When Nokia made Ovi Maps free for a whole range of devices last week, one thing which wasn’t so strongly mentioned was the minimum firmware versions needed for certain devices.  Take the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic for example; although many devices shipped with v11 (and since then Nokia has released v20, v21, v30, v31 and v40 firmwares), you actually need a minimum of v31 to be able to install this latest version of Ovi Maps.

Obviously for anyone with a generic unbranded device, this is easy; a quick firmware check on the device, or using Nokia Software Updater on your Windows PC will soon confirm that there is a v40 firmware, and you can easily install it; but what about the UK network operators?  If you have a branded device, are you in luck?

Well, generally, the good news is yes, you are in luck.  It looks like the majority of UK branded product codes have had v31 released (although none that I checked actually had v40 released yet), so overall, you have a good chance of being able to upgrade the firmware in your phone, and then install the new free to use Ovi Maps.

However, all is not perfect; I did say “the majority”, and I’m sorry to say, the Orange product code for a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Blue edition (the early devices Orange first sold) seems to be stuck on v30, and hence, although fairly up to date, not sufficiently up to date to allow the new Ovi Maps to work.  Ironically, the Black variant, which, being newer, has strangely always faired better for firmware updates seems to have v31 available, so those users are fine.

If my research is correct, that’s a silly situation to be in; depending when you bought your phone determines which colour you have, and with Orange, that can mean the difference between being able to install Ovi Maps or not.  Let’s hope Orange resolve this with some speed given the amount of advertising Nokia is putting behind their new Ovi Maps versions.

However, that’s not the end of the story; it appears 3UK are also stuck on v30, and hence anyone with a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic from 3UK will not be able to run the latest Ovi Maps either.

Obviously, I am not able to check every single colour and operator variant, but I checked over 10 different product codes to write this article; if you have a device from Orange or 3UK that has access to the v31 or v40 firmware (without changing the product code), then please add a comment and let me know the product code (from underneath the battery in the form of 0559360) and what firmware version you have access to…

So, to recap; well done to most UK operators (T-Mobile, O2, Virgin, Vodafone), and not so well done to Orange and 3UK for either not having v31 available, or having a mix of firmware versions.

Good news: TiVo is returning to the UK!

Not so good news (depending on where you live): It’s with Virgin Media

Probably the only company that could realistic bring TiVo back to the UK has done just that; Virgin Media and TiVo announced this week they will be working together to produce Virgin’s next generation HD boxes.  TiVo is providing the software to allow this, which will include Video-on-Demand and Broadband delivery of video too.  The TiVo functionality will be in both Virgin’s DVR and non-DVR boxes, which is all good news.

Given Virgin offer both their traditional Cable Modem service and ADSL, it’s not clear whether you’ll need to be within the 50% of the population covered by Cable TV, or whether it will be possible to get access to the TiVo features via an ADSL connection, but this is still very good news for those of us who have supported TiVo for many years.

Of course the other interesting situation is that Virgin already offer BBC iPlayer on their set top boxes, so assuming they don’t intend to remove that functionality, we may see the TiVo solution supporting BBC iPlayer (and even the other networks’ alternatives too, creating a very compelling solution, and one that can truly rival Sky).

We’re not quite sure what to make of this, but we are certainly intrigued; it’s not Pay As You Go, it’s not a traditional contract option, and it’s not quite a 30-day rolling contract either…

3UK will, from tomorrow, start selling the SIM Zero contract from their 3Store.  Having already released a £9 per month contract, and then networks such as Orange released a £5 per month contract with a 3 year (yes, really!) minimum contract, and now 3UK have set the ultimate challenge, a contract with zero cost per month.  Of course, they aren’t the first to try this, with a similar pricing model having been available from Virgin for a while…

It features the same basic prices as the PAYG option, and includes many of the same facilities, but I guess the difference is that instead of needing to constantly topup your phone, you will simply get a bill at the end of each billing cycle with the costs you have spent.

So, calls will cost 20p per minute, texts 10p each, it’s 30p per mb of data (no word if you can add the standard Internet Addon though, giving upto 2GB of data for £5 per month), and like many SIM-only deals, will come with a 1 month minimum term and then 1 month’s notice to cancel (which makes it a minimum 2 months term to us…)

Of course, as this is 3UK, there are a whole range of additional benefits too; Free Skype-Skype calls and messages (upto 4,000 minutes and 10,000 messages per month), Free Windows Live Messenger (also 10,000 messages per month), Free voicemail in the UK; in fact the only difference between this and a more expensive contract from 3UK is there are no inclusive 3UK-3UK minutes included.

This looks like it might be a very interesting option for those who want a contract, but are not heavy users, and with the inclusion of the Skype Free Calls Forever, it may well suit many people; for those that don’t already have a compatible phone (especially for the Skype part of the deal, 3UK are happy for you to buy a PAYG phone like the INQ1 or Skypephone S2 and use this SIM in the phone).

