N97 V2.0 is out, do you have it?

So the N97 got the big firmware update that was being discussed as the savior of the N97’s woes. But, you can’t get it to install on your phone. You tried everything and are absolutely frustrated and are thinking of visiting the Nokia Care Center to get that update.

That’s exactly what I had going with me until last night, when I thought of doing a little bit of cleaning and some brainstorming on my own. What I describe below should allow you to get that update on your N97 without having to visit the Care Center. The update is still not available on FOTA (Firmware Over The Air) in case you are thinking of firing the OTA feature.

1. Download the latest Nokia PC Suite from the Nokia website (here) and install it. This will bring your Nokia PC Suite to the latest version V7.1.30.9
2. After the above, download the installer file for Nokia Software Updater – NSU and install it (I know this is not the latest version but the NSU will get updated without a hitch with this method). Once you start the installation, make sure you are connected to the internet, The NSU will search for an update for itself and will automatically download the latest version (this is where the internet connection is needed) and it will not hang up or a give a ‘Internet Connection Lost’ error. Download it from here.
3. Restart your PC now.
4. Once your computer is rebooted, start Nokia PC Suite and take a backup of your contact and whatever necessary onto your PC.
5. This step is optional, but I would recommend you to go ahead with it. Do a hard reset of your phone. you need to type this code (in bold) in the dialer – *#7370# This will clean the phone of anything that could potentially cause an error and give you an incomplete experience.
6. With the phone now being ‘clean’ of any data, fire away NSU. The update should now work without a hitch and without giving any errors, provided you have a stable internet connection and electricity supply.

Now once your phone is updated, you will actually get a feel of how amazing the V20 firmware is. After playing with it in this form will you actually know how much better the N97 suddenly feels. I found the touchscreen to be much more sensitive and easier to use and the scrolling changes have made life with the N97 an absolute blessing.

The system feels much more responsive. I formatted my Micro SD card also just to be on the safe side before I restored the data I had backed up earlier.  After following these steps you will find the difference in your N97. Now you can reinstall the apps which you lost or are not working due to the formatting done earlier. This is a slightly more complicated way, but will ensure that your N97 works just as good as a brand new N97 with v20.0.019

Nokia Music Store goes online in India!

After the announcement of the Nokia 5230 and 5530, you’d expect that things would be a little easy going, but no, Nokia did it again today! They launched the Nokia Music Store in India.

The official press release goes like this!

Nokia Music Store can be accessed via your desktop and mobile and gives options to choose from over 3 million tracks. Once the Nokia Music client is installed on your desktop, you can access the entire store, browse through tracks, search by artists and genres, create your wish list and download songs from the store.

Other highlights of the Nokia Music Store include the ability to listen to a 30 second clip of any track on the store before downloading it. You can browse for new music, get recommendations or search for their favorite artists, songs or albums all from the palm of their hand. You can download directly to a mobile device without having to download the same song again on their computer. You will also be able to transfer songs via a PC to compatible Nokia devices.

You also get free tracks of the week which can be downloaded from free. The store comes as a default client with all compatible handsets.

You can access international, Bollywood and regonal sound tracks across all genres. To begin with, the consumers can experience Nokia Music store via inbox vouchers included in all XpressMusic handsets and select Nseries devices and Eseries devices such as N97,  N86 , E71, E63 amongst others. Three new music devices have also been announced – Nokia 5630, Nokia 5530 and Nokia 5230.

To deliver the most updated content Nokia has tied up with leading international music labels such as Universal Music Group, Sony Music, EMI and Warner and major independent Indian record labels including Tseries, Yashraj Music, Saregama, BIG Music, Venus and many more. The company has partnered with India’s leading music body, Indian Music Industry (IMI), a consortium of over 150 music companies, to give consumers an opportunity to discover and enjoy their favorite music on the go across genres and languages. Nokia has also signed up with GIRI and Phoneytunes for access to South India and North regional content respectively.
To begin with Nokia Music Store will be available in India on Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia 5130 XpressMusic, Nokia 5310 XpressMusic, Nokia 5530 XpressMusic, Nokia 7210,  N97,  N86, E63 and E71

Nokia also seems to be on the road to launching the 5630 and 5730 soon in India, which means that the portfolio is going to increase big time. The ‘Comes With Music’ edition handsets will also be hitting Indian shores soon, so that black N97 “Comes With Music” will be a reality in India finally! These special handsets come with unlimited music downloads, so the extra price is worth it!

Looks like the giant is finally waking up to competition, but is it too late already! Only time can tell!

Click this link to go to Nokia Music Store India – www.music.nokia.co.in

You can follow the store on twitter too – www.twitter.com/nokiamusicindia

What do you think about this new service Nokia has launched? leave your comments and let us know your views and your experience at Nokia Music Store.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nokia-Music-Store-India/127719247530?ref=search&sid=1375242244.4064549406..1

N97 has widgets! wait… what are widgets?

When the N97 was announced with widget support, all of us bloggers were excited about it and from the promo videos it was clear that they would rock! Finally the N97 was launched and in terms of sales it has done relatively well. A lot of people are buying it. In India it is selling very well to say the least.

So with so many N97 handsets being sold in the market, do people really know what a widget is? The answer is no. Most of the people and store staff do not know what a widget is. This means that not only is the ‘internet’ experience falling short of expectations but also the widget experience which was one of the key pillars for the N97.

To remedy this problem, we have a solution, www.97beeps.com. On 97 beeps you will not only come to know what a widget is, but you can browse through a lot of widgets that are available for the N97 and other Nokia phones.

There is more to it than just widgets. This site is designed to look like the twitter site, only the colours on 97beeps are much more brighter and lively. You can also ‘beep’ about something you want just like twitter! So not only do you learn what widgets are (and also download a few) but you also get to make a lot of friends.

