Nokia have released the first major firmware update for the Nokia E75 (v201).  Weighing in at 153MB, it may never be available using the Over-The-Air option, but is available via PC using NSU.  All About Symbian have said the changelog includes:

Earlier this week Nokia released information about a new firmware for the generic Nokia E75 hardware (Network Operator specific versions may take a bit longer as always).  The main updates of v200, when it gets released include:

• General updates across all Nokia apps (including N-Gage, Share Online and Ovi Contacts)
• Geotagging support
• Lots of minor updates

For the full changelog, head over to Symbian World, who have published the full list.

We’re planning to update our Nokia Firmware regular feature soon, so watch out for more updates across a whole range of Nokia devices soon.

If you have a Nokia N97, there are lots of potential updates out there for you.  Firstly, there’s the new v11 firmware, and now in the last day, Nokia has released some additional software updates available for download directly on the device.  These updates are:

• Maps v3.1
• N97 C: Phone memory update
• N-Gage application v1.3
• Nokia Messaging v10
• Ovi Contacts v1.2

It’s good to see Nokia releasing both major firmware udpates, and minor software updates directly for the device (it’s also nice it’s possible to get notified and update Nokia apps without having to do it manually, or wait for the next firmware upgrade either).  However, there’s a small problem with all of this; firstly the v11 firmware isn’t yet available for UK Nokia N97 devices, and secondly, we’re hearing that not all of these updates are available to all devices either.  Although many people won’t find or become aware of these updates for some while, it’s a shame people are being trickle fed these updates without any consistency…

For those waiting, we’re hearing the v11 firmware should be out shortly for UK devices.

Nokia have updated the Nokia N96 firmware for generic devices (to v20.50).  This hasn’t proved as popular as the Nokia N95 or Nokia N95 8GB (partly due to the more crowded marketplace for smartphones today, and partly because it suffered some problems from the initial firmwares, just like the original Nokia N95 did); so has this firmware ironed out all the problems?  Well, the changelog includes a lot of updates:

New Features

• Email:
  • Nokia Email client and Mail for Exchange (MfE) preloaded (User will install and configure email clients with the help of Settings Wizard)
  • Settings Wizard 5.0: offers improvements for Nokia Email and MfE setup
  • Active Standby Email Plug-in: showing new email messages on Active Standby screen
• Look & Feel:
  • Support for Audio Themes: configurable sounds for various events e.g. opening/closing slide, battery low etc
  • Setting to allow a slideshow to be used as wallpaper
  • Slide handling: Setting to allow user to configure effect opening/closing the slide has on a call and keylock
• Others:
  • WiFi Protected Setup is now supported, allowing simplified setup of WLAN security with a supported WLAN access point
  • Support of IAD (Independent Application Delivery): Allows certain applications to be updated independently over the air.

Improvements

• Correction for occasional CMLA (Content Management License Administrator) certificate corruption. (These certificates are needed for e.g. Mobile TV and N-Gage license purchases)
• Energy management:
  • Shorter lights/screen timeout when lockswitch activated. Backlight dims as soon as keylock is enabled
  • Media Keys surrounding the rocker key lit only if a media application is open
  • Right Softkey changed from “Hide” to “Exit” for Music Player for EM savings
• Photos/Camera/Imaging:
  • A number of improvements made to the Camera image quality
  • The device SW version information is now stored in the image MetaData
  • Default recording quality for video is changed from ‘TV normal’ to TV high’
  • Noise reduction of recorded videos
• Media/DRM:
  • New version of Music player: Performance and “Comes With Music”-related improvements
  • FlashLite update for improved YouTube compatibility – improvements in rendering of Flash Video
  • General Media player &streaming related usability & performance improvements
  • OMA DRM v2 content can use device clock if no secure clock (i.e. NITZ) is available
• Browser:
  • Empty bookmark folders removed from Browser bookmarks (i.e. the “Download…” folders)
  • Link to Ovi.mobi is included in Browser bookmarks
• Others:
  • Vibra enabled when charging
  • When gaming in landscape mode, stereo audio will be played through correct speakers
  • Updated Themes
  • Slide triggered keyguard activation: When closing the slide, pressing any key within 2 seconds will result in keylock not being activated
  • Several error corrections based on Care and operator feedback
  • Several application baseline updates

