DISQUS

cyfawcett · 2 months ago

You commented on Gravity (ie. 3rd party app) haha j/k

I miss my N97, but my BlackBerry 9700 suits me better. I hope the firmware fixes the issue of when you pick up the phone while ringing and the display changes from landscape to portrait (vice versa) you can actually push the button to answer the phone! I hung up or missed a ton of calls like that. I finally had enough and let it go. I love Nokia, but a phone needs to meet its most basic function, and that is answering calls. I'm sure I'll get flamed, but that's my experience.

Name · 2 months ago

yeah i had same problem! what a pain, in the end i just turned off auto rotate display.

huhuha · 2 months ago

ohh shit, you're right, me the same...but my last phone was an e71 from nokia and its business functions are very well...if this may be an option to your blackberry?? or the new palm pre..

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

That's not really an issue. If auto-rotate is on, why would you expect it to stop automatically rotating the screen just because you are receiving a call. I don't even see why this is an issue for you when you can use the Send key to answer the call

cyfawcett · 2 months ago

because that was the button I'd hit and it would still hang up or I'd miss the call because it took too long to respond. I'm a huge Nokia fan and just being honest. I know plenty of people that have had similar issues.

yitwave · 2 months ago

The Green send button is only activated if your phone is engaged (screen is unlocked). If your N97 is not in use (screen locked), the touch screen is off and the green send button as a result is also deactivated.

When screen locked, answering the call would then require swiping of the screen in the answer call screen, which is irratating as you pick up the phone the screen may take 1 or 2 secs to auto rotate and you will need to repeat the action again (and possibly miss the call).

They should tweak the side swipe, so its the same position whether the phone is in portrait or landscape to avoid the rotating issue.

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

Because of the bug where the phone freezes after you answer a call using the screen swipe method, I always unlock the phone using the lock switch before answering.

acevalsl · 2 months ago

i have the same problem, 5800 don´t have this problem, but n97 is imposible answer with autorotation enable. finaly i disconect this option because i miss calls

middleda · 2 months ago

Thanks for putting this together. Happy to hear it does a better job with RAM management when running multiple apps etc, however, I'm disappointed that the phone memory hasn't improved. Oh well.

Thanks!

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

I never said that it wasn't improved. They do add quite a bit of free space to the C: drive after the update, it's just that it's still just a 73MB drive.

sloanb · 2 months ago

Great post, will this firmware save the N97, have my doubts. What do you think?

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

I really enjoyed using the N97 with v20 running on it. I enjoyed it so much that today I was delighted to use my own N97 just knowing that v20 is on its way. There are a few bugs in the early version of the firmware that need to be fixed before it's released but honestly this is what we were all expecting when we woke up the morning of Nokia World 2008

Mike Macias · 2 months ago

Well, i think it will be what it should have been in the first place. If they can get the RAM problem stable I'll be happy. And for the love of god...

CAN WE PLEASE HAVE A SPORTS SCORES HOMESCREEN WIDGET

Wow. It's like the one thing I want on my homescreen lol.

Excellent rundown Blaxx. I really can't wait to get this firmware loaded up on my precious.

MajorDouble7 · 2 months ago

I DEFINITELY agree on the sports score widget...I remember your comments from another post, Mike, about how amazing it is that no one's jumped on this. What a basic thing that you'd think would be included from the get go! Even third party programmers haven't jumped in on it. Anyway, I concur that we need something (it's Football season for cryin out loud!).

MD 7

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

If it's any consolation, I haven't found a scoreboard widget for any OS. There isn't one for Android either (the ESPN widget for the HTC Hero is an RSS feed with an ESPN logo)

MajorDouble7 · 2 months ago

Well, I appreciate the comment, and quite frankly, it is a bit more comforting to know that no one else has got a sports widget either. Still kind of surprising though, is it not?

I'm familiar with espn.com's RSS capabilities, but it seems like it's only available for news and such, not scores (for the N97 anyway).

Oh well, we shall have to wait for the present to catch up with the future...again (sigh).
:)

MD 7

Mike Macias · 2 months ago

what??? the iphone HAS to have a good scoreboard APP

Mac · 2 months ago

SportsTap for Android has a home screen scoreboard widget that is customizable, and SportsTap for the iPhone has push updates for teams you mark as favorites.

MajorDouble7 · 2 months ago

great article, Blaxx...thanks for giving us the heads-up. I can't wait for it to show up on my update screen! I'm secretly hoping that a few smaller details are fixed as well...we'll see!

MD 7

nan4k7 · 2 months ago

Thanks for the info, any ideas on when will it be out?

ParkCity · 2 months ago

In our local Nokia Flagship store (Helsinki, Finland) they said it's expected in about two weeks. Hope so!

