…

News of this deal courtesy of MyDellMini.com.

Although it’s been a while since we’ve mentioned the PSP, Sony are continuing to release firmware updates across the whole range of devices.  The latest firmware, v5.50 (due out soon), features an Information Board (similar to that on the PS3) to allow the user access to PlayStation and PlayStation Store News.  The update also includes other features, including:

• Memory Stick improvements – You’ll be able to create and access sub-folders on your Memory Stick PRO Duo for music, videos and photos. Separately, the available space required to download a file from PlayStation Store to your Memory Stick has been reduced significantly.
• Internet search for games directly from the XMB – You’ll be able to easily search the Internet for information about your PSP games. Select the icon for the game, hit the Triangle button, and then select [Internet Search] from the options menu to get search results based on the game title. This feature was added to PS3 with the recent 2.70 update.
• Trend Micro trial – PSP’s Internet browser is a great tool for checking out your favorite Web sites on the go, and we’re teaming up with the Internet security experts at Trend Micro to make the Web browsing experience safer and more secure. With the 5.50 update, you’ll have the option to access a free trial of two Trend Micro services:
  Trend Micro Web Security uses Web reputation technology to block PSP owners from accidentally visiting a Web site that may contain malicious content designed to steal personal information and confidential data.
  Trend Micro Kids’ Safety uses URL filtering technology to prevent children from accessing Web sites that feature inappropriate content.

The inclusion of children safety features is interesting, and we wonder if this is a direct result of Apple’s iPod Touch features, and the fact that many are now buying iPod Touch devices simply to use as gaming devices.  We like some of the additional features the iPod Touch offers, like the ability to set a maximum volume that can be selected, to limit ear damage to children’s smaller ears (a feature that’s been available in many iPods devices over the years, but oft forgotten).  However, Sony are only including access to “trials”, implying at the end of the trial there will be a cost to pay…

Information on the new PSP firmware direct from Sony here.

Mobile Fun are running an Easter Clearout, but it finishes this Friday.  All sorts of goodies and accessories are included, so why not head over and have a look at their range.  If you are looking to spend more than a few pounds with them, don’t forget to use the offer code included on the UK Gadgeteer Offers page.

The Highways Agency, who maintain many of the UK’s motorway and trunk roads, have improved their services with a mobile web site to provide a better experience.  The features available include:

• Current Traffic Incidents - This lists the latest unplanned incidents on our network 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can select incidents by region or road.
• Planned Roadworks & Events – All of our current and future road maintenance and improvement schemes are listed and can be searched by region or road.
• Traffic Radio - If your phone is compatible, you can stream our latest radio service by Mp3, with dedicated regional feeds.
• Weather Watch – The Met Office provides Weather reports during the Autumn and Winter periods when adverse weather conditions affect road journeys across our road network.
• News Headlines – Our latest headlines and top stories updated throughout the day.
• About the HA – There are also details about the work we do, the roads we manage, our current vacancies and details of how to contact us.

These facilities are avilable by going to http://www.highways.gov.uk/mobile/ from your phone (or other device); it even works from most PCs, offering a nice low-bandwidth solution for use on Mobile Broadband.

Most of the traffic data is shared between the Highways Agency and iTIS Holdings, so another way of accessing the traffic is via the iTIS mobile application which we covered here.

You may be surprised to find out it’s actually a phone; the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.  According to a report by GFK Retail and Technology, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic was the best selling mp3 player both by sales volume and value during the first quarter of this year.  Having already shipped 3 million units worldwide since launch (although shipping does not equal sales; many may be sitting on shelves awaiting to be sold), Nokia have said they have ramped up production to allow them to ship 1 million units per month.

We suspect they have considered each device separately; if combined together, we suspect Apple are still leading, but with a range of different devices, we can understand how the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic has got so popular, with most networks offering it both on monthy contracts, and PAYG.

Still no sign of the device on 3UK though, although we are hearing rumours (and at this stage they are just that) we may see the Nokia N97 on 3UK, but not for a few more months.  This makes sense, as 3UK has carried the various Nokia flagship N-Series devices over the last few years; however, with the Nokia E75 and Nokia E55 being seen as other popular choices, we wonder whether we’ll be seeing them on 3UK…

Some content courtesy of Mobile Today.

Continuing today’s Wi-Fi theme, fring have updated their client (for Windows Mobile and Symbian S60) to now support WeFi, which is a Wi-Fi location service.  WeFi users map areas of all the useable Wi-Fi hotspots, which are then published and shared for everyone to use.  A WeFi client will then automatically look for the best connection available in the area.  With fring’s addon, you will be able to locate the available internet access either via your GPS, or search by typing in the address.  WeFi currently have over 20 million Wi-Fi hotspots discovered in their worldwide database.

To get the new WeFi addon on your Symbian S60 or Windows Mobile Device, you’d need to download fring’s latest version here.  More information about WeFi can be found here.

From Today, Starbucks are moving all their coffee shop Wi-Fi systems to BT Openzone.  Over the next few months, all 678 Starbucks be converted.  O2 have reminded us that iPhones can use BT Openzone Wi-Fi hotspots as part of their Wi-Fi Allowance, so once all shops are converted, iPhone users will be able to enjoy Wi-Fi access whilst buying and drinking their coffees.

We’ve had confirmation from Vodafone UK, and it would appear that tomorrow (Saturday) is a bit of a special day…

Firstly, the HTC Magic (Google Android based phone) will go on pre-order (for delivery in May); the phone will be free on a £30 per month *24 month* contract, offering 600 minutes, unlimited 3000 texts, and unlimited 500MB internet; to get the same deal on an 18 month contract you need to pay nearly £200 for the phone upfront. These deals are only available online, as Vodafone offer £5 per month discount for online orders.

Secondly, and maybe a more popular choice, the Nokia N97 also will be available for pre-registration from tomorrow too (pre-order are likely to be accepted in June for a July release).

In other news, Vodafone have announced that from 1st May the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic will ship with the complete second series of “Gavin & Stacey”.  It’s not yet clear if this is pre-loaded onto the device or onto the memory card, but it should help keep sales going of this popular phone.

Finally, we’d had some initial news on some plans Vodafone have for their value tariffs, and hopefully we’ll be able to provide more details next week.

Please note: you may find the links to more information on the HTC Magic and Nokia N97 do not work until sometime tomorrow.