As the phone supports UDP (User Data Protection), the firmware is a lot easier to install than on many Nokia devices, and the update should be available for both OTA (Over The Air) updates as well as via NSU (Nokia Software Updater) in time.  Branded firmwares should see this update, if the network operator release it.

Changelog courtesy of Symbian World.

Last week, Nokia released 3 new phones, the Nokia 5730 XpressMusic (above), the Nokia 5330 XpressMusic, and the Nokia 5030.  The Nokia 5730 XpressMusic looks very interesting, as it is basically a similar form factor to the Nokia E75 due to start shipping this month.  So what are the differences between these two devices?

The Nokia E75 features additional application shortcut keys, whereas the Nokia 5730 XpressMusic has dedicated music function keys.  The Nokia 5730 does feature some additional music based applications, such as Say and Play, whereas the Nokia E75 will feature additional Office based applications.  However, overall, both feature a very similar hardware spec, with Wi-Fi, 3G, GPS, 3.2 megapixel camera, N-Gage support, stereo speakers, and both run Symbian S60 3rd Edition FP2.

With the Nokia 5730 not due to ship until much later this year (Q3 2009), although it will be cheaper than the Nokia E75 (by about £100), the choice comes down to style and what exactly you are looking for in your sliding QWERTY keyboard phone.

The Nokia 5030 (above) is a radiophone.  It features an internal FM radio antenna and a powerful internal speaker to allow you to listen to the radio without needing headphones. At just 15mm thick and weighing in at 82g, it’s a nice small light phone.  The screen is 1.8″ and the device also sports a one-touch radio key and channel selection keys. At roughly £50 when it goes on sale in Q3, this may well rival many cheap mp3 players.  This is not a S60 phone though.

Finally, the Nokia 5330 XpressMusic phone (above) was released.  Again, not a S60 phone (this phone runs S40), but it does feature some social networking access built in to the phone, with easy access to Facebook, Ovi and MySpace, and with it’s extended battery life is said to be capable of more than 24 hours music playback. A 2.4″ screen, A-GPS complete the package, which should cost around £150 and go on sale “in the Summer”.

Some content on the comparison between the E75 and 5730 courtesy of Symbian Guru.

On top of the other phones Nokia launched on Monday, they have announced the N86, the 8 megapixel cameraphone.  Although the main feature of the phone is going to be the camera, the phone also includes N-Gage, and is an updated dual slider design.  It features the OLED screen from the N85, and has 8GB of onboard storage whilst also supporting a microSD card slot.  It also features the builtin kickstand that the N96 has, allowing the device to be used for easy video watching (and it includes TV-out support).

The camera comes with a Carl Zeiss Tessar lens, and even has aperture control, possibly a first on a cameraphone, and features dual LED flashes.

As with many of the current Nokia phones, and new launches, this phone will be available in Indigo (above) or White (below), which also shows the new media keys design.

It looks like the Nokia N86 will cost €375 and be released in the 2nd quarter of the year; so to summarise, we should see the Nokia E75 next month, and then before the end of June we’ll have the Nokia E55, Nokia N86 and Nokia N97.  If the UK networks don’t cherry pick (or sign exclusives) we should see some strong competition for the Summer phone-of-choice (especially to compete against the rumours of an updated iPhone or two being launched in June).

Firstly, as we predicted and already revealed, Nokia have launched the Nokia E75, and it’s available for pre-order now for delivery next month.  This beats the Nokia N97 by a couple of months (it seems the E-Series division are getting better at announcing and making immediately available, whereas the N-Series division are still announcing phones months in advance).