Name · 2 months ago

Do you know something about the speakerphone problem?
You know the one that the person you're talking to hears about half of what your saying because of this stupid half-duplex system...

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

Can't say that I've ever had this problem but I can't say that I've ever used the speakerphone.

huhuha · 2 months ago

i'm still havin' this very problem...also thought that it's caused by this strange microfone system they use..
hope they fixed that too, cause when i'm usin the loudspeakers, the other one can't understand one wort at least..very annoyin -.-

Chicky · 2 months ago

nan4k7 the rumored release date is 9th October. Can't wait for this firmware ;)

dansharpy · 2 months ago

Thanks for this post! Cant wait for it to be released! Will a post be added as soon as it's released? Ive got the RSS feed as a homescreen widget and woud like to know as soon as possible! (without having to connect my N97 to the update software every hour of the day!) Thanks again for all the great work on N97 Fanatics!

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

We (along with every other Nokia, S60, Symbian and mobile blog) will let you know when it's released.

huhuha · 2 months ago

on october 2nd, i got a short message from nokia, that a new software is available for my phone..i had to checkout nokia.de/softwareupdate ... thought it was the firmware update, but nothin... -.-

nokia we're waitin!!!

Fluca · 2 months ago

No new transitions? By that you mean what exactly? That those transitions showed in the preview video on the N97 mini won't be coming N97's way? Please, say it ain't so.

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

That's what I'm saying

Fluca · 2 months ago

That's just cruel on Nokia's part. Why dangle the carrot in front of us only to, in the end, never actually deliver it? :( Plus it doesn't make a lot of sense. I've payed premium to have Nokia's 'flagship', but only it's mini version has all the goodies. Here's to hoping they change their minds.

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

To be honest, the Theme Effects hinder more than they help. They slow down the phone TREMENDOUSLY (as I saw for myself while I was doing this hands-on). It's best to turn them off and leave them off.

onceitwasnokia · 2 months ago

How come iPhone managed to use transition effect to improve perception of performance, and N97 don't?

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

Because the N97 has a slower CPU and no graphics processor. It simply can't handle the effects that it tries to do. It can't even present them consistently. Just turn them off.

Fluca · 2 months ago

I understand what you are saying and it does make sense. But what doesn't is the fact that still, the N97 mini is shipping with those effects and the exact same hardware (at least to my knowledge).

Also, those who have hacked the phone (I'm tempted but still not included in this group), have found ways to improve it's speed, and the only caveat is on stability's part (at least, this is what's being reported on some forums).

Neverthless, I really do love my N97 and won't be trading it unless I hear tons of hands on reports about the N900 being a better phone (not tablet), which I really doubt.

Thanks a whole bunch for all the info you're providing, btw. They are very much appreciated.

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

I hacked mine and was able to add the missing transitions. They didn't add anything to the device and I've since removed them. I don't know of any hacks that make the phone faster, there are a few little things you can do to make it run better but I haven't heard of anyone overclocking it or anything like that. You're always welcome BTW. Thanks for reading.

dansharpy · 2 months ago

does anyone know what the task manager used in the second video is? ive got system status but it doesnt seem to update according to system conditions! Any recommendations??

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

That's Handy Taskman by Epocware. Great app, I've been using it since my N95. It's not free though.

vatsalasher · 2 months ago

Well done Nokia ! and thanks to E.blaxx for this wonderful update. We want to get our hands on it. I have some clarifications as your post is slient on the same....

"In fact, I never saw RAM dip below 20MB free even with resource hungry apps like Gravity, Photos, Music Player and the web browser running."

We believe you use all 4 together. Thats what is expected from the firmware.

"To the delight of many of our readers, I’m pleased to announce that this latest firmware has added letters to the dialpad on the homescreen. Run and tell a friend!"

Are they cosmetic or the n97 can smart dial, i.e search contacts from the homescreen using the dial pad ? just like e71 does ?

"The scrolling is very smooth throughout the UI, you can actually scroll from A to Z in Contacts with one flick, regardless of how many contacts you have saved."

Wow ! So now the n97 would it be able to handle 3500+ contacts ? Ver 12 did not support as many ?

thanks

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

Yes, I was using all 4 apps together LOL.

I should have tested the smart dial capabilities but it slipped my mind (I'm so used to no longer having it).

Well I don't know anyone with 3500+ contacts but judging by the way it scrolled through 200, it looked like the kinetic scrolling would send the Contacts scroll around and around.

onceitwasnokia · 2 months ago

Ok. No SIP. Perfect.

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

I see you didn't read very closely into what I meant by this

"Skype hasn’t been added either but even if you have been itching for your SIP fix, this might not be the end of the world to you."

