[mchmarny]

Now, normally I would not care but over the last couple of months everyone keeps blogging about the new firmware for their E71.

I have paid a full price for mine in the US (Newegg) so that I would not be constrained by some provider limitations.

Well, now I find out that everyone else in the world, including the US, but that one product code (0569371) has received their updates, some even two and I am still stuck on the original 1.0 release.

Can anyone one over there at Nokia explains this to me like a 4-year-old, why does Nokia punishes owners of this particular product?

[jonas_smith_uk]

There may well be a valid reason why the f/w for your device is not avalible to update yet.. have you checked with your local service center or the place you bought it from?

[mchmarny]

Yes, I have contacted Nokia with this request. Still no reply. Also, I doubt that Newegg would have any comments as to the reasons why an unbranded and unlocked phone from world-renowned manufacturer does not receive any updates that are made available to everyone else in the world, except this particular product code.

[jonas_smith_uk]

I can tell how you feel with this I was in a similar situation with my nokia 6220 Classic but before nokia could resolve it for my I was updgraged by my work to my E71.. I would hold on for a bit and see if nokia reply to your request or even release the update.. i would check the can i update page weekly... dont give up just yet

[gloomys]

Mchmarny, been there done that. Same unlocked E71 from Newegg. It is frustrating and now I am seriously thinking to sell it on e-bay.
If NOKIA do not want to support phones with NAM standards then, please, stop selling them. Because our money is as worth as European money.
Now I well know NOKIA does not care at all of posts like this and/or loose a single customer. However, I amn discouraging any friend or acquaintance whomsoever to buy NOKIA products.
Sorry for the rant.

Tino

[mchmarny]

I guess all I am saying that if there is a good reason for this delay (let's hope) than just announce it and we will shut up. Ignoring this issue for a couple of months now does not do Nokia and favors.

[gloomys]

Yes, the reason is that we have a different chipset compared to the other products. The number of sold units does not probably justify the labor hours needed to customize/test the FW.

[mchmarny]

I guess I must have missed the "we are selling it but will not support it" sticker.

[dcman1]

I have the same product code E71, purchased from Best Buy. It would be good to see an official response from Nokia. This lack of firmware support makes it hard for me to consider purchasing another Nokia in the US or to recommend this phone to others. Nokia has a long ways to go in terms of gaining market share in the US and basically abandoning NAM customers who decide to ditch the subsidized mobile operator phone model for a full price Nokia phone isn't going to help them. I'm on T-Mobile so I'm not able to take advantage of AT&T's HSDPA - anyone know if the firmware supported Euro models will work on T-Mobile's EDGE frequencies? Maybe that's a less than ideal but better than nothing solution for T-Mobile users...

[mchmarny]

I also am on the Tmobile network and am OK with no 3G, however, if I do not get any response from Nokia I will be force to try to update my phone product code.

I know this will void the warranty but then is not like I am getting any "warranty" from Nokia right now, am I?

[jonas_smith_uk]

You are still getting warranty from nokia right now as you have an original product from them regardless of the f/w version.. have you contacted a service center to see if they can force an update?

[mchmarny]

No, I contacted Nokia directly, the closes service center to me is in Chicago and I am not in a position go without my phone even for the shortest time right now.

Again, I am going to wait for the official response from Nokia (assuming I will ever get one) and either be a happy owner of yet another Nokia product or simple become an outspoken critic of their products in North America

[otravers]

I am too a disappointed owner of an E71 bought from Newegg. I paid $400 for a device and Nokia is not going to maintain its firmware? This is terrible, and if not addressed soon, I'll make sure to let know as many people as possible to stay away from Nokia.

[mchmarny]

I got a response back from Nokia USA telling me that "there are many complicated reasons as to why this product code is getting no firmware upgrades". Of course that representative would not wanna go into any one of them but if I had a specific issue with the current firmware that is documented as fixed in the 1.1 or 2.0 releases than she would see.

I am really not sure what that means but the few issues that bother me the most are:
- Purple tint in photos
- Some incoming calls aren't identified in the phone book
- Built-in email app constantly dropping the connection in IMAP
- Address book does not use system-wide theme (OK, I could live without that one, but still...)

May be if we start documenting these issues it will be harder for Nokia to justify this ongoing ignorance towards that particular product code.

[gloomys]

This is preposterous! What, don't they have a bullet list of fixed bugs every time they shipped a new firmware? She would just need to go online and check her company's own website.
Please, it's already frustrating to be the forgotten children, it's not fair at all to feed us up with foolish answers out of corporate marketing guidelines.

Regards,

Tino

[mchmarny]

Having exchanged a few polite emails with NA Nokia devission I got this today:

"Nokia is consistently working to improve our product services and realizes the software update is important to you. I regret to inform you, that I do not have a release date for the firmware update to your Nokia E71 device. Please continue to monitor the Nokia Software Updater (NSU) for updates for your device. "

So, I have decided to go on a mission to provide potential North America buyers of the Nokia phones sold in US about the support they can expect. Do I think this will help? I doubt it, but what else can I do? Class action suite?

I frequent these mobile blogs/forums on daily basis: Nokia Phone Blo, nokiAAddict, UberPhones, Mobile Tech Weblog, IntoMobile, MobileCrunch, Symbian-Guru, Mobile88. You can look thre for my ongoing comentary.

Go ahead Nokia, mark this thread as "resolved"

[otravers]

Hey Nokia, how can I get my E71 that I paid $400 for replaced with a device you'll properly maintain?

What a joke.

[nathanf]

I too paid $400 for a new unlocked device and am extremely disappointed that there is no firmware update for it.  I got this phone primarily so that I could always be in good contact with my email accounts.  However, the IMAP connection drops all the time, and does so silently so I'm never really sure if it's working or not.  Also, every once in a while it crashes in such a way that completely disables my mail one-touch key.  This is unacceptable for a device that costs this much and for features that are supposed to be part of the main function of the phone.

 Can anyone confirm or give details about the rumor that there is a different chipset in these phones than the ones sold in Europe?

[naivsupr]

They are slow posting new updates here in the nordic countries too, I think, Code:0570146. Last year I waited and waited for 1.1, it never showed up. When I just now started reading about v.2.0 I tried Software Update again, and now i just got 1.1. According to another thread around here there are still unsolved topics:
/discussions/board/message?board.id=swupdate&thread.id=45616

Maybe they aren't ready yet? simple as that?

[nathanf]

What happened to the message that was just above this one?  It seems to have been deleted.  Maybe because the author concluded that the only thing keeping the software updates from the 0569371 product code is a marketing agreement with a distributor or provider?

@naivsupr

If they aren't ready then they shouldn't put the firmware out for the rest of the world.  Why would the software work better in Europe than in North America?  If there are specific technical reasons why it won't work in a particular region then it's a really simple matter to tell people about it and thereby earn their trust.  If I knew what the issue was, then I'd be patient.  As it is now, I feel like I'm being kept in the dark and that makes me dislike and distrust Nokia.