More details, and the other devices in the rest of the article…

(more…)

Nokia might want to wait until next week for the fanfare of their new product range, but they may have let the cat out of the bag early. If you watch this video, from the designer of the Nokia N97, at around about 20 seconds into the video a shot of a number of mobiles is shown…

Now, what’s interesting is that right there is the Nokia N97, and two other devices, currently unannounced.  Based on the leaked roadmap we covered last year, it’s possible these are the Ivalo and Madeleine phones.  The Ivalo is listed as “a follow up to IP08″, ie the Nokia N97.  This features “3.5-inch wide touchscreen, 32GB ROM, AGPS, FM transmitter and receiver, 5MP camera, WiFi, TV-out, Bluetooth”.  Now, given the lack of QWERTY, it’s believed this is the slimline device next to the Nokia N97.

Madeleine however, may well be the open QWERTY phone seen on the video, which should have “Side-sliding QWERTY, WiFi, Bluetooth, FM radio, VoIP, GPS, 3.2MP camera, N-Gage support with gaming keys”.  This is a mid range phone, and, as you can see from the picture has got the D-Pad moved from the left (Nokia N97) to the right.  This, according to the Nokia roadmap, is not a touchscreen phone, as it runs the current S60 3rd edition FP2 OS.

Along with the Nokia E75 (which we first covered here), which was leaked again by Expansys this week with a shipment date of next month, it looks like Nokia has a lot of phones to launch next week.  We also note the Nokia roadmap lists the Corolla phone as being an 8megapixel non-touch, half-QWERTY keyboard phone, also due around now, so it will be exciting to see how many of these devices actually get launched next week.

As with many Nokia phones, we may not see them in the stores for some while (after all, we won’t be able to purchase the already-announced Nokia N97 for another fair few months), so it may not be time to get your wallet out quite yet.

Some content courtesy of GSMArena [Via Engadget and again for the E75 story].

Although we would normally attribute articles like this to the original author, it appears a number of websites are claiming they originally “discovered” this leaked Nokia device plan, making it difficult to correctly give thanks.  What’s interesting is a number of the new devices that are due to be announced before the end of this year, and what might be coming for next year (the list was obviously compiled some time back, and the full list includes a number of “Cancelled” phones, so just because a device appears on this list doesn’t mean it will actually get released (or on time)…

• The E63 was released yesterday, and meets the above specs
• The IP08 (internal codename) looks very interesting, and should be announced (if the dates are still valid) in the next week or two
• The Sharika will probably be a 56xx model
• The Stella and Terra will be interesting ESeries phones, especially with the “Hybrid” QWERTY keyboard
• The Ivalo will be the last phone announced this year.  Both the IP08 and the Ivalo feature widescreen touchscreens, although we predict we won’t actually see either in the shops in the UK until well into 2009
• Starting the 2009 device announcements is the Victoria, or the E75 we have covered before.
• The Corolla will be the first 8 megapixel cameraphone from Nokia, keeping up with the likes of the LG Renoir.
• The Madeleine has a side-sliding QWERTY keyboard and N-Gage gaming keys…
• Finally the Eitri sounds very interesting, it appears to be an E71-like phone with a QWERTY keyboard and a touchscreen.

Of course, that last phone, though interesting, is not due to be announced until Week 17 in 2009, which is April, so it’s likely we won’t see it until much later in the Summer, so I wouldn’t hold off on that phone purchase right now, but use this list more as a shopping list for your next upgrade!

Majority of the table from Engadget Mobile.

We covered the Zeemote here, and now it appears that Nokia will be preloading the Zeemote software (Zeekey) onto a number of S60 devices, most likely those key N-Gage devices. It is likely that Nokia will additionally bundle the Zeemote with phones. This could make mobile gaming even more enjoyable for many.

More information available courtesy of Symbian Freak.