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

I'm not going to come right out and say that SIP is there because I didn't test it but there are a bunch of settings that have been added that I was told during the hands-on that are needed for SIP to work.

cjn52 · 2 months ago

in spite of your hesitancy to say..does V2 include SIP registration or not? I suppose we'll all know in a week or so anyways

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

I just said that I can't say for sure because I don't use SIP or VoIP or whatever it is that everyone gripes is not on the N97 that used to be on previous Nseries devices. All I can say is that there are entirely different settings and menu options related to SIP in v20 than what I have on v12

cjn52 · 2 months ago

Such as?

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

Remember the disclaimer at the beginning of the article about certain things that I can't talk about? Consider SIP one of those things. I'm not detailing all the options I saw but I will say that when you go to Settings -> Connectivity -> Admin. Settings, you will see for yourself

cjn52 · 2 months ago

OK cool...if thats the case, that is wayyy better news regarding the skype deal..

onceitwasnokia · 2 months ago

Looks like the same old, clunky, bricky N97.

Sander de Gans · 2 months ago

Can you tell us when the messaging software does support HTML mail? That would be great!

I'm looking forward to the V20 update! Maybe I finally will be happy with my N97 :-)

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

Nokia Messaging does support HTML mail.

Aardvark4Designdotcom · 2 months ago

how do you make nokia messaging display html tho?

Name · 2 months ago

stilll car phone warehouse customers can not update their firm ware due to product code issues between nokia and car phone warehouse... :((

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

The solution would be to change your product code.

Ravindra · 2 months ago

Wow this is a great discussion,Better guys over nokia should read this before they release the next update.

mohamed · 2 months ago

did they fix that pc suite connectivity bug for the black N97 ?

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

Which PC Suite connectivity bug is this?

mohamed · 2 months ago

what happens is that when i connect my N97 through PC suite mode it keeps installing a new hardware and stops at installing MTP driver and never finishes ,as a result it can never connect to the PC ( i had to use the the mobile software updater to get the last upate) ..
notes :
1- when i connect using mass storage it works perfectly (although sometimes that message storage memory bug occurs).
2-tried using different PCs with different versions of windows XP and different usb cables and different suites (i used PC suite , the N series (beta) Pc suite and Ovi suite) .
3-when i connect using pc suite mode it starts charging then it stops after a while .
4-tried leaving it for 15 minutes to complete installing the driver and it didn't do a thing .

this bug is known as the black N97 bug
check these out
http://discussions.europe.nokia.com/discussions...
http://discussions.europe.nokia.com/discussions...
http://discussions.europe.nokia.com/discussions...

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

I stopped using Vista simply because of problems like this. Don't consider it an N97 bug, it's a Vista problem because I faced something similar with my E71.

mohamed · 2 months ago

actually i don't use vista at all , i'm using XP SP 2 and SP3 on different computers !

daClaus · 2 months ago

Any sign of pencil key or shortcuts for cut/ copy/ paste?

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

I can confirm that the new firmware does not add a pencil key to the keyboard. :D

I didn't spend time trying to guess how to cut/copy/paste with the keyboard if it's possible

daClaus · 2 months ago

Lol
Actually I was hoping for a copy/ past function via e.g. long press shift, like on the E71

Baptiste Martin · 2 months ago

It already works on the N97 with firmware V12 you can cut and past using "Shift".

kahon · 2 months ago

Shift key + D-pad to select text then Options->Editing Options->Cut/Copy

Baptiste Martin · 2 months ago

You're right

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

He was speaking in regards to a keyboard shortcut to carry out the Cut/Copy/Paste function along the lines of Ctrl+X/C/V. Most know that they can highlight with the Shift key but it's pretty useless when the Options menu doesn't give you the option to Cut/Copy which is the case in some applications

daClaus · 2 months ago

Right on the spot. I'm using the Gmail app (java) atm and there is no way to select and copy text (or phone numbers) from an email.

Vince · 2 months ago

The FOTO nokia update service via *#0000# is not available. It says service is not responding. Are they cooking up the launch of V20 today? I really hope so since my N97 is getting more full and slower by the day.

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

I haven't been able to connect to the Nokia servers to check for new firmware since last week. I been getting a connection error every time unless I use Wi-Fi

azer · 2 months ago

Is there any work on whether there will be syncing support for OS X

Heikki · 2 months ago

This interests me also, because it seems to be a problem in N97 firmware, not an os x problem.

Alex007 · 2 months ago

Wow die Firmware ist echt gut für mein N97 Handy. Da gibts schon einige neuen Sachen, bin gespannt wann es veröffentlicht wird.

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

We're hoping by the end of the week. Stay tuned.

Name · 2 months ago

Let's hope the native Photo app actually works now...

