Monday, July 20, 2009

Why Buy An Unlocked E71 Instead of E71x And Nokia Looks To Break Into U.S. Smartphone Market

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Posted by Mike Macias

It’s been about 3 months since the Nokia E71x has been available I’ve seen and heard many mixed reactions about the AT&T version of the E71. Most of the reaction has been bad, that the phone is locked down and preinstalled applications cannot be removed. Some find that not all applications for the Nokia E71 unlocked work on the E71x. Those that have had BOTH devices say things like “the E71x is a completely different device… so restricted and tied up.”

We haven’t really heard Nokia speak on the differences between a locked and unlocked device especially here in the United States, until now.

some rss readers cannot see video below.

It may seem kind of silly that people don’t know what a sim card is, but sadly that’s the truth here in North America. I’m happy to see Nokia making commercials geared towards North America. I’m sure it won’t end up in a TV commercial, so what exactly is Nokia planning on doing with this video? Thanks to CJ for finding the video. If you are looking for a E71 unlocked vs E71x comparison post click here.

Buy Nokia E71 Unlocked Phone for $319.99 from Amazon.

Nokia To Sell More Carrier Branded Phones

Recently Nokia has implied that they are ready and eager to take on the North American smartphone market, a place that is dominated by love for the Apple iPhone and full of die hard Blackberry fans. Recent comments by a top Nokia executive shows that they are ready to grab the bull by the horns and take on North American with a full head of steam. An article at ComputerWorld states…

Analysts see that as a subtle move by the engineering-focused Scandinavian company to start using American marketing techniques. The Surge slider device, jointly developed with AT&T Inc., includes a physical QWERTY keyboard, noted Frimere.

"Our strategy is to get as many devices into U.S. carriers as possible," Frimere said in an interview. "We want to be No. 1 in the U.S."

What a bold statement to make for such a huge challenge this will be. But you know the saying “Go big or go home”. Hopefully Nokia backs up these statements.

att-surge

What is this Surge slider device that is mentioned? It’s yet another qwerty Symbian phone coming to AT&T. From the press release

Dallas, TX, USA - Now you can carry your clique with you in your pocket. AT&T* and Nokia today announced the availability of the Nokia Surge, a socially supercharged smartphone powered by the nation's fastest 3G network. Available online and in AT&T stores on July 19, the Nokia Surge is an ideal device for active consumers who like to stay connected whether using IM, text or email, sending multimedia messages, AT&T Video Share, or updating and connecting via their favorite social networks.

In addition to an impressive suite of messaging capabilities, the Nokia Surge offers a powerful browsing experience, including Flash support to view most sites in full HTML or watch YouTube videos.  Nokia Surge allows users to post messages, images, videos, and comments to web sites like Facebook on-the-go with the pre-installed JuiceCaster application.

"Launching at 79.99 USD with a complete email solution, downloadable applications and full HTML browser with Flash support, Nokia Surge hits the sweet spot between a quick messaging phone and a smartphone because of its low-price and strong feature set," said Michael Woodward, vice president, Mobile Phone Portfolio, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets.

It’s good to see more Symbian powered smartphones coming to AT&T but I would like to see them less “locked down” and more open, closer to an unlocked device. And personally I can’t see Nokia selling many smartphones with a 2.2” inch screen like the Surge has.

Do you think the North American smartphone market can be cracked by Nokia? What are your thoughts on the AT&T Surge?

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Monday, January 12, 2009

E71 Firmware v200.21.118 Available For Some Euro Product Codes

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Posted by Mike Macias

Yet another firmware update is available for the Nokia E71, but right now only certain Euro product codes get it. I haven't even been able to get the last update for my North American E71-2. This means that my E71 is now two firmware updates behind. Instead of making this another firmware ranting post, I'm just gonna give you the details of this new firmware verson v200.21.118.

Gerrymoth over at nokiAAddict.com has brought us this outstanding news for European E71 owners. The changelog he has posted is quite extensive and looks to be worth going through the hassle. Sadly there is no User Data Preservation in this update, so everything in the phone will be wiped out. My N82 has User Data Preservation, everything is left perfectly intact during a firmware update which is great. Hopefully this feature comes to Eseries devices sometime soon, especially since these phones are more business oriented than the Nseries.

Check out the changelog below:

New functionalities in MCU SW version 200.21.118:

- Internet Radio application
- My Nokia application
- 3G power reduction for applications using keep-alive style messaging
- User experience improvements:
- Easy Dialing support for Simplified Chinese language
- Device Lock improvement: Open device lock with LSK + Fn-keys
- One key input method switch for China language
- ‘Mute’ option in Right Soft Key when wired headset / hands free is connected
- ‘Loudspeaker’ option in Right Soft Key immediately when phone call is started
- Enlarge characters in Chr-table
- NTLM v1 and v2 support for Intranet Browsing
- New black and red themes

Changes/improvements made to MCU SW version 200.21.118:

General
- Time zones updated
- Improvements to localization
- Localization fixes
- Missing localizations added
- Operator name database updated
- Startup Settings updated
- Certificates updated
- Security updates
- Stability and functionality improvements
- Barcode reader icon changed from 1D icon to 2D icon
- Windows DRM keys are not lost during NSU update from 110.07.127

Qwerty keyboard
- Stability and functionality improvements
- Keyboard mapping corrections

Browser
- Stability and functionality improvements
- Flash Lite improvements

Connectivity
- WLAN stability improvements
- EAP-FAST/TLS stability improved
- WLAN roaming functionality improved
- BT IOP and Dial-up stability improvements

Maps
- Several stability and functionality improvement

Messaging
- Stability and functionality improvements
- Performance improvement

Quickoffice
- Several stability and functionality improvements

VOIP / SIP
- Many stability and functionality improvements

Email
- Mail for Exchange upgraded from version 2.5.5 to 2.7.22
- Improved functionality when sending email via SSL/TLS SMTP server

Mobile dictionary
- Stability improvements
- Improvement for installed languages. Installed language can be removed.

