Official N97 Firmware 2.0 Information From Nokia Employee, Available In Coming Weeks

by Mike Macias on October 16, 2009

I found some “official” information posted in Nokia’s official forums today about the upcoming N97 2.o firmware. We’ve already gave a hands on preview of the new firmware, but this is something for those who want hard facts and statements straight from the horses mouth. According to the Nokia employee we will see Nokia Email built-in, Ovi Maps 3.1 with 3d view, improved memory and battery performance, etc.

Here are the direct quotes…

Dear updaters

Nokia N97 software update 2.0 will be released in the coming weeks. The software update will make your N97 perform even better, through numerous fixes, improvements, new features and new functions.

What’s new
The software contains many fixes and improvements including:

Improved touch screen scrolling
Ovi Maps 3.1 with 3–D maps
Nokia e-mail, Ovi Contacts, Ovi Store
Improved memory and battery performance
Improved image and video stability

Software availability
As usual, we will publish standard non-customised versions of the software, with country (SIM-free) and operator versions following in the following weeks. The Nokia N97 (and several other devices) can check automatically for new software. Go to Menu > applications > SW Update and enable automatic checking. MyNokia members will also receive an SMS stating “new software is available” as the deployment progresses. To register, go to www.nokia.com/mynokia.

Warm regards,

The Nokia Software Update team

Link

Very interesting stuff, yet vague. Surely there will be more areas of improvement and some new widgets. Personally I’m extremely happy to see that Nokia Email will be hardwired into the firmware and improved battery performance.

I can’t wait for this update to hit, especially since my N97 has been acting up the past few days. Let’s pray that “coming weeks” means next week rather than the week after.

Be sure to check out our N97 firmware 2.0 preview by EverythingBlaxx if you haven’t already.

Article by Mike Macias

Mike has written 84 articles for your enjoyment.

On The Web: http://twitter.com/mikemacias

About: Mike is the editor-in-chief of N97fanatics.com and a huge mobile fanatic. He also runs MaemoFanatics.com and the popular E71fanatics.com. Contact him via email at contact@n97fanatics.com or at his Twitter page.

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Tagged as: n97 firmware, n97 firmware 2.0

Ant

ALL it's here!!!! Available for RM-505, RM-506 and RM-507. I am downloading now!!! Check link below!!!

http://discussions.nokia.com.au/discussions/board/message?board.id=smartphones&thread.id=172175&view=by_date_ascending&page=28

nikki

The story of Apple is different. It makes only one phone. It fully concentrates on developing for one phone all the time. But nokia has hundreds in number. Priorities are keep on shifting. If we just assume for a second, nokia has only one phone i.e N97, then nokia beats Apple in every aspect. After all, working on hundreds of phones is obviously tougher task than working on ONLY ONE PHONE.

Mike Macias

Great comment. Very true. Still though, Nokia had better nail it on the head with this firmware or they will have some really pissed off fanatics.

Kaspal

i hope so too... i havent been having issues with my phone since i bought it, but last 2 days, its kinda been asking for maintenance (hard reset)... but i dont wanna doit until the FW2.0 is released... so, i really REALLY hope they release it soon, and hopefully with as few (if any, nasty) bugs as possible.

i really have my hopes in this one, so that i can ejoy my phone to its full extent (i love it, but there are things that annoys me a lot... like the music player eating that much ram).

nokiaphilippines

hahaha. i dont trust apple now that they got sued for copyright infringement by nokia.

N97 usersss

so how long we must waiting again!!!
I'm ready to sell this crap and buy an iPhone!!!

Daniel

I think Nokia have already forgotten about the people who bought the N97. :(

nikki

I prefer to wait longer for v20 than early release of v20 with hell a lot of bugs. Nokia, please release this version without major issues. We have waited a lot and OK to wait some more days.

ntnok@geemail.com

Ditch nokia already. Loooserz.

Kaspal

says an iPhone sucker... i dont even know why i bother replying to such post!.

ntnok@geemail.com

look at that nokia sucker, waiting for the inexistent firmware 2.0 which will only provide 20% of what iphone has. i can only laugh with contempt. sorry. nokia pwned you. now weep, loozers.