Have several hundred photos and the database must keep getting corrupted somehow (my guess is it runs out of RAM when closing the Camera app as often everything else has decided to close down, but it's a stab in the dark...) - the majority of my photos are not displayed in the Photo app under "Captured" or "Downloaded". And I haven't found where the internal database is stored so I can reset it...

They are definitely still there though as they never disappear from the Photo Browser beta labs app (or file manager).

Which is good because otherwise this phone would be absolutely useless to someone who bought it to take pictures on the otherwise excellent camera and show them to his or her friends...

selvavm · 2 months ago

To previous post
How do you have a good camera when we all have a scratch camera
Anyway on nokian97forum.com it says 3 days more

Mike Macias · 2 months ago

They fixed the problem. It is covered under warranty. My replacement N97
does not have this issue, nor do the ones sold as of September. You have a 1
year warranty - use it.

MajorDouble7 · 2 months ago

Mike,

I can't remember if you addressed this, but did they replace the entire phone or just the lens housing? Being down in Mexico it's a bit difficult to send mine off for replacement, but it might be worth it...

And who did you contact exactly? I suppose I'll have to read the warrantee literature that came with my N97... :)

Thanks Mike!

MD 7

Mike Macias · 2 months ago

I can't remember if I laid out the details, but they indeed replaced my entire device. I've heard that others just had the lens housing replaced. I did list other problems I was having with mine like bad reception/dropped calls, random crashes, and horrible battery life.

Here is where I got started.

http://www.nokiausa.com/get-support-and-softwar...

I got my new phone in about 7 business days. And if you talk to them on the phone be sure to ask if you can have a shipping label. The lady emailed me one for free, so they covered shipping.

MajorDouble7 · 2 months ago

Sounds great, Mike, thanks for the heads up...hopefully all the Fanatics out there will be able to get theirs replaced as well.

MD 7

Name · 2 months ago

how did u get a new phone?
whats the process of returning ur scratched one

Mike Macias · 2 months ago

Hi,

check my comment that I left right above yours. I just added it.

SulpherSouls · 2 months ago

i cant wait for the kinnetic scroll, it really annoys me that they didnt think of this feature when they build it :S

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

Actually they did, they just thought that only the browser needed it.

putualbertolee · 2 months ago

No... seriously? During test they didn't even bother trying to scroll through 100+ contacts (and see by themselves how annoying it is without kinetic scroll)???

SulpherSouls · 2 months ago

haha some ppl shouldnt be allowed to think ;)

paddeltje · 2 months ago

Some ppl shouldn't be allowed to test! ;)

yitwave · 2 months ago

Thank a lot for the hands on - this is extremely useful but also causes me to feel extremely impatient... few more questions:
1) When you say its much more stable, how much time did you have to use this and were you really pushing the device? Did it freeze / require battery pull in your tests?
2) When you say that there's more ram approx 30mb even after photos, music player, gravity browser.. does the system "Target" to have 30 mb, i.e opening ovi store afterwards would close photos etc... or theoretically you can have 8 - 9+ apps open due to the better use of RAM
5) When you say the N97 is much faster, i've always been irritated at the time required go to the "apps" folder, because of the # of apps, it takes ages to load (a few secs). I've needed to reorganize the folders to ensure each one doesn't have more than 20 apps. Is this still a problem?
4) Any idea what's in store for v30?
5) Do you know if they may overclock the n97 to 600mhz, similar to how the 5800 was overclocked to 434mhz?

daClaus · 2 months ago

Well, afaik the 5800 now is not overclocked, it was "underclocked" to run slower. 434MHz is the actual CPU speed.

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

1. We were pushing it pretty hard and besides a couple bugs that were related to the early version of the firmware we were using, it never crashed, closed any apps, and didn't show any lag. In fact the only time it did give any problems was when we tried to install Nokia Messaging but that was related to the fact that installing Nokia Email is like defusing a nuclear bomb.

2. I don't think you'll ever be able to have 8-9 apps open on the N97, it only has 128MB of RAM remember? But the memory optimization is definitely improved.

3. The demo phone I was using was organized into folders so I can't really answer this but the addition of kinetic scrolling removes that lag between when you open the folder and when you can start scrolling.

4. No clue.

5. Well daClaus was correct that the 5800XM was underclocked to run at 339MHz however the clock speed of the ARM11 core is 600MHz. I don't know if they plan to push it that far (There is battery life to consider). I was trying to find out the clock speed on the demo phone, however, they removed NewLC's PhoneInfo app from the Ovi Store. I know this because we went looking for it.

ParkCity · 2 months ago

Would it be possible to make it 600 MHz? Just to charge a little more often... what else could that cause?

