Hi,
i wanna buy the phone N95 8G, but i am quite confuse with the version of the OS as stated in the nokia website.
1. about the OS 9.2, can i upgrade it to OS 9.3?
2. wat do the S60 and rel.3.1 means? i am reading ppl talk about v.21.0.0.016 is the latest version but when ppl talk about latest version, y issit not " latest is OS 9.3, OS 9.5" or "rel. 3.2, rel 3.5" etc ?
Sorry if i asked stupid questions, coz i never used a symbian phone before ~
thanks ~
The phone has S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 (S60 v3.1) based on Symbian OS v9.2.
These versions do not change over the lifetime of a phone. So no updates or upgrades to newer S60 or Symbian versions. Nokia might provide updates to built-in applications or limited new features (e.g., a new version of the browser, etc.).
The firmware versions are device model specific and do not change or influence the S60/Symbian versions.
Bigger number for the firmware version just means newer firmware version with bugs fixed and sometimes limited new functions, but the S60/Symbian versions stay always what they were with the first/original firmware version for that particular device.
Sometimes there's also a different firmware version for a different market/region, or for a network operator customized version. Still, the S60/Symbian versions stay the same.
For what's different in different S60 or Symbian versions, check out http://www.s60.com and http://www.symbian.com
Oo...
So, N95 8gb comes with OS 9.2, s60, 3rd edition, Feature pack 1 and there is no way i can change it to 9.3 or 9.5 ? or feature pack 2 etc?
Oo...
So its like, Symbian 9.2 is the OS... and S60 is the software or User interface.. ?
dont give ur self a headache its s60 v3 feature pack 1, more then enough
S60 is a software "platform" (applications, middleware, all sorts of other bits and pieces, supplementing or replacing what's in the underlying OS) built on top of a Symbian OS underlying core.
And, as stated, whatever S60/Symbian versions a device starts with, that's what it stays with, even if there might be fixed and minor changes along the way. At least that's how things have been so far, and probably going forward, too.
I'll try to describe that for you as I understand. There are two types of phones: normal mobile phones and smartphones. The second one acts like a computer, in the sense that it has processor, RAM, storage space, and so on. Like any computer, a smartphone has an operating system that manages its hardware and software. There are more than OS in the smartphone market: Symbian, Windows Mobile, Linux. All are suited for mobile usage.
For Symbian OS, it has the same idea that Linux work with: it has a system core and user interface. Every one is developed separately. The system is developed by Symbian Inc. It manages hardware and its resources like telephony, connections, storage media, and so on. User interface is the environment within which applications runs, and is built over the OS core. For Symbian OS, there are some interfaces: Series 60 developed by Nokia, UIQ developed by UIQ Co., and MOAP which I don't have enough information about it, but it exists in Japan. OS versions are developed by Symbian Inc., while interface versions are developed by their respective companies. But as noticed they are synchronized, i.e. as the OS evolves, interface evolves correspondingly.
So if we talk about Nokia smartphones, they all run the Symbian OS with Series 60 (S60) interface. So as Symbian evolved, S60 evolved:
Symbian 6 - S60 1st Edition
Symbian 7 - S60 2nd Edition
Symbian 8 - S60 2nd Edition Feature Pack 2
Symbian 8.1 - S60 2nd Edition Feature Pack 3
Symbian 9.1 - S60 3rd Edition
Symbian 9.2 - S60 2nd Edition Feature Pack 1
Symbian 9.3 - S60 2nd Edition Feature Pack 2
They are related with each other. So N95 8GB runs Symbian OS 9.2 with S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1. This is the OS and the interface platform. The upgrade to a higher version depends on the manufacturer. And badly, Nokia does not allow that. The version of the OS and interface are shipped with the device, and cannot be upgraded. You have to buy a new device for a new OS version. So what is software update for a device?
Every device is shipped with a set of built-in applications and preinstalled features that depend on feature set and hardware of the specific device. That is called firmware. The firmware is built within the OS version installed on the device. That is what is updated by Nokia, that is what is called firmware version 20.xxx.xxx. The firmware update is so limited to bug fixes or new features. But the OS capabilities is fixed and cannot be upgraded.
Ooo...
Nice lecture i had here ~ thanks a lot guys ~~