Mike Macias

Sad to see ur life consists of bashing Nokia users. Go sniff Steve Jobs' jock somewhere else, troll.

Kaspal

BEST REPLY EVER!!! LOL!

Name

by 20% you mean a $hitty camera with no flash? closed developer platform? twice as expensive data charges? no multi-tasking? inaccessible battery compartment? no fold out keyboard? no expandable memory?

ntnok@geemail.com

one word: something that works smoothly, and fast. and didn't you watch apple's presentation of "multi-tasking" on iphone? they got it right, and they tried to look for other (better) ways of having "multi-tasking" on their platform, instead of just copying what works on PC. Now let me see if your N97 (that pizozhit brick) actually adds up to its price tag.

Name

At the additional $15 premium you pay per month for AT&T iPhone data, it only takes about a year and a half to pay back all the subsidies for a $299 iPhone in order to make up the difference in cost for a $550, N97. It's actually even less than that when you consider for a 2-year contract, you cand get a $100-130 free phone that you can turn around an sell, making the effective price about $420 for an N97 with a data plan that's 1/2 as expensive.

The iphone does have a nice interface, I'll give you that. Grannies and teenage girls need something that's easy to operate.

ntnok@geemail.com

Ok, fine. Just one last question: has N97 killed iPhone, yet Muahahahaha..... Ok, maybe, maybe (if it ever comes out) this 2.0 update will hurt iPhone a bit. But, still....

buddymunster

question:

if you dislike nokia so much, why are you reading a blog about a nokia phone?

ntnokia

You know gladiator show, right? This site reminds me of that, and I'm one of the spectators, watching those slaves go through suffering, ripped apart by the lions. I enjoy watching these "fanatics" (the word fanatics seems fitting you quite well guys) going through the agony while waiting for a patch for their broken N97crap. Well, enjoy the waiting. Haha. Nokia fooled you once (into buying N97) shame on them, and Nokia fooled you twice (into believing there will be firmware upgrade) shame on you :D. Didn't your friends tell you to get an iPhone instead? If not, what kind of friends do you have?

Guest

Besides a pretty stupid analogy (gladiator?), you really have too much time on your hands.

Quick show of hands - how many of you post on Apple message boards asking them mockingly if they've been able to fry and egg on the back of their iPhones yet?

This is so stupid. The iPhone is for children. You are a moron. Get over it. Get a life. And, go find a message board where you can hang out with all the Apple lemmings and sing the high praises of your ghey telephone.

zzzzzz

I had a iPhone. It wasn't for me. So you move on.

Seriously, something is wrong with you if you need to make yourself feel better by insulting individuals for using a nokia phone. Its really sad.

Also, do you alway listen to your friends for everything? Good friend don't tell you what to do.

Man I feel like i'm talking to a middle school kid succumbing to peer pressure.

Daniel

Well you're not alone there. I have used the speakerphone while pulled off to the side of a road in my car, and they say they cant hear/understand me. Seems like another FLAW in their design. *anger increases*

selvavm

I have this wierd problem. whenever I use speakerphone it works fine when one of them talks but if we talk simultaniously they cant hear first few words.
(ie) mic turns off when they speak and turns on when i speak)
please someone confirm this......

Alex

I think that I have a similar issue.
The feedback I get is that people can't understand me if I am using the speakerphone.

Cheers from Germany

Alex

nikki

Daniel, after installing v12, have you hard reset your phone? If not, hard reset once after taking backup of data. All my freezing problems got solved after I have done a hard reset. Hope that helps you too. If no luck, its better to go to nokia care centre for help as I didn't see any freezing issues with v12. V11 is a hell of freezes ofcourse.

selvavm

It seems v2 has been released in RDA.
When there are 5 apps running (includind music player, web browser, widgets) ram drops to 11mb.
(Again MULTITASKING is not possible..........)
phone memory with ovi contacts, ngage and maps is 53mb.

Gene

LOL Both devices won't be available for over 2 days to the next reserver...

Kaspal

what's RDA?... can you show us some pics of your device with such update?