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

I'm sure it's possible but it may cause more harm than good. Not just with battery life but other bugs/stability issues may arise. I'm sure doing the R&D for the N97 they started out running at maximum clock speed and for whatever reason they had to ratchet it down a bit. And I know that some people will come out and say that there are other devices in the Nokia lineup with the same processor that run at 600MHz but keep in mind that none of them are running S60v5

yitwave · 2 months ago

I think given the processor is 600mhz, and Nokia has devices running at this speed already, Nokia is obviously able to clock the device to 600mhz. Whether they will or will they leave this for the next device (N98)..

I still however believe they will upgrade the N97 + mini to 600 mhz to lengthen the product cycle and it can be percieved as a "new feature". Probably on v30 when they also launch new transitions.

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

Don't hold your breath. It's not going to happen. BTW, Nokia doesn't advertise clock speed for their devices. They would promote a faster clock speed as a new feature

adn2377 · 2 months ago

Hello,

For me Nokia N97 has a major reception problem. In areas where the GSM/3G signal is weak (e.g. at home), although other phones are completly usable my N97 drops calls, etc. I went to the Nokia-approved service and they replaced my entire phone a month ago, but the problem is still there. The service technician told me it's related to the N97 phone model rather than my specific phone.
I was wondering if the new software version would improve something on this area?

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

Probably not.

ParkCity · 2 months ago

V20 on sunday october 11th (in Europe)... I wonder if it would be good to make a hard reset before (or after) installing the new firmware? Any opinion?

Baptiste Martin · 2 months ago

Before an update I would recommend to backup the phone, reset it and then only restore those elements : contacts, bookmarks, messages, calendar.

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

There will be a How-To on performing a hard reset efficiently up on the site later tonight.

ParkCity · 2 months ago

I do backups just-in-case almost weekly. But I wonder if the hard reset would be good/necessary before (or after??) installing the v20? I think it would be good to install it on a "clean" phone? Or does it clear everything anyway?

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

FW update won't clear anything thanks to UDP. I do a hard reset anytime I feel that my C: drive is getting too low on free space and the usual circumvention measures can't keep up anymore. I liken it to a situation where you come across a PC infected with malware and even after all kinds of spyware/virus/malware scans/wipes/cleans, it still exists. You simply format everything and start fresh. That's what we did here. I know it doesn't explain why I did a hard reset within 2 minutes of owning my N97 (that was all out of force of habit. You better believe that if *#7370# works on the N900, I'll do it when I power that on too) but still

ParkCity · 2 months ago

Ok, perhaps I'll do a hard reset before installing v20 (just to try Your fetish..:D ).
But finding all widgets and programs and installing them again... they are on E: if it has been possible but I guess at least some of them don't work after reset?

Gene · 2 months ago

EverythingBlaxx, I noticed you mentioned that RAM didn't dip below 20MB with the browser. Out of curiosity, did you surf any content intensive websites, such as Yahoo! Sports or ESPN. Typically after surfing to some of these sites, even off a cold reboot, my N97 starts shutting down other apps, and even the Menu app. Also, it's typically the Web browser that kills the memory. I never saw any other app that kills as much RAM. And after apps randomly shutdown, the RAM never appears to be recovered. I'll lose about ~15MB permanently for the session that can only be recovered with reboot. Is this still the case with v20. I think the phone would be alot more stable if the browser can be redone for better RAM management. And can someone from Nokia tell us why S60v5/Symbian 9.4 uses so much more RAM than S60v3/Symbian 9.2? My 95-3 had around 90MB free from cold boot, my N97 had only half. These kinds of issues basically brings us back to the N95-1 days. Does this mean we have to wait for an N97-2/3/4 with more RAM to get this fixed ;) All of this really kills the internet experience for the N97.

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

I used the benchmark site for straining the browser: Slashdot. Didn't notice any problems. S60 5th Edition is a whole different beast than S60 3rd Edition FP1, it's not even fair to compare the two.

Gene · 2 months ago

Slashdot makes a decent job straining the browser, but probably more because of HTML markup than real content. Yahoo! Fantasy Football and Flickr full site (my personal favorite) really does an awesome job bringing the phone to it's knees - it shuts down my only other user app running, which is Music Player. Almost 40MB of RAM would be eaten up on those sites, and then phone would go funky.
As for S60v5 vs S60v3, it's more out of curiosity to find more obvious explanations. For example - if it's the homescreen eating memory (I would not be surprised at all if that's the case), I probably would request for a feature to actually turn it off for a basic screen then (something I do on my N95-3). I would value memory for the browser and ways to prevent a phone crash alot more than having widgets active all the time. Thanks for your time on this!

