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The E61i gets a long-awaited update

35 replies · 8,111 views · Started 29 May 2008

Whoever thought this would happen? The Nokia E61i just received a major firmware update from v2.0633 to v3.0633.69.00 (for unlocked Euro versions anyway, yours may vary slightly). I'll add comments below as I discover what's new. Your comments welcome too, of course.

Read on in the full article.

Looks like it's not available yet for the US version. Just tested on a US unlocked E61i.

Oh dear. I was 12 minutes into the estimated 15 minute re-flashing process when my darling children charged past my desk with their elephantine feet. :frown:The vibrations caused the phone momentarily to lose its connection to the data cable (I heard the PC dong-donging like mad).😮 The phone didn't restart when the NSU finished. I restarted it myself: all I get is the startup tune/hands across the screen, then blank.😡

I spoke to my local Nokia service centre. They are fairly hopeful that they can re-flash it without having to send it back to Nokia😊

Fingers crossed!

Yes I realise that, after I plugged that combination into Google. It's a bit similar to the Palm method of holding the power key while pressing the reset, or some such.

At least it saved me a trip to the service centre. Thanks again.

Why is it that the 3 'smart phones' that are in my household are long forgotten? The E61, E70 and N80 haven't seen any love in too long. They are all buggy and really need fixes to truly be reliable.

Considering the investment that I've made in these devices, the problems, and the lack of continuing support for them, I'm not going to consider other Nokia devices until Nokia has proven, for a number of years, that they will support 'older' devices. As a consumer, I refuse to accept excuses. Especially when I've invested in high end hardware that is capable of having firmware upgrades. I'd even consider paying a nominal amount for firmware that is reliable.

Nokia, make it work reliably or watch me spend my money on a competitors product. You may have the hardware and advertise the functionality, but if it isn't reliable it is nothing.

I wonder how Apple will be treating v1 iPhones in 2 years?

Dave

Unregistered, the answer to your problem is simple: don't buy phones that are buggy. Don't rely on firmware updates appearing in the future to correct problems now. If a device doesn't sell well there won't be much incentive for the manufacturer to continue supplying firmware updates years after launch (and to be fair, there have been firmware updates for those devices, but those devices are two years old now so it's been a while since the last ones).

Vote with your wallet, only buy devices where the firmware that comes with it in the box meets your standards. That will encourage manufacturers to get the firmware right, either first time or through updates.

However as an E61 owner myself I'd strongly disagree that it's buggy or unreliable, it's actually pretty good in this regard IMHO. It's a bit slow, but then all smartphones from mid-2006 or earlier are pretty slow.

As for paying for firmware updates, you KNOW what would happen: people would accuse manufacturers of deliberately leaving features out or leaving bugs in, just so they can milk consumers even more. 😉

Dealing with SMS sending procedure from pressing Green to the little bucket icon disappearing is lightning fast!

Tim

krisse: the response to your "smart" answer is simple: you can't name one Nokia phone that needs no firmware update.

by the time the phone is brought up by firmware updates to the level of functionality it was supposed to have at release, it gets outdated feature-wise. more often than not it is abandoned long before that time anyway (as E70, N80 etc). one shouldn't base their decision of picking a new phone on the number of firmwares it had. "it had a bunch of updates so Nokia cares about this phone so it must be working really well. or shall wait a few years to see if this other newer phone is going to get ore updates? uuh that's a toughy!"

Phil

This is a common phenomenon in the handset market that same model of the same manufacturer provide different SW versions to different operator markets. In this case Nokia sure would publish the latest SW for all device variants if it wasn't for the operators not approving all SW versions....

@Dave - you don't have to wonder how Apple will treat iPhone users in the future. Their policy is clear and has been in place for many years of selling iPods. You can expect one or two updates to fix bugs and then maybe an update to support a new service where they can sell you something in iTunes, but after a year or so you're pretty much on your own. Oh, and if another device comes out they may charge you for privilege of downloading that update, even though it runs on the same hardware. Apple considers a $500 iPod / iPhone a disposable device with a limited life-span. I do not.

I used my Nokia 6110 for years until it was replaced with the 7110, which I used until we moved the US and it was replaced with a 6310i which was also in use for years. It was eventually replaced with my E61, which is still in use. I do not consider the E61 buggy at all, and I consider myself a power user.

I think Nokia is releasing firmwares frequently these weeks to block the hack that has been recently made on the series60 v3 phones. And they are probably aware about loosing big money since the ngage games have already been cracked also to be used on Nokia N73 (see pocketgamer's website for the news) - their delay in releasing a suitable ngage application for this phone is definitely causing Nokia and all the developers involved in the ngage business to lose major money in these cracked games.

I have not been able to update my Nokia E61i, RM 227, sw v. 2.0633.65.01 to the new 3.xxx version, it tells me there is no new version available. How can you tell if your E61i is American or European, mine should be Euro as I bought it in Lndon. Thnx.

They seem to erase every trace about the E70 😞. If these E-Series got a new FW, why not the E70 too?

light

Try Product Code 0546184. That should work. But if you get there, please enlighten me as to the point 😉

Tim

The E51 was always stable and snappy - have updated the FW and noticed it is even faster now but no other obvious improvements.

Has anyone tried this new firmware with larger memory cards - greater than 2GB?
They must have patched for that!

pintofale

Yes - that was the first thing I tried. No joy, I'm afraid. I think this is a hardware issue, not software. Experts confirm?

Tim

Any news about the E61? I wonder if that will be upgraded as well.

i get a message 'phone not recognized'. i have downloaded latest for both updater and pc suite. when i go nokia site and enter my code, it recognizes it saying an update version 3.xx is available. my version is still version 1.xx. any help please?
thanks.

does the new firmware fix the "predictive text" bug? (including a predictive text option that does nothing)

N-gage is cracked? Serves Nokia right for ignoring its consumers. Limiting the availability to a few selected phones yet calling your products multimedia computers? One of the reasons why people resort to piracy is when there is no reasonable or convenient alternatives for them to obtain something legally. I hope they're wetting their pants now. TREAT YOUR CUSTOMERS WITH RESPECT OR THEY'LL TEACH YOU HOW TO!!!

has anybody encountered a locked memory card after the upgrade? i don't remember adding a lock code or maybe i just forgot. any ideas on how i can unlock it?

also, is it advisable to remove the memory card when doing the upgrade?

thanks for any help.

Is this new : Cannot do the update because : Windows Vista is not supported" ... ?

And Ms Dos 3.1 is supported ?

timsalmon wrote:light

Try Product Code 0546184. That should work. But if you get there, please enlighten me as to the point 😉

Tim

Thanks for your suggestion but I get 200.34.36 which I think is the E51 update version, whereas I would like the E61i. 3.xxx, at the moment I only get the 2.xxx.

after upgrading to firmware 2.xxx I was not able to get my old blackberry service to run .
Anyone any success after upgrading to the new firmware ?

I updated my E51 phone to v200.34.36 and writing in Greek is no longer available. Any solutions?