10 Things Nokia Should Fix with the Nokia N97 Firmware Update
When people ask me about the Nokia N97, I tell them I love it! It meets my needs better than any other devices currently out there including other Nokia phones or competitors like the Apple iPhone. That said, nothing is perfect. Here’s a list of 10 things I think Nokia should address in the upcoming firmware reported to come on July 1st.
1. The keylock has a mind of its own. Sometimes, it requires two slides to unlock the phone.
2. Photos in the gallery are lower-resolution versions of the actual photos. Zooming in shows ugly pixels.
3. When Nokia Messaging goes down, the phone becomes unusable if you have the widget on the main screen. I had to take the battery out 4 times to restart the phone until I realized to act quickly and remove the Email widget from the main screen.
4. I sometimes get weird grey bars showing on photos I upload using Nokia Share online. Here’s an example.
5. The Share Online widget only shows photos from OVI service. I don’t like being misled. Flickr is a service included within Share Online and a service that I use more often. This widget should have Flickr photos too.
6. Does the compass really need to be calibrated each time we start Nokia maps? It looks funny if we do it in the middle of the street.
7. Typing numbers can’t be done by long-pressing a button. This is available to other Nokia Qwerty phones like the Nokia E75 and E71 as well as every T9 phones we’ve had!
8. Microphone input volume is very low in video recording. Here’s a sample video.
9 and 10. Above are eight bugs and issues I’ve found while using the Nokia N97 the past two weeks. The title of this post says ten. The other two (or more) come from other Nokia N97 owners!
If you have the Nokia N97, what other issues have you found that Nokia should fix in the upcoming firmware update?
Eckelon on 28 June 2009:
i add
1-system stability ( re start frecuently)
2-more ROM space free
this is for N97 NAM version that i`ve
Eckelon on 28 June 2009:
AH! and more speaker`s sound ( more loud)
Budi Putra on 28 June 2009:
I think we could remove Clock and Profile (on top-left – main screen) and replace it with our preferred widget..
Varun on 28 June 2009:
I too vote for long press for getting numbers.
Homescreen needs more stability and possibility of customization.
the loudspeaker volume seems lesser than even E75
barbara on 28 June 2009:
9) there is a problem with the podcasting app. I cannot connect to download podcasts with it using Nokia's directory links;
10) need to have a page 2 for widgets and have 1-2 more applications panels
Jas on 28 June 2009:
I also came across this post on how Nokia can make the N97 better, not by fixing bugs, but adding shortcuts and other software tweaks.
http://thesymbianblog.com/2009/06/29/heres-how-...
jeran on 29 June 2009:
9. more RAM
10. less crashing/freezing
Alexandr3 on 29 June 2009:
9. Fix the widget thing. I put my phone in content offline and it kepts connected. also, when there's a offline/online thing, services go crazy and I need to restar the computer
10.The menu should have animations like 5800. Meaning when an app is initializing, it should have a little icon announcing so.
Milko on 29 June 2009:
On my N97 I want option for select text or more pictures, mails, contacts at once like on all other models.
Thanks
Milko
michael grimstead on 29 June 2009:
I would like a screensaver for when the phone is locked like the N95 and N95 8GB.
A vertical white and blue line that shows the time and whether you've had a missed call or text. I know that on the N97 you can set the light behind the menu button to “breathe” when you have a new text, but I'd like to be able to know the time just by looking at the phone, instead of having to slide the lock switch.
demowayne on 29 June 2009:
9- Full predictive including punctuation like other QWERTY devices in ALL text scenarios including web dialogs.
10- Copy and Paste in all text scenarios.
Please, Please, Please Nokia.
Pedro José Carreira on 29 June 2009:
9 – More stable SO
10- 2 panels/screens for widgets
Stephen on 29 June 2009:
- There's a bug where occasionally when you enter Facebook (and this has happened in Gravity too) where you can only enter numbers from the top row. Its like the Fn key has been stuck on, just for certain keys.
- The ability to remove some of the more pointless apps. Boingo! I'm pretty darn certain I'll never use you! (it has hijacked my Destinations – undeletable)
rlaskey on 29 June 2009:
I don't have an N97, but I do have a 5800 and I have a suggestion which may or may not relate to #1 in the above. Under Settings -> Phone -> Display, the “Light time-out” by default is set to 45 seconds. Under Settings -> Phone -> Phone mgmt. -> Auto. keyguard, the “Keypad autolock period” by default is 1 minute.
Ergo, many times it appear as though the phone is locked when in reality the display is timed out for the 15 seconds before it is actually locked. In these cases hitting the lock mechanism will require two presses in order for the display to come back to life. You can fix this by either hitting any key first before using the lock slider, or by setting the first setting listed above to 60 seconds to avoid this confusion. It's sort of a silly default, IMO, and rather confusing.