Gene

RDA is Nokia's Remote Device Access service. it gives devs the ability to preview what their apps would look like on a Nokia device, hypothetically.

nokiaphilippines

hey. Im curious about this " GOOD THINGS APPLICATION COMING SOON " from NOKIA. I hope their talking about the v20 update.

http://microsites.nokia.com/goodthingsdownload/

froschy

I think it's actually to do with Maps, a plug-in or something that allows you to post the location of good things (like restaurants, pubs, etc...) to a service that other people can access in Maps.

Gene

Or it's going to be Hannah Montana screensavers :)

froschy

whatever takes your fancy

yitwave

I'm actually satisfied with my N97 on V12. I think this is what the phone should have launched with. The instability of v10 (shocker) and v11 (still full of bugs) pissed so many people off.

When I bought the N97, i wanted its good multimedia features, i wanted the 32gb space, i wanted the keyboard and i wanted a mature (hence stable) O/S with multi-tasking and i wanted OVI maps.

Most things were fine, but I feel very let down by the stability of the device, and the multi-tasking has also been a let down on V12. I understand V20 will improve both measures so this is to be honest should fufill my expectations for this device.

Those who bought the phone expecting kinetic scrolling from the beginning, or a flashy iphone like device was asking too much in the first place. Hopefully V20 will live up to the expectations i had set above and V30 will bring the transitions and power i wanted.

Daniel

nikki: I have the latest update so far, so v12. Lastnight I was using Midomi (like Shazam) an application, and after freezing it just turned off and reset itself... :(

I like the iphone, but the lack of features on the actual phone is, for me, a let down. When SE is bringing out a phone with a 12mp camera, you have Apple with a 3mp camera. I would like to see a little bit more of a design change, rather than keeping an old, popular design. They don't seem to want to stray from something that has been so successful. I love the N97's keyboard, minus the fact the ', and . are all on the same key. I think this is where Apple should be heading...

TIM PULLEN

DIALING PROBLEMS WHEN CONNECTED TO MAILBOX OR PHONEBANKING.

Once the N97 is connected to a service which needs keypad presses to select menus such as "press 1" to listen to your message or "press 2" to speak to a consultant, the keypad on my phone is not accessible during calls, so its not possible to 1) listen to messages or 2) transfer your own call. WHAT A BAD DESIGN :-(

EverythingBlaxx

There's a small book inside the box that your N97 came in that has a lot of information I think you would find useful. It's real easy to find too. It says 'User Guide' on it

Kaspal

lol ... that comment REALLY maade me laugh.

Kaspal

actually it is accessible... when you're making a call, just hit the lower right button on the main screen, and the keypad will pop up again... i know, cuz i've been using that feature since day one.

Kaspal

lets hope it just comes out soon ... we're in serious need of that upgrade, because performing a hard reset every 15 days so the phone works the way its meant to be, its not good at all.

nikki

Nokia also promised that the regions where v12 got delayed/stopped, will get the v20 firmware first. Looks like swiss guys already got it as they didn't get v12 at all. I am happy atleast if we get on 23rd. Lets see.

HSH

I think that they want to release the firmware 2.0 with the release date of the n97 mini which is on Friday the 23rd of October.

maartenj

Today is the 23rd... No update available!!

HSH

Now we have approximately one week left for October to end .... So it must be this week ... Unless they delay the release date which will make us very very angry >(

maartenj

In my opinion : The only reason that they are not releasing 2.0 is that it is still full with bugs. Also speculating on the releasedate isn't helping either, just more frustrating when it is not coming out on the speculated day. I like my N97 the way the phone is put together, but the software is even worse then Windows Vista when it came out!

nikki

Daniel,

Which version of firmware you have? v12 or v11

Daniel

I'm down to checking for the update as soon as I get up in the morning. Nokia replaced my phone within the last week, because of the scratched lens and GPS problem. I also told them about how the phone flashes between API Bride, Contacts etc, when the phone is turning off. They couldn't fix that, so that's why I think I got the replacement, BUT it still happens. Does anyone have this problem? The phone goes to the Nokia logo, then back to the things you have open (and sometimes, not even open).
I just don't understand. If they are designing the flagship model, why don't you put the best of the best in to the phone?! AND why does it take so long! December it was shown, and released around June/July. They would have been working on it for ages. How could they not have discovered the problems with it!? :(

Chickenz

I have that exact same problem mate... But I don't think its an issue just how the phone runs

thewinchesterau

All I can say is that this update can't come soon enough. I've had my N97 for three weeks, and I'm wishing I hadn't accidentally destroyed my E51 in a washing machine and dryer accident. Even with V12.0.024, it still runs like a bastard and the lack of consistency of features and their implementation within applications irritates me.