More details will be available from the 3Store tomorrow when this tariff formally launches.

Update: 3UK have confirmed that the standard £5 per month 2GB Internet data Addon is available on this tariff.

We’ve already covered saynoto0870.com before, which allows you to search for real landlines behind the 0870 numbers (actually, it also covers 0800, 0808, 0844, 0845, and 0871 too), but there is another new option for calling certain numbers…

Today, if you want to call an 0800, 0808 or 0500 number from your mobile, you will be charged for the call (except for a handful of charity numbers), and sometimes you can’t find a landline equivalent from saynoto0870.  Well, this is where 0800buster.co.uk can help out.

This works by you dialling a standard 01233 landline number (which will then come out of your inclusive minutes *) and then once connected to their system you then dial the 0800/0500/0808 number and it will connect you.  Their website even has brief details of how to save the combined information in to a contact record to make it even easier for numbers you dial on a regular basis.

* – in fact, 0800buster state that for some mobile networks, even when out of your bundle dialling their number can be cheaper than calling the number directly.

One interesting benefit of this service is Directory Enquiries; if you dial their number and then dial 0800 100 100 or 0800 118 3733 you can access Directory Enquiries for a lot less than you would directly on your mobile, and for that reason alone we support this service; obviously, we would prefer if the mobile networks didn’t charge a premium for these calls at all, but whilst they do, at least there is another option…

It’s been a busy few weeks for firmware updates from Nokia, so we thought we should recap where we are with branded firmware updates, and, yet again, in nearly all cases it’s not as good as we would like, but… there is hope… read on…

A few weeks after the Nokia N96 v20 firmware has been released, it’s not yet been picked up by any of the UK networks, who are all still providing v11 or v12 via the Nokia Software Updater website.

However, some good news for Nokia 5800 XpressMusic users; the new v21 firmware was only released a few weeks back (we covered the news here), but we’re pleased to say that most networks are already offering this version (O2, T-Mobile, Virgin, and some Orange and Vodafone models).  Orange are a little bizarre with this, as they have hardly released any firmware updates for the Blue variant, but have already released v21 for the Black variant (their new exclusive colour with the Comes with Music service).

For all the other devices we keep an eye on (and the list grows each week), we’ve seen little activity at all from the network operators this month.

Firstly, here are some highlights of software releases that have happened over the last few weeks that we haven’t already covered (interestingly many of them focused on the new S60 5th Edition):

• Nokia have released a Friend View version for S60 5th Edition devices (ie the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and the Nokia N97); if you previously installed the S60 3rd Edition (which did pretty much work, but wasn’t optimised for touch input), then you need to fully uninstall it before installing the new software.  To download it, simply head here on your mobile.

• Nimbuzz have updated their multi-IM client (now v2.0) with S60 5th Edition support too. Nimbuzz includes IM support for Google Talk and MSN, SIP support and even Skype (with SkypeOUT too), and it’s available to directly download to your phone from here.

• Nokia Beta Labs have updated their S60 3rd Edition (original and FP1 versions) Ovi Contacts application, which should now feature more reliable voice messages and location sending features.  With some server side changes, you are now able to search for contacts (with the ability for individuals to opt-out of appearing the searches), and this client should now be available via Download! (until it’s replaced by the Nokia Ovi Store) and via nokia.mobi.  Head to here for more details.

• Nokia have released a new Beta application; Nokia Point & Find, which is designed to provide you with real time information on things you point the phone’s camera out.  Right now, it mainly works well with movie posters and barcodes but Nokia has put some clever thought into this; if you select a movie poster it not just show details, including reviews, ratings, but will use the GPS location to provide additional information such as show times, the closest cinema showing the movie, and (limited to the UK) may even offer to allow you to purchase tickets there and then.  More information is available from here.

• Nokia have released a beta version of their Nokia Messaging application for S60 5th Edition, and more information can be found about this version here.

• Gerry over at nokiAAddict has confirmed that the BBC have fixed their iPlayer client on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, such that you can now download TV onto your device for later viewing again (this problem seemed to mainly affect those who had upgraded to the latest v21 firmware).

Since we released our last Branded firmware update where we requested help on providing product codes for various devices, we received a number of helpful comments from various people, and now appear to have a full set of Nokia 5800 XpressMusic operator product codes for the UK (we’re still missing a couple of product codes for the Nokia E71, so if you have a Nokia E71, we’d be grateful for a quick comment including the product code (found under the battery) and which network the device came from).  However, we can now confirm that the situation with the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic looks like this:

• v21 was released a couple of weeks ago, having replaced v20 (compared to the v10 or v11 that most devices originally shipped with)
• We can confirm that T-Mobile, Vodafone, O2  and even Virgin (the first Virgin phone we’ve tracked!) should all now have access to v20, however
• Orange devices are still stuck back at v11

It appears that for different networks, different phones seem to suffer from greater delays with firmware updates, and we’d like to see the networks providing more timely updates.

