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N95, some questions, performance issues, WLAN etc.

9 replies · 4,280 views · Started 13 May 2007

Hi, OK I upgraded my Orange N95 mobile phone v11.0.026 using the various tips and and hints and help offered here by other forum members - so thanks.

One of the main issues I have encountered (both before and after upgrading) is WLAN performance - or specifically media streaming - which is what I use the WLAN for most. Let me just say that I have a super stable wireless LAN home set up I use a US Robotics USR9108 - which although it might seem an odd choice - is noted by anyone who knows anything about wireless routers for it's super stable and ultra reliable performance.

Well anyway, for the longest time I have used Orb http://www.orb.com/ to stream my media to all of my portable WiFi enabled devices (I'm a gadget nut so I tend to get few a through of these).

However the performance of RealPlayer when watching videos streamed via Orb really sucks, I get about a minute of video followed by 15 seconds of 'buffering', followed by a minute of video and then 15 seconds of 'buffering' and so on and on it goes - making video virtually impossible to watch.

When it comes to music, I get the weird result whereby I can stream almost exactly 4 songs (depending on length) from any album, before the WLAN craps out and gives me a 'server time' out message. I am not sure what this is about at all, or why it is so precise before the server times out.

Are there any services that work well with the N95? Orb hasn't ever really given me an issue before.

The other thing I found a bit strange was the vertical screen position when watching streamed videos in RealPlayer. It seems totally weird that there we have quite a bit of quite nice screen real estate that isn't being used. Surely the best screen orientation for almost all appropriately formatted video is in the horizontal 'wide screen' position, rather than the vertical position?

Next I was told that upgrading the firmware would enable VOIP functionality on my phone. But I can't find this anywhere. Is there a tutorial anywhere on how to go about this - or can anyone here offer any hints or tips?

The other thing I found (but which isn't so easy to fix) is having the keys at the wrong angle when web browsing. If you flip to a horizontal (wide screen) orientation for web browsing, the keys are just really awkward to use - as they remain in a vertical position.

I keep finding myself wanting to flip the n95 main slider screen about a central axis (in addition to sliding out so that the phone forms a T shape so that both the screen and the keys are correctly oriented with each other. (But obviously that is just a current design limitation of this particular phone). I think really the biggest problem is that the lack of a touch screen on a phone of this calibre is really a very limiting factor when it comes to web browsing.

Also I was wondering if there was such a thing as homebrew for the N95 - or if not if there was any commercial apps. that could be bought for it?

If so where might I find out what these are and where to buy them?

raid517 wrote:
The other thing I found a bit strange was the vertical screen position when watching streamed videos in RealPlayer. It seems totally weird that there we have quite a bit of quite nice screen real estate that isn't being used. Surely the best screen orientation for almost all appropriately formatted video is in the horizontal 'wide screen' position, rather than the vertical position?...

Also I was wondering if there was such a thing as homebrew for the N95 - or if not if there was any commercial apps. that could be bought for it?

If so where might I find out what these are and where to buy them?

You can open video's in full screen mode either by opening the media key slider (which will automatically move the screen to landscape) or by pressing "Pause" (left soft key) then "Options - Continue in full screen"

There are hundreds of commercial apps for the N95. Anything flagged as running on S60 (or Series 60) 3rd Edition should run with no problem. There is also some freeware out there.

You can find this software in the Allaboutsymbian store or at Handango among others.

But be aware that anything programmed for Series 60 version 2 or earlier will NOT run on the N95.

OK thanks, I guess that just leaves the voip thing - as I doubt there's much that can be done about the rest.

I read somewhere that I probably had to install Truphone. (Although I thought that VOIP would be there after I did the firmware upgrade?)

I sent a blank text as instructed to 44 7624 000 000 but so far some 3 or more hours later I still haven't received a text from them.

Is there something I'm missing here?

OK, that's now officially looking pretty odd. I just seen a video here:

http://www.truphone.com/blog/blog.tru?entry=video_showing_internet_telephony_removed

And even after updating the firmware to V11.0.0.26 (it was an Orange phone, so as I said, I needed to do a bit of messing about first to get the latest firmware to install) my phone still looks like the Orange Phone in the video on the right.

So there are no options anywhere on my phone that I can see that relate to 'internet telephony'.

I checked that the firmware process worked by running the Nokia Software updater again just to check - and it definately says that I'm running V11.0.0.26.

So why haven't I still got any options for Internet telephony?

Surely after the firmware update, my phone should look like the unlocked phone on the left in this video?

I know I have to install TruePhone (But that's another story they say my number is invalid on their web page - maybe because it's an Orange number), but nonetheless I imagine I should still have options after updating (like in the video) to configure Internet Telephony settings regadless of this?

Please guys. Can someone tell me what's going on with the VOIP thing?

Just what have I got to do to get full blown VOIP functionality (like on the unlocked phone in that video)?

Isn't flashing the firmware to the latest version enough?

GJ

Can't anyone offer any input on this?

I'm sure I was told that if I flashed the firmware I would get full Voip functionality back.

GJ

Hi

Just because you have the latest firmware doesn't mean it's not Orange.

The latest (V11.0.26) firmware comes in different "flavours", including one for Orange phones. Unless you've changed the product code and fooled the upgrade application into thinking you have a non-Orange phone, it will install the appropriate (Orange) firmware. Orange has disabled the VoIP functions, so you won't get it to work.

My non-Orange firmware has an "Internet tel." application as the 12th choice in the Tools section (between "Sett. wizard" and "WLAN wiz."😉. Does yours?

Apologies if you have changed the product code and upgraded to a generic firmware. In that case, I can't suggest a solution, but this reply might prove useful to the other 9,998 posts about firmware.

Yeah I changed the product code and installed the latest generic firmware.

Anyway as it happens I found it, just before I got your email.

Last time round I did a full back up and restore of all of my previous settings and orange branded software.

This seems to be a mistake - as doing so removes the VOIP options.

What I don't know now is how to configure it?

What exactly for example is a SIP profile?

How should I set this up?

I guess I can follow the video I posted for the rest, but I just want to make sure I have everything set up correctly first.

Just took a look at Orb (as I couldn't get the software that came with the phone to work) and it sees to me you're actually streaming media over the web. So your pc acts as a server, you connect the phone to your wifi and then access the web to get at your files. Which would make it really slow, right? Is there a way to wirelessly connect directly to my pc and access a file directly? Without having to go online at all, I mean...