I can't find a way to force terminate applications either, so when something locks up you have to wait for it to self-kill instead. The load speeds for applications are painful, and the A-GPS is painfully slow to get signal lock to the point where its useless.

Chickenz

I had this problem aswell I reccomend you get easy taskman on your phone it allows you to kill apps aswell as close them. Its saved me a lot of restarts of the phone

Chickenz

Oops sorry mate the app is actually called "Handy Taskman" my bad. Hope that helps

nikki

Is it impossible to use some part of MASS MEMORY as RAM in symbian OS?. Its quite possible in windows to my knowledge.

lawyers999

Alex
I just had a look in Australia but no update here for my generic n97 NOKIA!!
What is your product code? What country are you in?
Peter

alex

switzerland... dont know the product code in my head... but the last update never got to me... i was quite surprised that this one came so early for me....

Gene

Do you have any screen shots of your update?

alex

now i am confused...

day before yesterday ovi suite just told me there was a new firmware available. i of course thought it was the update everyone was waiting for.
but now i am checking the exact version on my phone: it is: V 12.0.026 Sutom Version: 12.0.026.215.02

so now i am not sure if this is actually the one...hmmm

alex

got the update yesterday, and i can't really find a lot that is new... quite disapointing....

Gene

But is it more stable? Or quicker/snappier? Those would be big improvements in itself.

mario

ROM can be updated with the Firmware. All they have to do is allocate some of the internal memory to make the ROM bigger.

BnThereDnThat

It's pretty clear that last year there were two design teams for the top-end Nokia phones: one that was filled with the old Symbian designers (competent, but not terribly inventive); the other, working on the N900 (inventive, innovative, cutting-edge). When the Symbian team went to Nokia to ask for resources, the management said: "yes, but." And so we have the bizarre structure of the N97, with a 30gig virtual hard drive bizarrely separated from the working memory, with its poorly designed and under-tested camera cover, with its non-intuitive scrolling, with its old-line Nokia mail client, with its inexplicably non-functioning iSync link (which worked great with EVERY Nokia phone prior to this), with its strangely fussy charging port... etc. The boat had sailed with the N900, and we, poor stupid consumers, were left with the not-totally-sucky dregs. And with the idiotic Ovi store, with its dribble of barely-useful, expensive, tepid applications...

So listen up, Nokia: if the iPhone had a physical keyboard, if Apple weren't so stupid about insisting on the worst possible phone plans, if there were just these few tiny changes, I'd have long since jumped to Apple. You are losing us, Nokia: the folks who would pay $500US for a phone. And it's all because of corporate stupidity and slow innovation. The same has happened to any number of high-tech firms over the last decades, and Nokia better be careful or it'll end up holding only the bottom end of the market (where, by the way, the phones they make work extraordinarily well for what they do, are rugged, cheap, and last ages.) The N97 has its virtues, but for what it cost it has been, for me, a bitter disappointment. The 2.0 is a small step, but it's one that should have been on the phone to begin with - it's just stupid that Nokia has had more than six months of bad reviews because of a poor initial offering.

Gene

Not terribly inventive?? Try "not terribly wise". It's pretty much ridiculous to decide to give 32GB of storage, only to cut corners on the RAM/Phone ROM/CPU. I'd rather just have them cut the storage completely and supe up the rest. I'm more than happy to just buy Micro SDHC chips to augment space.
But I've seen these scenarios before in technology development. It's pretty obvious what really happened - Nokia couldn't hold on to their talent, and only the crappy management were left behind that didn't know how to do anything but try to milk the cow, thus the recent management shuffle. It's one thing to lose market share because of the new kid in town. It's another to lose market share because of complete waste in R&D. It's less that Apple has a superior product, but more because Nokia drove market share away.

