9500 firmware v4.51

Not to answer your question, but I just bought my 9500 here in Denmark 3 days ago, and it does come with 4.51 (0) - that's what it says - preinstalled.

So, I guess the newer ones have the never software 😉

Cheers,

Gnuig (Copenhagen, DK)

Thanks Gnuig,

It's at least interesting to know that the phone is available with the latest firmware already installed.
Now I simply need to find a UK supplier with new stock.
One of the problems is that the staff in a lot of mobile phone shops haven't a clue regarding Communicators. I was recently told by an assistant in a branch of CPW that she thought the 9500 was a replacement for the 9300, even although the latest edition of their magazine contains a half page feature on the 9300!!!
Thanks again for you info.

dla17 wrote:Thanks Gnuig,

It's at least interesting to know that the phone is available with the latest firmware already installed.
Now I simply need to find a UK supplier with new stock.
One of the problems is that the staff in a lot of mobile phone shops haven't a clue regarding Communicators. I was recently told by an assistant in a branch of CPW that she thought the 9500 was a replacement for the 9300, even although the latest edition of their magazine contains a half page feature on the 9300!!!
Thanks again for you info.

Well I have just told Nokia that they can take their 3 wk old phone back!! WIthin the first 10 days it was obvious that the firmware was full of bugs and around the date my phone was shipped it had already been superseded.
PC Suite did not work properly either.

I contacted 2 dealers: one had the latest firmware download, but has not received the hardware adapter from Nokia with which to re-flash the phone - and it is not expected for another 3 weeks!!!
The second has the adapter, and downloaded the software but admitted I would be their guinea pig. I wrote off an entire day to take the phone to them in person, and after 4 hours abortive effort they had to admit that could not make it work, and could not install the upgrade. I wasted a whole day waiting while the phone was "worked on" only to have to take it away with v4.44 still on it, bugs and all.
And now Nokia tell me the phone will have to be sent away to them for "repair". Sod that ! - they can have the thing back and I shall have a refund. This is no way to launch a product Nokia, and you will kill your customer base stone dead if you carry on like this.
In my opinion this phone was not ready for market. Any product manager should have blocked shipments until the product was stable and fit for sale, and to do as they have done is shabby at the very best. BUt it is also suicidal as they are getting appalling publicity.
I would suggest to anyone thinking of buying a phone, refuse to accept delivery unless it has the latest firmware on it (currently 4.51, still in UK ??) before shipping.!!

stubby wrote:Well I have just told Nokia that they can take their 3 wk old phone back!! WIthin the first 10 days it was obvious that the firmware was full of bugs and around the date my phone was shipped it had already been superseded.
PC Suite did not work properly either.

I contacted 2 dealers: one had the latest firmware download, but has not received the hardware adapter from Nokia with which to re-flash the phone - and it is not expected for another 3 weeks!!!
The second has the adapter, and downloaded the software but admitted I would be their guinea pig. I wrote off an entire day to take the phone to them in person, and after 4 hours abortive effort they had to admit that could not make it work, and could not install the upgrade. I wasted a whole day waiting while the phone was "worked on" only to have to take it away with v4.44 still on it, bugs and all.
And now Nokia tell me the phone will have to be sent away to them for "repair". Sod that ! - they can have the thing back and I shall have a refund. This is no way to launch a product Nokia, and you will kill your customer base stone dead if you carry on like this.
In my opinion this phone was not ready for market. Any product manager should have blocked shipments until the product was stable and fit for sale, and to do as they have done is shabby at the very best. BUt it is also suicidal as they are getting appalling publicity.
I would suggest to anyone thinking of buying a phone, refuse to accept delivery unless it has the latest firmware on it (currently 4.51, still in UK ??) before shipping.!!

I totally agree with you, in fact I'm so angry about my experience with my 9500 that I can't write it again; here's a 'cut and paste' of my letter to Nokia:

Nokia After Sales Support
PO Box 347
Huntingdon
Cambridgeshire
PE29 6GX

8th March 2005

Dear Sirs

Faulty Nokia 9500 Communicator

I wish to complain about my faulty Nokia 9500 and the unsatisfactory serice that I have had in repairing it.

My wife bought me this phone for Christmas through Vodafone. I wanted this phone to replace my aging Psion 5mx and expected it to meet Nokia's claims of being able to work on Microsoft Office documents and new word files, then being able to transfer them back to my PC. When I try to open any word files transferred from the Nokia to the PC I have no success. It appears that the firmware on the phone (v4.34) isn't fully compatible with Microsoft Service Pack 2 and Microsoft Office 2003 (installed on my PC), as explained in the enclosed web literature. The literature also states that Nokia has rectified this compatabilty problem in a new firmware release (v4.50).

I took the phone to the nearest service centre (MPRC, Staffordshire) recommended on your website on the 16th February 2005 (see enclosed documentation), to have the firmware update. They informed me that the phone would have to be sent away and would take two to three weeks to be returned (I understand the actual update process takes less than an hour). When I collected the phone after two weeks I found that the firmware had only been updated to v4.38(8) and I was still unable to work on Microsoft Office documents (exactly as before). Furthermore, the keyboard shift characters to not correlate with what appears on the screen. On further inspection it is apparent that during the sevice the keyboard has been replaced with a foreign one (hence the �, �, �, � and � keys!)

To summarise, my complaints are:

My phone has never been able to work with Microsoft Office documents or transfer and open documents to my PC successfully, a major Nokia selling point for this phone.
The phone took two weeks to be 'serviced' (I was told it was sent to Nokia) rather than the firmware being available locally, especially when it takes such a short time to do.
The firmware update was not the latest and therefore didn't rectify the problem.
During the service the keyboard was replaced with an incorrect European one, adding to the problems.

