I ignored the previous firmware update available for my Nokia E71, as it was just a minor update. But now it seems that there is a rather large firmware upgrade.

I really like my symbian powered smartphone, and now with this new firmware I hope I will be able to enjoy it even more! Got something to have fun with this evening: upgrading my firmware and trying it out!! Woohoow :-)

Source: http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/item/8759_Firmware_update_for_E71_20...

I'll include the changelog here:

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

And I hope I will be able to bring some screenshots of the new themes this evening ;-).

/dev/out

Alrighty then...

I've been using my new Nokia E71 for a bit
longer then 1 month now so I was thinking it was about time I tell
something about it. Please do not think of this post as a full review because
it is not. It's more like, uuhm, some remarks/notes...

1. The Internal GPS
   Yes, let's start with the primary reason (ahum) I bought it.

   Maybe you remember, maybe not but a while ago my bluetooth GPS just melted...
   As I need a GPS, and I really liked the E71 I decided to buy the E71 instead of a new bluetooth GPS.

   I haven't used Nokia maps a lot, instead I've been using Sygic Mcguider. When I still had my E61i I was used to TomTom,
   but when I tried it on my E71 i was not pleased by the poor support for the Internal GPS. I had to manually select it every time I launched TomTom!! What a hassle...

   A bit later a friend told me about Sygic Mcguider and I decided to try it out, and I must say, I was very surprised!!
   Navigating was fun, the internal GPS worked very well with Sygic and the user interface is just great...
   I really can't say anything bad about it :-)

   The only downside I noticed with my internal GPS was that I had to wait like 10 minutes or so before the GPS would have a 'fix', which I have solved now! And this is a hint for anyone with an E71 and sygic:

   Go to the settings, go to gps hardware settings, and change the com port from 'Internal GPS' to 'Assisted GPS'!!

   Now the only downside here is that when you launch sygic it will (very briefly) make a GPRS/3G connection to determine your position based on the cells you're around. This action will speed up the 'fix', and I noticed it only 'sends data' most of the time. I'm wondering how it can determine position like this, but maybe the connection is so short and so 'few KB's' that it doesn't show up in the connection log of my E71.

Watch out for July 11!

Prices:

• 8GB model 525€
• 16GB model 615€

Great! Remember the iphone 3g, stay away post?

Well having to pay 525€/615€ for a phone that sucks that much? Wicked...

This probably won't keep the fanboys from buying it :-) but seriously: come on samsung/android/htc/... give this new microsoft some competition!!