Rich C

I feel your pain, but let's see how much 2.0 helps this thing. Apple OS is a lot slicker and more stable, but at least part of this is attributable to the fact you can't really multitask on an iPhone either. I resent Apple's business model of skimping on hardware (3.0MP camera?, still no stereo bluetooth?) and forcing you to play in the Apple Store sandbox (I know jailbreak fixes this). I also resent that AT&T charges double for an iPhone data plan (3x for corporate data) when my N97 can hammer their data network probably a lot more effectively than an iPhone can anyhow.

This phone was obviously rushed to market before it was ready and the problems are well-documented. At least the issues don't result in a complete system failure like the Xbox 360. I really think 2.0 is going to make this a much better phone. It won't fix the camera glass, but it sounds like Nokia is coming around on repairing that too.

DelboyG

I too feel your pain BnThereDnThat... & Rich C, I don't want to compare my N97 to the iPhone, I did my comparison before buying, now I just want it to work as advertised.

I can almost understand all the other issues with the N97, poor design and physical defects, as they all can be fixed somehow, but the lack of RAM/Drive C: is total cheap-skating stupidity. This must have hurt the sales, is the cause of so many poor reviews, and now I suspect is the cause of the delays in releasing 2.0. I mean Nokia have straight jacketed themselves and are now trying to work magic to turn an 256Mb NAND chip in 512Mb as on the N97 mini. If they ever find a way I'm sure the memory manufacturers will pay nicely for that invention.
So we wait for the magic.. but I'm not expecting any improvement in that area.

kimochi yoshiaki

my mobile phone N 97 black. I bought 2month. i have learn alots ..

DENWiLS

like what? n97 is a piece of shit! better junk nokia N97! I bought this phone a month ago and I sell it 50% off from the original price!

DENWiLS

like what??? N97 is a piece of shit! better junk n97! I bought n97 a month ago and I sell it 50% off from the original price!

marlboro35

You can grab a "virtual" N97 Mini to play around for a while on Nokia Remote Device Access. (http://apu.ndhub.net/devices you will need to log in)

At least this morning, one of the N97 Mini there was showing 230 MB on the C: drive.

I REALLY HOPE THIS WILL ALSO COME WITH THE 2.0 "MAXI" FW UPDATE on the "next weeks" !!! Otherwise I personally throw my N97 "Maxi" out of the window for good !!!

I was your fan. I HATE YOU NOW NOKIA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

froschy

I think you might be dissapointed as Nokia have learnt from skimping on the ROM in the N97 and have put a 512MB ROM in the N97 mini (as opposed to the 256MB ROM in the N97) explaining why there was 250MB+ free. As a result I have mixed feelings about the FW 2.0 update, it'll definitely fix up some of the bugs but IMHO the pathetic C drive is the root cause of most troubles in the N97. Nokia should have never skimped on the ROM for their flagship phone, the N97. I suspect the N97 mini will always run better than the N97, at least until they release the N97-2 with a bigger ROM chip (not much good for us N97-1 owners).

Timi

sigh.... maybe I should sell my N97 for the mini :(

nokiaphilippines

N97-2? is there such thing?

froschy

No, but I think there is a chance that Nokia will release a revised N97 with the same amount of ROM as the N97 Mini. N97-2 was a sarcastic reference to a revised N97 where Nokia have addressed the hardware issues caused by penny pinching.

Timi

Interesting thing is Dotsisx from Symbian-Guru got a hands on with the N97 Mini which has 250+mb for memory~! I hope the v2.0 will update the N97 in this way. Maybe Im reaching......

EverythingBlaxx

The N97 has a 256MB ROM, the Mini has at 512MB ROM. You can't change this with a firmware update. I can ensure you that Phone memory size has not been increased.

Gene

Unfortunately, we have no idea how much RAM is in the N97 mini. I'd drop my regular N97 if it means 256MB DRAM chip is in the N97 mini. I really couldn't care as much about the CPU, as the phone seems to perform quite nicely at the moment, especially after I stopped using Facebook app. Even the phone internal memory hasn't been a big issue since I was able to move the browser cache to mass storage, and having things like the Java update and Maps update built into the ROM (or built out of the ROM, but replaceable on update) would only help alot more. But the lack of RAM is really the most annoying aspect about the phone as it seriously hampers the browser experience. The other update that would be nice is support for ipod movie resolution, so I can watch some of the video podcasts coming from the feeds. Podcasting is probably my most used app on the phone.