All this has caused me great inconvenience as, not suprisingly, I use this phone for my work. I request that you make arrangements as quickly as possible to replace my Nokia 9500 for a new one with the latest firmware (now v4.51). If you are unable to do this then I shall have to cut my losses and return the phone to you for a full refund.

I look forward to your prompt reply.

Yours faithfully etc

Phew! (take a deep breath, and relax........). The web literature I referred to was from Steve Litchfield's site, http://3lib.ukonline.co.uk/9500bugs.htm

So that was a week ago, I've had a token acknowledgement letter from Nokia but nothing else. When I phoned them yesterday (or rather the company they employ to take the flak for them), I was advised that Nokia always sends out an acknowledgement letter within five days of receipt and that I should wait until the end of this week before calling them again. Then they can pass on my grievences to Nokia!

Why do I think this is going to go horribly wrong?

manderleyfox wrote:I totally agree with you, in fact I'm so angry about my experience with my 9500 that I can't write it again; here's a 'cut and paste' of my letter to Nokia:

Nokia After Sales Support
PO Box 347
Huntingdon
Cambridgeshire
PE29 6GX

8th March 2005

Dear Sirs

Faulty Nokia 9500 Communicator

I wish to complain about my faulty Nokia 9500 and the unsatisfactory serice that I have had in repairing it.

My wife bought me this phone for Christmas through Vodafone. I wanted this phone to replace my aging Psion 5mx and expected it to meet Nokia's claims of being able to work on Microsoft Office documents and new word files, then being able to transfer them back to my PC. When I try to open any word files transferred from the Nokia to the PC I have no success. It appears that the firmware on the phone (v4.34) isn't fully compatible with Microsoft Service Pack 2 and Microsoft Office 2003 (installed on my PC), as explained in the enclosed web literature. The literature also states that Nokia has rectified this compatabilty problem in a new firmware release (v4.50).

I took the phone to the nearest service centre (MPRC, Staffordshire) recommended on your website on the 16th February 2005 (see enclosed documentation), to have the firmware update. They informed me that the phone would have to be sent away and would take two to three weeks to be returned (I understand the actual update process takes less than an hour). When I collected the phone after two weeks I found that the firmware had only been updated to v4.38(8) and I was still unable to work on Microsoft Office documents (exactly as before). Furthermore, the keyboard shift characters to not correlate with what appears on the screen. On further inspection it is apparent that during the sevice the keyboard has been replaced with a foreign one (hence the �, �, �, � and � keys!)

To summarise, my complaints are:

My phone has never been able to work with Microsoft Office documents or transfer and open documents to my PC successfully, a major Nokia selling point for this phone.
The phone took two weeks to be 'serviced' (I was told it was sent to Nokia) rather than the firmware being available locally, especially when it takes such a short time to do.
The firmware update was not the latest and therefore didn't rectify the problem.
During the service the keyboard was replaced with an incorrect European one, adding to the problems.

All this has caused me great inconvenience as, not suprisingly, I use this phone for my work. I request that you make arrangements as quickly as possible to replace my Nokia 9500 for a new one with the latest firmware (now v4.51). If you are unable to do this then I shall have to cut my losses and return the phone to you for a full refund.

I look forward to your prompt reply.

Yours faithfully etc

Phew! (take a deep breath, and relax........). The web literature I referred to was from Steve Litchfield's site, http://3lib.ukonline.co.uk/9500bugs.htm

So that was a week ago, I've had a token acknowledgement letter from Nokia but nothing else. When I phoned them yesterday (or rather the company they employ to take the flak for them), I was advised that Nokia always sends out an acknowledgement letter within five days of receipt and that I should wait until the end of this week before calling them again. Then they can pass on my grievences to Nokia!

Why do I think this is going to go horribly wrong?

Well it is a relief (in a way) to find I am not alone. I still have no response whatsoever from Nokia other than from a senior guy in Finland who appears to be trying to get someone on the case, probably because they realise that this is appalling publicity and threatens to sink sales of the phone.

However in fairness to Vodafone, they offered last night to send me a new replacement phone, but of course at the moment cannot confirm that any new phone will not also have 4.41 installed on it.
I wait to see just how slow Nokia are at dealing with this issue. And meanwhile if I were reading these web postings, I would decide not to buy, or at least to wait a month or so at least, to see if we guinea pigs get sorted out, and whether any new release does actually resolve the growing list of bugs being reported. There is no guarantee that it will, is there?

If someone from Nokia is reading these posts, do you think it might be a good idea to review what sort of pre-launch product testing panel or process you use, and also review who is on it?

My apologies for not concluding this thread.
I have in fact now obtained my 9500 with v4.51 already installed, from an excellent supplier called Fleming Communications in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Switching from Vodafone to O2 meant I got the handset on a 600 minute contract for �129.

Radio Phone Services in Leeds are flashing 9500's to the latest version 4.51

Telephone Number: 01132635988

I did mine this morning, takes about 20 mins.

Imran wrote:Radio Phone Services in Leeds are flashing 9500's to the latest version 4.51

Telephone Number: 01132635988

I did mine this morning, takes about 20 mins.

Well I took mine into Surrey Car Telephones again today, for the second time, and also for the second time I wasted four hours, only to return to be told by the engineer that he had been unable to do it, and unable to make the Nokia downloads work. As a result I am sending my phone back and taking a replacement from Vodafone.

There seems no plausible reason that Surrey Car Telephones in Guildford were unable to re-flash my phone and even Nokia seem not to understand why they failed at two attempts to do it.

Therefore Nokia have agreed to replace my phone with a new handset, which in itself is a pain as it means stripping off my phone and losing the use of it for a day or so. However if this resolves the stream of problems which have occurred under v4.41 on my handset, then it is worth it.