This initiative is an innovative one, designed to make everybody realize that technology and it’s working are not for a few, but it is for everyone.  So don’t waste any time just get onto the website.

So is it just that much? NO.

This is what you need to do! Visit www.97beeps.com

• Just sign up and get started
• Choose widgets of your choice and install them on your phone
• Refer friends to 97 Beeps
• Tell us in 97 characters how you would use widgets

And if you are lucky you could win for yourself a spanking new Nokia N97.  So what are you waiting for???

We are a year old!

This post comes in a little later than it should have (ok a whole lot later!) but since I’ve been busy shifting my base it’s been a little hard to get some blogging done. I know I have the N97 and the E75 with me, but it’s more about finding time than anything else.

It was on the 7th of July, 2008 that I decided to start blogging about phones. A couple of days prior to this, my girlfriend had told me that she had begun blogging and that I should start too. it was her insistence which led me to start a blog. the question at that time was ‘What do I blog about?’ and as I said I thought about phones. I had been following them for a a couple of years and I thought that I had gathered enough knowledge about the industry to have my own view point.

So I began, with a humble post about my experience with mobile phones. I was a regular reader of Darla’s blog and Symbian-Guru amongst a whole lot many. Ricky Cadden a.k.a The Guru gave me a few tips (I’m sure he doesn’t even remember! lol!) about getting in touch with WOM World for trial devices. I contacted them and it wasn’t until a couple of months later that they mailed me asking if I would like to trial the E66. I was overjoyed!

It would be the first of many trial devices I would get from WOM World. My relationship with the warm people at WOM World(no pun intended here!) grew and they kept on sending me devices after devices against my requests (E66, E71, E63, N96, N85, E75). And today here I am, taking part in a global contest of ‘Teach the Technophobe’, You can read about it here.

Thank you so much WOM World and all the people I have interacted with, you guys are really great!

During this time I came across another person’s blog. He had used the N80 just like me and although he had upgraded faster than me, his story seemed similar to mine. This blogger was none other than Clinton Jeff of ZomgitsCj. Over the years I became a regular visitor to his blog and in time we became very good friends. In addition to the many blogs he wrote for, Cj would help me out by putting up blogposts on topics when I could not blog due to my rigorous MBA schedule. We would (we still do!) catch up online and have some of the most interesting and intellectually stimulating conversations about mobile phones and the internet. It was uncanny, how we would have almost identical view points.

Thank you Cj for all the help and support you have given to this blog and me. If it weren’t for your contributions (posts and chats), this blog would not be where it is today.

Another person I must thank is Ravindra Dissanayake. Ravindra till last year was writing for Symbian-Life Blog. I used to love his articles, always simple, lucid and packed with content. This prolific blogger (in my eyes at least) went on to create Symbian Stories, before he vanished to Australia for further studies (I hope you and your wife are doing alright mate!). Around then, Meraj of Phone Report V2.0 offered me a position at Phone Report V2.0 and I accepted. Ravi also requested me to take over the reins of Symbian-Life Blog, I would then start blogging on three different blogs. But I must admit, it is indeed difficult to fit into Ravi’s shoes.

Thank you Meraj and Ravi for giving me such wonderful opportunities and allowing me to become a bit wiser. Thank also for all the guidance and support you continue to give to me. I am indeed thankful to you guys for putting me on the path of growth.

Carlos, a regular visitor on both the blogs (this one and Symbian-Life Blog) also helped out in times of stress. He would write a few articles for me on this blog, when I was trying to set myself with all the blogs I was writing for. Thank you so much Carlos for helping me out in times of need. I hope you still visit this blog!

Mike Macias, I would like to thank you too for being a great person to look up to. Your N82 blog in many ways is like the Bible for N82 users. I have always received support from you, no matter how big or small the issue. Also if it weren’t for you, I would have never bought this great netbook I have now.

All of these people and many more have played a very important role in developing this blog in their own ways.my readers and all the people who have commented. All the websites and blogs that have linked to this blog and those who I have linked to.

The S60 Ambassadors Program also provided me a lot of opportunities to meet some great bloggers and hear their story and give me a wider perspective of the S60 platform. Various forums like Symbian-Freak forums, Howardforums, and many more provided loads of knowledge about S60, and it’s quirks.

The high point of this first year came when I was invited to the N97 Blogger Meet, in Gurgaon where I met Axel Meyer and got to play with the N97 way before it was launched. Along with this WOM World invited me to be a part of a global campaign ‘Teach the Technophobe’.

I also want to thank D3x, Rita El Khoury, Varun Krishnan, Vaibhav Sharma for everything. Listening to your rants and passion for phones has always been inspirational, I hope I can reach the same place where you are today.

This blog has also been instrumental in me getting a job at Spice Retail Ltd.

So as I celebrate the completion of one year of this blog I want to thank all the people who have contributed to the success of this blog. I want to thank all the software manufacturers for trusting me and giving me an opportunity to review your applications, also Nokia for having me review your devices. I also want to place on record my gratitude to all the readers, fellow bloggers, friends and my family for all your support. Thank you everyone!

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N97 is in da house!

Yesterday I got a lovely gift from Nokia India and Bloggers’ Mind on my birthday. The lovely people from Bloggers’ Mind sent me an awesome black N97. A fellow blogger call it the Darth Vader among Storm-trooper versions! (d3x… this is you!)

So without wasting any time let me give you the unboxing of the N97. I will be posting in detail about the N97 in the days to come and also the E75. So stay tuned!!! It’s going to get real busy here.

First impressions on the N97 coming later in the day! Till yesterday I’ve been playing with it like a little boy who got his favorite toy on his birthday! This is also my first touch phone so I am going to be critical of it. Expect a huge mountain load of stuff on this phone.

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