Zit Seng’s Superwall

More information about the non-contract price of the iPhone 3G has been revealed. Recall that I previously posted news about the non-contract iPhone 3G price from AT&T at US$599 and US$699 respectively for the 8GB and 16GB models. The new information comes from the online Apple Store itself, which gave prices for the non-contract and unlocked iPhone 3G. It seems to be slightly more expensive than AT&T’s, probably because AT&T’s iPhone 3G will still be locked to the carrier.

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More details about the second generation iPhone have surfaced. According to Engadget and AppleInsider, the upcoming iPhone will have 3G (don’t know about HSDPA) and a real GPS. It will be about the same size and shape, although slightly thicker than the original iPhone. The whole phone will be glossy black (as opposed to the metal back in the original iPhone).

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The news is out. SingTel will be selling the Apple iPhone from September. I posted earlier this year about the possibility after The Age reported Optus’ exclusive deal to sell the iPhone in Australia. Well, it’s still not clear right now whether it will be the 3G version or not, but I guess if we’re talking about September, a 3G or 3.5G version will likely already be launched by Apple. Personally I’m not terribly excited about the iPhone. But it will be interesting to watch how the Singapore market reacts to the iPhone’s introduction.

Edit: The news of SingTel’s deal came out on CNA. (I know, the article does say SingTel has refused to confirm or deny.)

I’ve just come to realize that, probably, the Nokia N95 8GB phone I bought from a SingTel hello! store recently is unbranded. Yes, subsidized by phone contract still, but unbranded. How cool is that, particularly since I don’t care for operator branding on my phone anyway. In Singapore, phones are not SIM-locked, but branding of the phones still introduces some problems.

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Nokia phones, just like other phones, contain software (or sometimes also known as firmware) that can be updated from time to time. Just like any computer program, phone software may contain bugs. Software updates allow these bugs to be fixed. Software updates can also introduce new features, improve performance, or enhance stability.

A common question raised by many Nokia users concerns the availability of updates. While Nokia may have released an update for a particular phone model (e.g. Nokia N73), yet owners of that phone model fail to find any updates available when they run the Nokia Software Updater program or check the Nokia Software Update website. Why does this happen?

Well, basically software updates are tied to the phone’s product code.

Product Codes

Product codes are not quite the same as model numbers. The very same phone model can have many different product codes. The different product codes come about because of slight variances in the burned in software. The software may be different because of operator-specific branding. Therefore, product codes differentiate between branding of phones even when they are physically the exact same model.

Your phone’s product code is found printed in the label in the battery compartment. I believe it is usually a 7 digit number.

The operator-specific branding means that the software loaded into the phone may be different from the generic software as well as other operator branding. Operator specific branding may introduce customizations such as user interface theme, wall paper, icons, links to operator website, or extra operator specific applications.

In some cases, mobile operators may request certain phone features to be disabled. For example, while the generic N95 may support VOIP, certain mobile operators want the VOIP feature disabled. The disabling of features could be for commercial reasons, such as a mobile operator having subsidized the purchase cost of your phone (and naturally put you on a contract), may want to disallow you from making free Internet based phone calls through the VOIP feature.

Availability of Software Updates

As a result of operator branding, exactly when a software update becomes available for a specific operator branded phone (which will be determined by product code) is not the same as when Nokia makes the generic phone software update available for standard unbranded phones.

This means to say that even if Nokia has announced version 15.0.015 for the N95 8GB, it doesn’t mean all N95 8GB phones out there will have version 15.0.015 available. The delay comes about from the need to customize the software for various product codes.

Nokia has to modify the software according to the operator specific requirements, then send the customized software to the operator for their endorsement or approval. After the operator has given the go-ahead, then Nokia can make the new software available for that product code. Exactly when the software becomes available for a given product code thus becomes dependent on when the respective operator gives the green light for its release.

So, if you are wondering why there is no new software for your phone when others with the same model already have upgraded theirs… well, it could be due to your mobile operator

But I Want the Latest Software!

So you have a branded phone, new software is available for your phone model but just not your specific product code. How?

Try complaining to your operator, though chances are their customer service people aren’t going to know what you’re talking about, and nothing is going to happen faster anyway.

Another solution is to try changing your phone’s product code. Officially, this is disallowed by Nokia and it will void your warranty, so you are duly warned. If you are desperate, Google will find the answers you need.

Unbranded Phones

Unbranded phones carry no operator customization. If you buy a phone from a Nokia store, pay the full retail price without a mobile phone plan… that’s quite likely to be an unbranded phone.

Whether unbranded phones are “better” or not is debatable. Clearly, branded phones that have features disabled are bad. But not all branding results in features being disabled. Probably the main benefit for unbranded phone is that you get the pristine software from Nokia, and will get the most timely updates to your software.

Model Numbers

Just to be clear, model numbers are not product codes.

Model numbers identify specific phone models. The N95 8GB’s model number, for example, is RM-320.

Other Questions

Okay, here are some other common questions.

So, when will software be available for my phone / product code? Well, Nokia doesn’t release any schedules.

But I need bugs fixed/new features, etc. Where can I complain? As mentioned above, it depends on your operator, so you could try complaining to them but there’s only a very slim chance that it will yield any result.

Can I find out what changes are there in the software updates? Unfortunately, Nokia doesn’t seem to release official change logs. They did briefly at one time, but it wasn’t very detailed. Your best bet is usually to Google search and watch the forums.

This year’s CES has seen the unveiling of a bunch of upcoming mobile phones from Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia and others. Many reports and reviews seem to have been drooled all over the new models (perhaps that’s that they’re all supposed to do), although I’d think they are overly hyped. They are interesting, no doubt; But earth-shattering, no.

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Nokia is reviving their N-Gage gaming platform. This time, the N-Gage takes the form of a software application that is installed in compatible Nseries phones. Recent phones such as the Nokia N81 8GB, N82, and N95 8GB already come with a preview N-Gage application pre-installed. The actual release was originally promised in November, but was later postponed to December.

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It seems that Apple has decided not to put up with hacked iPhones that are selling in Singapore. They have issued email warnings to several sellers, both the brick and motar shops as well as online sellers. This is rather unusual since, I think, Apple hasn’t issued specific warnings to other hacked iPhone sellers elsewhere. Ok, no more hacked iPhones for Xmas.

Let’s be honest, mobile phones have become a necessity, even in the armed forces. Nowadays with just about everyone carrying a camera phone, and the armed forces still in their archaic ages trying to ban camera phones… what to do when you go NS or ICT?

Ok, phones without cameras aren’t so rare yet. But let’s move along a bit. 3G is getting more prevalent. People like me want to web surf (with a proper HTML web browser), download emails, etc. No camera is fine, but can we still have all that?

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After my previous phone contract ran out in April, I didn’t go get a new phone rightaway. There wasn’t anything particularly interesting then that struck my fancy. I was using an N73, which was a great phone, and although there were other “better” phones available, none were compelling upgrades. Until now, when the N95 8GB washed up on our shores.

The N73 is still a great phone. But the N95 8GB has come out to emerge as the new leader of the pack, after correcting some of the serious issues with the original N95.

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