We are big fans of the Nokia E71 here, but appreciate not everyone can afford to commit to an 18 month contract, or don’t want to pay over £250 for the device without a long term contract.  Well, the E71’s brother, the Nokia E63 maybe the answer, and at only £150 from Virgin (on PAYG), it’s even affordable for everyone.

Now, the Nokia E63 has to lose some features to justify the price difference, and the device does feel “cheaper” alongside an E71, but still stands on its own as a decent phone.  The main loss is the GPS (All Nokia E-Series devices feature Wi-Fi, and hence the GPS functionality was dropped), but with Google Maps, which can use mobile network cell ID (and Wi-Fi) to help locate you, and will generally provide you with a good overall position.  The other difference is the camera is only 2 megapixels, compared to the 3.2 of the E71 (and with the latest E71 firmware improving that camera this maybe another reason to prefer the E71). To counteract this, the E63 has a few extra keys near the spacebar providing handy access to some frequently used symbols, although the E63 does lose the volume control keys on the side of the device.

Which would we go for? We would spend the extra for the GPS and better camera, but the Nokia E63 shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand, and at £150 is quite a bargain.

Thanks to Gerry at nokiAAdict.com for pointing out this price to us.

Likely being driven by the credit crunch, it appears we are seeing a bit of a price war at the lower end of the monthly contract mobile phone tariff.  We’ve already covered 3UK’s £9 per month tariff here, but it appears others want to make a fight of it…

Virgin have now announced an £8.50 monthly tariff, and a few weeks back, Carphone Warehouse announced an £8.99 monthly tariff (although as we can find no information about this on the Carphone Warehouse website, we’re not sure about this anymore).  So, let’s compare the two available tariffs:

• The 3 MM100 Plan offers 100 minutes or texts, free voicemail, free Skype, free Windows Live Messenger and 300 3UK-3UK calls

• Virgin offers 100 minutes AND 100 texts, free voicemail, and free instant messaging (for 6 months)

Both networks are offering the same phone on this 18 month deal, the Nokia 3120, which really does allow a direct comparison.  It looks like the difference is going to come down to whether you use Skype and whether you have other friends on 3UK, which will steer you towards 3UK, else the Virgin deal would appear better value.

Given the popularity of Mobile Internet access nowadays, let’s compare that too.  Virgin charge 30p per day (therefore a maximum cost of nearly £31 if you use it every day), whereas 3UK charge £5 for the whole month.  So, if you think you might use the Internet on the phone for more than half the month, then 3UK starts looking cheaper again.  It’s also possible that at the end of the 6 months of free instant messaging, you would need to use the 30p per day internet access, which starts to look very expensive…

What’s interesting is that (although Out of Stock at the moment), you can even get the latest Nokia 5800 XpressMusic from Virgin on this tariff (the phone will cost an additional £130 upfront); yet we still see no sign of the phone on the 3UK network…

Of course, although Virgin is a T-Mobile based network, back in 2007 3UK and T-Mobile announced plans to share mast locations.  Then, in early 2008, they went a stage further, and announced a joint venture company which will run a single 3G network for both companies.  This means that the current 18,000 combined sites will reduce in time to just the best 13,000.  So, one could argue that by 2010 the 3G network coverage of both networks will be virtually identical, and hence even coverage will not play a part in deciding between these deals.

Nokia have announced the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic will go on sale (via the Nokia Regent Street and Nokia Heathrow Terminal 5 Stores) on 23rd January, priced at £249 for an unlocked, unbranded handset (including an 8GB microSD card though), and it is also available now for pre-order direct from their website, although that still lists the availability date as 23rd February.  Although the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is a Nokia Comes with Music phone, we believe that at this price it is unlikely to include the 18-month all-you-can-download (and keep afterwards) Comes with Music subscription, and is likely to only feature a short trial of the Nokia Maps service.

For those who prefer their phones branded and tied to a contract, it’s also available from Vodafone, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Virgin Mobile from the 30th January.  Nokia have also stated Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U will be carrying the phone as well.

It may not have a QWERTY keyboard (like the Palm Pre), or a slick OS (iPhone), but it does feature a 640×360 3.2″ display with a 3.2megapixel camera, and seems to be on sale a lot cheaper.

However, the one major network missing from that list is 3UK…

This is, according to Tech Radar, the new Virgin Media 50Mbps modem, which should be shipped to customers who opt for the new 50meg cable service, which should be available before the year is out.  We first mentioned this new service roughly a year ago, but it’s nice to see it being available.  Of course, whether you actually need a 50meg service is another question.