Andy Pho on 29 June 2009:
1. Backlight bug needs to be fixed. That's priority.
4. I think the grey bars are from photos not uploading completely, or they get cut off. Maybe loss of reception or connection during uploads. Happens sometimes when I upload from computers.
5. Other services widgets for pictures would be nice (twitpic, flckr, etc), but that's all on developers to make.
6. I never heard of this but I think you should have someone record you calibrating from far away. Funny, no?
7. I never knew this! Just played with it on E71. Thanks lol
8. I think the low volume on the mic has to do with the screen being closed since mic is located right under the buttons.
9. Something is wrong with the charging system. When plugged in, sometimes it'll stop charing. Not good when waking up after your phone has been plugged in at night and it shows only 2 bars.
10. Not sure if this could be fixed, but as an option for the next version, when a wallpaper is set, the image would resize if the height or width (which ever is shorter) did not match the current rotation's resolution and would then make the adjacent side of the image crop out of the screen size. There should be an option to keep it stationed instead of resizing.
Gazman on 29 June 2009:
Volume and much more of it. At max volume this is the quietest phone I have had in recent years so please Nokia turn it up
Andy Pho on 29 June 2009:
lmao, nevermind, I saw the video of the compass calibration.
Mark Guim on 29 June 2009:
Thanks for mentioning the mic location! From now on, I'll record videos on Nokia N97 with the slide open.
Andy Pho on 29 June 2009:
It's placement is bad when the screen is closed for far away sounds (such as recording video) but really good to stop strong winds from blowing into the mic during phone calls.
Nels on 29 June 2009:
i wish they can fix the mic location it just so stupid that you have to slid open in other to record video
Pedro on 29 June 2009:
Nokia is somehow lost…
dean on 29 June 2009:
the weird grey bars are from timed out data uploading. could be from either sending or receiving side
Mark Guim on 29 June 2009:
I hope you're right. I upload lots of photos from my previous phones and
never seen this problem before.
Harry on 29 June 2009:
May seem like a stupid question, but I do not see the Skype client on my phone (purchased in sinngapore) and do not get the “internet” call option when selecting call type..used to get this on the N95..is N97 supporting SIP ? whats happening ? seems like SIP functionality is worst then the N95 ?
James on 30 June 2009:
Can we have sms signature? It is quite important as a business user to have signature at the end of each sms.
Andre on 30 June 2009:
have you checked if the actual photo has the grey bar before uploading? See here: http://digg.com/u17724
mitch on 30 June 2009:
if you are intersested in buying a dell vostro a860 you get a freeeeeee N97 for 750$ total.
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.asp...
jeran on 1 July 2009:
9. third application row on home screen
disapointedn97buyer on 1 July 2009:
another thing is why doesnt the american version not a full querty keyboard on the screen! I personally think that is VERY and somewhat faster. People like to have options why cant we have those options GOshDARNIT!!
Martin on 1 July 2009:
I cannot view my photos on the N97, I just get grey icons. I have downloaded a 3rd party app for this and that works fine.
Locking slider on mine takes 2-3 goes to unlock.
Facebook app gets bizarre error messages.
Cant download the update today!
Love it to bits but does the iphone have these release issues. My N95 was bad, the N96 needed a total firmware reformat befire it became usable.
jeran on 1 July 2009:
same here – gallery of the n97 is REALLY lame! Can you please tell me which 3rd party app you are using?
Eckelon on 1 July 2009:
I reviewed de last firmware: really, no major update. When will have a really update?
jeran on 2 July 2009:
one more thing: try to paste a copied URL in the default web browser of the N97 with the keyboard opened – not possible. you have to close the keyboard to get to the onscreen keypad where you have additional editing options to paste a URL…
I mean – WTF – full keyboard and no copy & paste ?!?
Douglas on 2 July 2009:
Kinetic scrolling should be available everywhere on the phone. Not just in the web browser. I'm talking from the main menus, to contacts, to especially the music player.
Allow us to custom select how often we want these widgets to keep updating themselves. I'm sick of watching the battery drain with these things running in the background all the time. And that's another thing, does it have to open up the program in the background and keep it there? Can't it just have whats on the widget, and then if I want to see more, I can click it and then it opens up the whole thing?
Double clicking to open practically everything in lists is completely unnecessary. There are instances where this is useful such as in the music player and video player and contacts, but in places like settings, there's no point. Do we really need to have the option to go to help on the outside of the menu?
I'm so glad others feel the same way I do about the keyboard and having to hit the arrow key to get to numbers. It should be like it is in T9 mode on the virtual keyboard. Press and hold to get the number.
Ahmad on 2 July 2009:
I've done the update yesterday, the photo gallery is little improved and looks more stable but still have the same problems of not showing the high resolution pics ( it works for one or two hours after restarting the phone abd then will turn to show pixelated low resolution images !)
The RAM usage is still the same (my 5800 have more free Ram) !
The free phone memory is 39 MB and will go down more once you put songs and pictures in the MASS Memory!