Camera
- Camera image improvements & slow capture correction with certain HW’s
- Stability improvements

Music player
- General functionality and stability improvements

Java
- Update for CLDC-HI (Sun 1.1.1s Java VM)

Device encryption
- Device encryption functionality and stability improvements

Switch application
- Application updates and stability improvements

I've got confirmations from a few people that this is available for RM-346 EURO versions of the E71. Who knows how long it will take for this firmware to reach my E71-2, I still haven't got the old one.

Be sure to backup your data on the device before the update.

Let us know if you find it for your product code, and how good the changes are. I'm curious to know if the dark theme problem has been fixed in the Contacts application.

Props to nokiAAdict.com for all this info. Check out that site for great tips and tricks from an enthusiastic E71 owner.

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Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Update E71 Firmware Safely With These Tips - And How's The New Firmware?

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Posted by Mike Macias

Is this your first time updating Nokia firmware? I know many readers here at the blog are first time S60 users - the E71 being their first Nokia smartphone. Updating to the latest firmware can be a little tricky, but the fellas at E71 Blog have posted a handy guide, showing you steps everyone should take before upgrading to the newest E71 firmware. This will ensure that you don't lose data - because if you didn't know a firmware update will wipe out your entire phone memory.

The methods he shows are using the tools within the device to backup your memory. You can also use Nokia PC Suite with the backup tools, which is the method I prefer.

Click here to check out the article.

Either method you choose - DON'T FORGET TO BACKUP YOUR DATA.

How Is The New Firmware?

If you've been following my last article about the latest E71 firmware you'll see hundreds of comments, with the most recent showing that almost all regions are finally seeing the update.

But still nothing here in North America - for me at least.

For all those who have updated... How is it? Are you satisfied? Is the purple haze now gone from the pictures? Any new problems with the firmware? What are your thoughts?

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Monday, November 10, 2008

New E71 Firmware v.110.07.127 Available For The Masses (Not Including North America)

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Posted by Mike Macias

New firmware for the Nokia E71 is finally available for everyone except North American owners. This is horrible news for myself and other E71-2 users. Nokia has done this before with the N95 versions as well. It took months for the NAM users to see an update.

Instead of ranting about why this is, I'll just show you the changelog for the new E71 version 110.07.127 firmware, thanks to Candyman from Howard Forums...

Nokia E71 SW releases 110.07.127

This SW release contains
the following new features:

Gimlet 9.2.1.381 (Nokia Email Service version) in user disk; gimlet is visible only in countries where service available, otherwise hidden.
Improved Email Set-up Wizard to check availability of Nokia email service
This is visible only in countries where service available, otherwise hidden.
Mail for Exchange 2.5.5
Maps 2.0 release from wk 30
VoIP baseline from wk 31
Switch4 from wk 32
Startup settings from wk 31
Catalogs 3.1.50 from wk 32
Y drive for WMDRM protection files

Changes/improvements made to
MCU SW version 110.07.127:

Email set-up improvements
Maps 2.0 improvements
Music library refresh function performance improvement
Browser improvements
Bluetooth improvements
Camera improvements

Corrected Items from
MCU SW version 100.07.76

Email for Exchange – Synching improvements
DUT does not connect to BT stereo headset (SEM HBH -DS970) and car kit (SM HCB-120)
Y-drive visible with PC Suite
EAP-FAST authentication improvements
Unable to start maps when memory card is full
Camera - Picture cannot be taken correctly after zooming in max

Nokia has also mentioned this tidbit about the new firmware...

This software release includes a new versions of Mail For Exchange and Nokia Maps. The release also includes a number of performance improvements including camera viewfinder orientation, Mail for Exchange synchronisation and browsing. Please note that if you have encrypted your device or memory card, decrypt it before the software update to avoid possible data loss.


Me being a North American E71 owner can't see this update or try out this new firmware. I'm just going to have to wait it out with all other E71-2 owners.

For everyone else in the world, congrats and be sure to leave us comments with your thoughts on the latest firmware 110.07.127. Sounds like nothing groundbreaking has been added, mostly bug fixes and improvements. Let us know if you find any other goodies not mentioned here.

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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Nokia E71 Product Codes For Your Consumption

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Posted by Mike Macias

If your looking for a full list of product codes for the Nokia E71 look no further than another fellow E71 blog I found. The Nokia E71 Blog is compiling a list of product codes that many will find extremely valueable.

Photobucket

Using a program on your computer called Nemesis Suite you can change your product code to another version if your in need of certain languages or small features your version might not have. I have no experience in doing this, I just got this information from this article at Blink Thinks blog.

I don't think that image above is the full list of product codes.

Click here to see the compiled list of Nokia E71 Product Codes at The E71 Blog.

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