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

Well that's why they keep releasing small updates to the browser that are mostly to fix memory leaks more than anything

Shelter · 2 months ago

Hi, is there any onscreen keyboard added to the v20 firmware?

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

No there isn't. There will never be any new on-screen keyboard options for the N97. Only T9 and handwriting

Nihat · 2 months ago

"There will never be any new on-screen keyboard options for the N97"

Hard to understand, is there any explanation why they won't implement this feature (which the small brother 5800 already has)?
It's (in my humble opinion) a must have feature for a touchdisplay mobile, elsewise it kills the touchexperience when you've to slide down the keyboard each time you wanna write a small word... as said, hard to understand for me...

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

The phone has a physical QWERTY keyboard for a reason. If you want to type a small word, it has T9 for that

shalex666 · 2 months ago

seriously guys...thats y n97 has a qwerty keyboard!!! and it really doesnt take much time to slide it out, does it??
so...wheres the point for on screen keyboard...dont get it...never will...

Shelter · 2 months ago

Well, I've never been that much of a T9 user, really prefer to type out the words one by one. And just as Nihat has said, there are times when I am just using the phone portrait like replying sms, and feel lazy to slide out the qwerty. In fact, I think most of the time I feel lazy to slide out the qwerty...:)

You're going to wonder why I bought N97 in the first place, I'm not sure of it myself either. 5800 has a great on-screen keyboard even in portrait mode, and I had minimal problems using it.

Shelter · 2 months ago

Oh wait, also when I'm surfing the web in portrait mode it feels troublesome to slide out the qwerty to just enter the web address of the site I want to go to, or to enter some simple search terms in Google. Somehow surfing in landscape seems a bit counter-intuitive on N97 - harder to scroll with the keyboard in front of the screen if you know what I mean.

If you guys have tried the Opera Mini 5 beta, they implemented an on-screen keyboard, and I found it immensely useful although a bit slow (maybe due to it being a Java program).

Gene · 2 months ago

Actually, I think it's counter-intuitive to surf in portrait mode, as I have to peruse a page in a narrow column now, which is not how I surf on the desktop. It doesn't seem difficult to flick with kinetic scrolling, so not sure where the difficulty is...
I actually do not like Opera Mini at the moment as it forces an on-screen keyboard, even when a keyboard is available. It's probably a bit slow because it's an on-screen keyboard that's alot hard to aim, not because it's Java.

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

Actually I found the on-screen keyboard was the only part of Opera Mini 5 that had accurate touch response. It's a BETA tho, so I expect them to change when it pops up or add an option to hide it

Mac · 2 months ago

There actually is a way to turn off the software on-screen keyboard in Opera 5 - go to options, then advanced, and turn off "inline editing." That'll get rid of any Opera-provided keyboards. It's a bit obscure and not terribly clear, but there you go.

Gene · 2 months ago

Thanks! Now Opera Mini is much more useful to me. Considering that the onscreen keyboard complete eliminates the page while typing anyways, this is much more useful on an N97, as it's much more accurate and quicker. But I still doubt it's Java that's slowing things down, considering that SCREEN RENDERING is really fast.

Shelter · 2 months ago

In fact, come to think of it, I use most of the apps on my N97 on portrait, and feel lazy to slide out the qwerty just to do some text input.

Well, sorry for posting so many times on this. Looks like there will never be, so no point lamenting over it.

nokiaphilippines · 2 months ago

So Blaxx , do you suggest to make a hard reset before or after update?

just want to hear your thoughts.

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

Before. Gives me a clearer picture of exactly what the impact of the FW update is.

nokiaphilippines · 2 months ago

just want to calrify what Mike Macias said, i bought my phone last September 24, and it has no scratches as of now considering the fact that im such a vain person who always open and close the lens cover.

anyway, everyone in the n97forum is mad. The dates were wrong and so as the countdown timer. . oh well.

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

I dunno why they're mad. I could have told you from jump that the rollout schedule posted on HowardForums was fake. One of the many reasons I don't go on HoFo anymore.

Nihat · 2 months ago

Today is October the 11th... anyone have seen an update on sight? :)

huhuha · 2 months ago

Nooo -.- still waitin.. heard about a release today. /Germany

huhuha · 2 months ago

anybody else successful???

Nihat · 2 months ago

Seems that the rollout schedule circulating through the net is incorrect:
http://discussions.nokia.co.uk/discussions/boar...
"I am not sure about the origin of the above but what I can say is that the schedule is incorrect"

Another Thread regarding this is:
http://www.nokian97forum.com/general-lg-viewty-...

Heikki · 2 months ago

Nokia Flagship store service told me on Friday that the update would be available on week 43.

