Ewan wants to know why updating the firmware on his E61 is such a hassle

Well, last night, when I should have been asleep, I flashed my Nokia (NYSE: NOK) E61 to the latest firmware version.

What an unmitigated arse.

So it worked fine, ok. It worked without a hitch. It’s just, I am MIGHTILY disappointed that i had to sod about with SODDING techie tools and thingy updates and model numbers. It was a straight forward process for me because I’ve spent 17 years learning geeky rubbish in order to be able to do these sorts of things.

There are tons of people on the Nokia Forums going out of their mind because they can’t upgrade their E61 (and other handsets) for some anal crappy reason that probably sounds really good to Nokia, but JUST. DOESN’T. WORK. for me. Or them. Spare me the shit, just make it better.

And while we’re about it, why does this all have to be so difficult?

Geez. Warnings all over the shop.

You upgrade your device and that wipes everything. Fair enough, you’re told in advance, but I have to ask, how shit is our mobile industry? How utterly ridiculous is our mobile industry, that in order to avail yourself of a FIX — a FAULT or a screw up or a MODIFICATION that you WANT — you have to go through such pain?

Why can’t you press ‘update’ like you do in an Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), and 10 seconds later receive a, ‘Update Applied. Enjoy.’ message, without any errors or crap, and WITHOUT your entire device being factory reset?

I simply can’t comprehend how we arrived at this point.

It’s not just a Nokia issue. In fact, Kudos Nokia, for actually releasing updates and making the process semi usable. Look at the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) SLVR? I was after an update for that for MONTHS – over a year — and nothing. I think Motorola limped out the door with some rubbish update a few months ago.

Why can’t we have a dynamically updating mobile operating system?

What’s the problem? It’s not the Space Shuttle I’m trying to update. I had to erase the whole sodding device. Complete factory reset. So that it could apply an update… Gahhh

Source: SMS Text News

The warnings …

I agree there are far too many of them. There shouldn’t be any really. Nokia is just trying to protect itself from users who have no clue what they are doing.

Wiping every time there is an update …

Applauds, you hit the nail on the head. There is no reason Nokia can’t have the NSU (Nokia Software Updater) backup the users phone, apply the fix, then reupload any and all information that was previously stored on the device.

Dynicamically updating OS …

I’ve asked Nokia on numerous occasions to componentize their operating system. It seems highly logical, at least for me, to apply updates to applications whenever a new version out. Why should I update the firmware on my phone just to get a new music player? Why do people who buy S60v3FP1 phones get the latest, improved web browser while I’m stuck using an inferior solution?

I’m using Opera for S60, for the sheer fact alone that whenever a new version gets unleashed I just have to download it.

Just a little tidbit Ewan, the latest version of S60 (S60V3FP1) does have the ability to update a phones firmware OTA (Over the air). No more having to tie it to your PC, and more importantly Mac & Linux, as well as people who don’t have a computer at all, can enjoy updates like the rest of us.