2 posts tagged “upgrade”

Yep, another N95 post.

Tired of waiting for T-Mobile to come out with the latest firmware (see my recent post) I decided to take the plunge and debrand my N95. Thanks to an article by adonisdemon here, I found following the instructions quite straightforward, though I did hit a couple of minor problems.

Based on his instructions, I followed a fairly simple step plan, as follows:

1. Note which applications I use/have installed. Make sure I know where the install kits are, or can be located. Make a note of the T-Mobile VoiceMail number - this setting will be lost! (See Tools/Call Mailbox)
2. Backup the phone, using PC Suite. This is with the old Product Code, just in case.
3. Install the NSS software.
4. Connect the phone to the PC (note: close down PC Suite or NSS won't find the phone)
5. Update the Product Code using NSS (I opted for EURO 1 SAND - 0534851)
6. Power Cycle the phone Off/On - I had to do this as I was having problems backing up the phone contents at this point.
7. Backup the phone contents again using PC Suite, Do it twice just in case. This backup has the new Product Code.
   
8. Offer up a libation to the gods, and Upgrade the Firmware...
9. Restore the backup from point 7. As long as the restore works, delete or otherwise lose the backup from point 2 - it will 'brick' the phone if you try to restore this onto the new Product Code.
   
10. Add in the Voicemail Number again.

At this point, I was assured all would be well with my world. And it would have been, but most of my applications were now missing. Never mind, I had point 1 above to fall back on. It's an unpleasant task, but at least it gave me a chance to review all the stuff I'd installed. Do I really use it all? Are there any alternatives?

I decided to bite the bullet and give Shozu another go, as I'd had some comms problems earlier today with Share Online 3.0. My previous attempts at using Shozu were abortive, as mixed with Vox Mobile, the two conspired to kill video recording on my phone. I've come to the conclusion that T-Mobile must have been the culprit, as initial tests show that Shozu and Vox Mobile can live happily together on this firmware. In fact, they can both also live happily with the Location Tagger beta running as well! So far, I've tested Shozu uploads to Vox and Flickr (geotagged, yay!!), and I've uploaded a test video stream to Qik. I've not reloaded Kyte at this point - for my purposes I see no need at the moment with Qik installed, though that may change later.

All my other apps are now installed, all my settings for contacts, email accounts etc have all been retained, and with the Demand Paging in this version of the firmware, it's fun seeing how many I can run concurrently now. Something I only dreamed of with the T-Mobile firmware in place.

Oh, and the phone can still make phone calls! :-)

Differences I've noticed?
 

• The Web'nWalk button is now Music (I've changed it back to 'Web'). I've lost the T-Mobile home page, and starting the web now leads to a bookmarks page.
• Sliding out the music controls doesn't bring up that hideous circular menu thing - it just rotates the screen display.
• There are some additional options on the menus - including an N-Gage application that I've not fired up yet, and others that look equally intruiging.

I finally managed to update my N95's firmware last night, after the T-Mobile update (to 12.0.0.13) was made available.

I took a full backup, synch'ed my contacts and Lifeblog, and made a list of applications installed. Then I hit the button, and went to watch TV. When I came back, the update had completed and I started the restore.

After that, I was amazed to find that only 4 or 5 applications had disappeared requiring a re-install. In all, the process took about three hours (but most of this was backup/restore time, including my 2Gb card).

My main reason for wanting the upgrade was the Assisted GPS functionality, which is supposed to get a fix, even without a view of the sky, by triangulating on the mobile signals received from known masts. I'll admit I haven't had this working indoors as yet, though getting a fix outdoors this morning took seconds rather than the usual minutes, so I'm impressed enough for now.

I tried taking a photo, to get it geotagged, using ZoneTag, but Zonetag wouldn't play ball. It continually requested a code, which has to be obtained from the web site. As soon as I entered it, it requested the code again. I never did get that photo uploaded. Strike 1 for ZoneTag - I've emailed their support people asking for an explanation.

Next job is to upgrade my partner's phone - she won't be best pleased if I cock that one up!