I left my N97 to service there. Let's see if the GPS, camera lens, browser that crashes on start, dropping out of network and synchronization id fixed after that. I don't know about other users, but I haven't been able to use my N97 as primary phone and I got it before launch. Been using N82 instead, because with that at least I can take photos, browse web, navigate etc.

turk · 2 months ago

what do u mean week 43?

Heikki · 2 months ago

The week from 19th to 25th of October. Are you from Burma, Liberia or United States? ;)

turk · 2 months ago

LOL
i live in the US
but im from saudi arabia

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

FW updates do not have release dates. Anyone who provides you with a date is merely speculating and it shouldn't be taken as anything more than just that...speculation. It will be released when it's released.

Nick · 2 months ago

EverythingBlaxx are you getting the N900? My N97 got stolen and am planning on getting another soon but am kinda confused because of the N900. I don't really like the N900 because its lacks a beautiful design especially the back of the phone. In addition, I don't think maemo can run S60 apps and the are some very important apps I use. So what so you think about the N900?

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

I have 2 N900s on pre-order and I will probably order a 3rd before the month is out (Keep 1, sell 2). I am completely sick and tired of S60 and Maemo is the future. The N900 is not intended to be a consumer device. A lot of critics of the N97 thought that Nokia was simply beta testing with the phone but in fact, the N900 is the beta device. It uses hardware and software that is unfamiliar territory when it comes to Nokia smartphones and they are really going to take a close look at what kind of applications the developer community comes up with for Maemo. I wouldn't worry too much about the lack of apps because for every popular or useful S60 app, there will be a Maemo app of its equal by the end of 2009

Gene · 2 months ago

I know how you feel. I'm getting pretty tired of S60. It feels like those days when PalmOS really starting falling downhill. Like they're not really putting talent behind it, and just milking their cow for all it's worth. I'd really like to get the N900 as well. I loved my N800 before I sold it. But here in the US, where the 3G market is fractured beyond repair, I can't even begin considering it as the 3G features would only work on T-Mobile. No way I would ever switch to TMo, no matter what Catherine Zeta-Jones wears. Too bad, maybe next year I'll switch my N97 to an AT&T equivalent, either this bad boy hopefully or maybe a Nokia will take the lessons learned from Samsung, and put their next Symbian phone on Cortex A8 w/ lots of RAM. But definitely WON'T get the Jesus phone :)

Nick · 2 months ago

So do you believe that after N900 we are going to be seeing Maemo powered flagship devices for example lets just say N98? When is the N900 going to be available?

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

They definitely won't go one-and-done with Maemo after the N900. There's already talk of an N920 (which may or may not have a QWERTY keyboard) and don't forget about Maemo 6 which will bow at this time next year. Symbian Foundation still doesn't have anything to show for the year and a half they've had to develop Symbian^2 and Nokia is showing that they have a backup plan. They are playing it safe by making sure that they frame the N900 as an Internet tablet with telephony capabilities rather than a smartphone but you might see that stance change if it really takes off.

nokiaphilippines · 2 months ago

so are you going to put up a n900fanatics.com website?. hehe

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

Time will tell what Mike has planned for the future of this site and future devices.

Nick · 2 months ago

When is the N900 going to be available? I read that portrait mode can only be used during calls, contacts and gallery, I think that a huge draw back in term of single handed usage. You said Maemo 6 is in the works, when it is complete do you think it will be available via update for the N900? One more question please, is there anything symbian possess that Maemo lacks apart from MMS?

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

Portrait mode will be available in 3rd party apps and in firmware updates before the end of 2009 according to Nokia. MMS will be added in the future as well. I don't find it that big of a drawback considering I don't use my N97 in portrait mode much at all. Honestly, I don't know what to expect from whatever Symbian Foundation has planned because they are playing their cards very close to the chest

Nick · 2 months ago

Wowww... N900 lack music equalizers? Thats just sad.

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

Let me ask a general question. How many of you use the EQ on the N97? And of those users, how many of you notice a real difference? IMHO, the equalizer on S60 phones is a joke and its effect is negligible.

dansharpy · 2 months ago

Hi Blaxx, i use the EQ all the time! I have different settings for everything- headphones, in car, home stereo etc. I dont think it matters for standard headphones or if the recording quality is crap, but using good headphones/speakers and quality recording i find the difference is very noticeable! Although the built-in EQ settings are all crap! :)

dansharpy · 2 months ago

Oh and whilst we're on the subject of media and the N900 i noticed that it will support the .avi file type. Is there any way to get the N97 to play this video file type? I.e. another media player than the default maybe?? If so any recommendations?

colin97 · 2 months ago

Hi I'm in Australia on the optus network and still only have software V11.0.021 with no updates listed apart from nokia messaging, ovi contacts + n gage games on my phone via applications. I have also Connected through pc suite and ran nokia software updater V1.7.3en but still no updates. Does anyone know when V12. will be avalible in Australia and do you need this update installed prior to V20. ? Model N97 Type RM-505

Name · 2 months ago

Hey Colin...

