Why do I need a SIM card in my phone to upgrade the firmware?

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.

• bondi

  It wants to hack your SIM card of course

  You dont seem like a person who gets much sleep – we’re alike in that regard.

  I also get the feeling you will be getting an E90 soon. If I guarantee you the power of nocturnal shapeshifting, would you send one my way as well?

• Tommi Vilkamo

  > Tommi?

  No idea.

• Steve Litchfield

  Surely it’s something to do with checking you’ve got exactly the right firmware for your device, many of which come with operator locks and differences?

  Of course, you and I probably have all unlocked SIM-free units, but NSU doesn’t know that?

• RichardG

  Hi Stephan, after doing a bit of digging around we found out that this is simply a limitation of the current software updating solution. Nokia are working to remove the need for this in future models. Sorry it’s nothing more interesting!

• Stefan Constantinescu

  Thanks for getting back to me so fast RichardG!

  So it is something that can be addressed with just an update to the NSU?

• RichardG

  From what we gather, no unforuntately not, NSU updates for the N93 and N93i will have to be done with the SIM-card still inside the device. They are working around this for future models though.

• Janne

  Would this have something to do with selecting the right sw. Yes, model can be recognized by it’s model number but since some operators have their variant sw’s it’s required to use the sim card when updating the phone. You also wouldn’t like to have every operators access points in your phone, would you?

  Okay okay, it could be possible for the end user to select the operator, but who want’s operator customized sw anymore if you can have “a clean” sw. And of course few bits more free RAM