Still missing real transitions
sometimest the web browser dissapper and all open programs shut down ! I think due to low RAM
Everything else works fine
Andy Burgin on 3 July 2009:
The N97 is letting alot people down ,as its full of bugs an things not working correctly,i had 3 Nokia N86s in 5 days an All these 3 handsets went faulty so returned it an cancelled my deal,Nokia nowdays only seem to be bothered about competing in the midrange mobiles instead of the Top Class mobile market,Nokia better turn things round or people will start buying alternatives mobiles,an then the sales at Nokia will get worst instead of better
sim on 11 July 2009:
there is another bug in zooming in photos. When I zoom in, it sometimes exit out to the home screen. And sometimes after i zoom in, it keeps staying in the full screen resolution (blurry), it doesnt come up the actually resolution after I have zoomed in, looks like it is not working at adjusting photos resolution.
That is a point which disappointed even i have updated the newest firmware.
Erik on 19 July 2009:
Some more things to improve for the next firmware update (that were missing on the 1st of july):
1. kinetic scrolling everywhere!
2. eliminate double tap as much as possible. Currently, often single tap followed by 'Options' is used to get a context menu (e.g. single tap selects). However, since opening an item is the default, single tap should open an item and long tap should show a context menu. The double tapping behavior is also inconsistent with what is mentioned in the manual as double tap is required in many more locations.
3. on screen qwerty keyboard
4. out of date notifications. E.g. receiving a mail while inside messaging, opening it, and then getting a notification about a new message the next time the home screen is shown.
5. annoying popup when making a call (“diverts are active”), preventing me from pressing the button to activate the speaker until the popup is gone.
6. Dialled numbers not showing call duration of every call (need to open a separate application for that)
7. Restore of a backup not restoring changes made to the folder structure for applications.
8. WLAN giving bad gateway after some time.
bieber on 22 July 2009:
Whether using the recorder or the video, my n97's audio playback starts off loud and then progressively gets softer and softer. The only partial solution I've found was to save the media directly to the “phone” memory (not mass memory or memory card).
AJ Farrar on 26 July 2009:
9- sms threading. it's not that hard, all the new phones have it, wtf? and there need to be shortcuts to get to messaging, I'll forgive the admittedly boring UI but when it's not as accessible and at times very slow…I got rid of my g1 for a phone that cost me 600 dollars more, and simple things like this piss me off.
10- instant messaging apps. why are there none associated with this phone? even if I get an app to address this issue, it's not tied to the phone so I see no homescreen icon if I get a new message. this means I have to constantly go back and check the app. VERY annoying since most of what I tended to do before I got on this phone was text and IM
lastly, the apps are ridiculously expensive and sparse. 10 dollars for a twitter app, are you kidding me? the service itself is free, why am I paying 10 dollars to access it on my phone? I had an app that was just as good on the G1 and it [and most other apps] were completely free. after experiencing that and having sms threads available when opening the box of my G1, tell me how a buggy, poorly developed sms threading app that costs 14.99 would sound appealing to me on my 700 dollar N97…ugh.
I like the phone, it can do a lot that other phones cannot do, but it also neglected some very simple firmware issues that are common to other devices. and the keyboard is HORRIBLE
Euan Andrews on 2 August 2009:
I have compiled my own wish list for the Nokia N97, found here:
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/TheBartender/6668
jayakrishnan on 21 August 2009:
good suggestions.Nokia should also look into providing
1.shortcut for copy & Paste
2.More choice for keylock screen
3.option to uninstall default applications like boingo
regards
Jayakrishnan
Erik on 21 August 2009:
One more thing: When dialling a phone number, I want to see the keypad with the letters also next to it (i.e. 1 abc, 2 def, …) just like when writing an SMS.
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unenbayar on 24 March 2010:
I think a thing must be added to here. N97 hasn't got Privacy lock like Samsung mobile. It is too difficult. Some time I need to protect some data of my phone. Photo, messaging, contacts and more…
tuan on 24 March 2010:
One thing I hate about nokia n97 is that the sliding to answer calls. Whenever I get my phone out off my pocket to answer a call, the phone would sometimes rotates from portrait mode to landscape mode or vice versa. While it's changing from portrait mode to landscape, there is a lag for 2 to 3 seconds then sometimes I miss the call. That is very very frustrating. I think Nokia should make it portrait on slide to answer.
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Mahavir_mahijain on 30 June 2010:
m n97 hang restart and my all mess. delete i don't know whyyyyyyyyy
Jlaurson on 26 July 2010:
I *HATE* the “Diverts are (in)active” popup. I hate it.
And I hate that making a call is a huge hassle.
Make a Call. Tap. Tap. Call this Person? Yes-Tap. Are you sure you want to call them? Yes-Tap. Voice call or Video call? (Voice-Tap) Are you sure you won't change your mind an maybe prefer to make a video call? (NO, Goddamned-Tap)…