I'm in exactly the same boat. From what I've heard is that v12 will be bypassed as v20 is around the corner....this is a reasonable explanation and what i'm really hoping is the case! I tried calling Optus but got no explanation. Hope this helps mate.

Emil · 2 months ago

Well the reason you guys can't update is because your phones are branded. That's why I NEVER EVER buy branded phones. Explained very childishly it's like this: optus has to take the raw v12 or v20 update that any unbranded phone gets and redo it in an optusish v12 or v20 so the phone remains still branded. Best thing you can do is go to a nokia store or something and ask them to unlock or debrand the phone. There is a price but it is SO worth it.
Cheers from Romania mate!

Nick · 2 months ago

I disagree on EQ part. I use EQ, stereo widening etc on my N97 and it makes difference, especially the bass booster EQ. I love using one device that does a whole lot and Music is a big part of that.

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

When compared to anything from the Sony Ericsson Walkman line, the EQ on Nokia devices are useless.

VincePhotograhy · 2 months ago

when Nokia when?????????????
V2
been waiting to long to get this D*amn phone working well in some way....

huhuha · 2 months ago

me too... -.- this phone's gonna make me sick..today it frozes again..don't know why..maybe i have to do a hardreset??

it could be the best phone of the world without this software bugs...

so hopefully nokia will release the FW update soon..

EverythingBlaxx · 2 months ago

Well you already know that I recommend performing a hard reset. But not before reading my guide :D

huhuha · 2 months ago

just thought about that a minute ago :D... but this can't be a solution if I have to repeat this procedure twice a month, could it?
Or how often do you a hardreset? if less it may be an option for me!?

VincePhotograhy · 2 months ago

I did hard reset, even used NSU to reload the firmware, ist still s*cks, even my 3year old 2G iPhone works better.

Gene · 2 months ago

Actually, after v12, I'm much closer to coming to grips with my N97. It's actually alot more stable than my N95-3 now - it used to crash randomly whenever I try streaming things out from the memory card.

A couple of hints that helped me though:
- Run the hack that changes BrowserNG's cache location to mass storage (please google N97 change browser cache location)
- remove Facebook app and APIBridge
- don't use Nokia Email
After doing these few simple fixes, I haven't needed to pull the battery out or reset the phone due to wonkiness in days.
The Facebook app seems to be the big culprit for me, as it uses that funky APIBridge module, which seems to hang once in a while, and I can't even kill it in Handy Taskman when it hangs. That's when I know things will go south.

I've stopped using Nokia Email as I can't set the location of the mailboxes right now. They really need to fix that. I like some of the basic features on it, w/o resorting to Profimail.

But I also see that for my phone, RAM leak mainly occurs when using Music Player over Bluetooth A2DP. So can't really isolate if it's the BT stack, the audio driver, or Music Player itself. But that combo really kills RAM.

Figured out a funny way to recover RAM as well - Close all apps, open BrowserNG, then open a huge web page (IGN.com and Flickr full website are my favorite) that forces Symbian to close up processes and clear the RAM. After I close BrowserNG, I found that I have a little more (~5-7MB) free RAM than before opening it up.

Hope that helps holding you guys over until V20. That firmware can't come soon enough.

huhuha · 2 months ago

thanks for that hint about the browser cache :)

with nokia email (not nokia messaging, which is now available on software update) i hadn't any problems...

i will try this things out! thanks a lot:)

yitwave · 2 months ago

I was at Nokia Care yesterday (to get the GPS fixed, which apparently will take 3 days) and enquired about the V20 firmware for the N97. Apparently, the original unbranded english version has been completed and distributed for localization. The localized versions however are not yet available.

It completely makes sense for Nokia to launch the V20 firmware for the whole world (and all the different localizations) at the same time, and there's no real benefit to have this available before the Mini officially becomes available.

I'm afraid it would probably be closer to the end of the month and a few weeks later for the branded phones.

CC · 2 months ago

omg i went to the nokia care centre and i asked about the camera lens issue and gps they couldn't even bother!! they were like"oh this is how its built" .....Where did u go to get urs fixed?

yitwave · 2 months ago

My camera glass isn't scratched so they're not willing to fix that (obviously because there really isn't a proven problem) but they're checking on the GPS and apparently they will have it fixed by replacing the "main board" of the phone.

Obviously, if your GPS is fine (some are) then there's nothing to fix, but my N97 hardly locks at all, so i'm sure there's a problem.

Tell them your problem and if it warrants a fix i'm sure you'd get it fixed.