Highlights from the Nokia N97 v20 Firmware Q&A
Yesterday, Nokia WomWorld arranged a little Q&A about the new Version 20.2.019 firmware that came out for the Nokia N97 last week, and we’re one of the lucky people that were invited to it.
We were basically allowed to ask questions on the v20 Firmware of the N97, its improvements & Bugs, and where the N97 and its firmware updates may be progressing to in the future.
There were quite a load of questions asked by the many other Nokia Bloggers there (And I felt pretty silly because All the questions I came up with were already answered before my turn lol). The Q&A was attended by Nokia representatives Frank Zillikens, the Lead Firmware Developer and Catalin Gheorghiu, a member of the technical team responsible for the recent firmware upgrade.
Here are the highlights :
(Note: All these questions were asked by the other Bloggers present at the event, not me).
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Q (NokiaUsers) : Skype SIP, VoIP and Internet Radio What are the statuses of these?
A (Frank) : We have already VoIP into PR2.0 and we are working on the Skype to get the best user experience out to the field.
Q (AllAboutSymbian) : PR 2.0 was said to introduce a new memory model. Can you give more details of this? I’ve observed that built-in apps do seem to use RAM a little more efficiently – do they share RAM better?
A (Frank) : We still need to get warm here in cold finland… We reworked the application memory mapping model, which uses the RAM more efficiently and reduces the memory errors.
Q (NokiaAddict) : What is the reason behind the exclusion of Internet Radio? Is this indicative of the direction Nokia is heading or a technology issue?
A (Frank) : We are currently evaluating the internet radio feature for N97, but it is still in early phase.
Q (N97Fanatics) :Now it’s been discovered that there is an issue with Web Feeds and Automatic Updates where the auto update feature turns off almost randomly (I’m noticing it on reboots), is this a known issue and what is the status on this?
A (Frank) : The PR2.0 release is so new for us that we have not noticed the problem. Nevertheless I will bring this up with the SW team.
Q (TrentSense) : Copy/paste via the QWERTY shift key works great in certain parts of the interface, but is absent from the Facebook widget and the S60 Web browser. Would it be possible to ever have copy/paste throughout all apps on the N97?
A (Frank) : As long as we use standard UI components the COPY/PASTE will work, if we use custom components then we need to implement the functionality at the component level.
Q (N97Fanatics) : I can also say that the automatic updates in the Web Feeds is broken. This is a huge bug as I’ve come to rely on the RSS homescreen widget and now it is unusable. Can a bug like this be patched and updated through the Software Update app by you guys or do we have to wait for a new firmware to fix that problem?
A (Frank) : First time we hear about your bug. So thanks for bringing it up! Will take it to our SW teams. Once the route course is understood, we then can see if we can update via the SW update app or only via a new Firmware version.
Q (N97Fanatics) : Can you make the calendar widget more useful, showing details of future events? You should easily be able to fit the next 3 events and their subjects.
A (Catalin) : The calendar will show the entries for the current day. For instance, if you have no entries for today, it will show like the picture you attached. Do you guys feel that it is important to see the entries for a few days ahead? If this is the case then I will bring this input back to the UI team.
Q (TheNokiaReview) : Users found that formatting the phone and memory after the 2.0 update made the UI more responsive. Why is this? Surely there should be no need. Also where is the New Ovi Maps homescreen, shown on many press images?
A (Frank) : You do not need to format the phone after the SW upgrade. The speed perception is a subjective matter and I can tell that I have never formated my devices while testing 2.0 and it worked OK… If one formats the phone, of course al the legacy data will get lost and the phone will be more responsive giving the fact that there is less data to deal with. The fact that the RAM gets scarce is because there are some memory leaks. Memory leaks could come from the 3rd party applications, it is not always an “OS” luxury.
A : Regarding the maps – you can find since ‘Nokia World’ from the Beta labs. And for sure we are working on getting it more widely rolled out. Key here is a good user experience! So please be patient!
Q (Mobile World Innovation) : Why didn’t we give the N97 the same video power of the N96 to utilize this big beautiful screen and can future updates help it in this area?
A (Frank) : The N96 was featuring a mobile TV standard: DVB-H. With N97 you can have similar experience by connecting via a BT accessory and voila, enjoy DVB-H on N97
Q (Mobile World Innovation) : I am actually talking about handling the same video codecs, when i try to play the same video on my N97 i get either sound or video cannot be played, not a great user experience when going from last years flagship to this years.
A (Frank) : Sorry, don’t know the answer. We’ll come back to your video codec question on another time.
Q (TheSymbianBlog) : Will we see an option for moving the browser cache and apps such as Nokia Messaging into the E: drive? Hacks can do this to an extent, but Nokia clearly doesn’t like people messing around in that area. Also, will we ever see Virtual RAM ala N900?
A (Frank) : We have chosen the C: drive, since it has memory paging and therefore makes the apps running faster and smoother. With PR 2.0 we have taken big steps to improve the memory handling mechanism and the PR 2.0 memory status will allow users to run the apps in a smooth way. Getting virtual RM is not an easy task, we encourage users to install the apps into the big 32Gb memory and not get everything into the C drive
Q (AllAboutSymbian) : Is there any truth to the suspicion that the v20 build on Nokia’s servers on that first Tuesday is different to the build that was available later in the week? And if so, which exact problems were fixed?
A (Catalin) : There are no different SW versions out! All are the same. But admitting here as well that we had a build problem for our MEA versions, so we needed to re-build those.
Q (NokiaUsers) : USB Port has problems, often when the connectivity cable or charger is plugged in, the software doesn’t read it correctly. You have to unplug, and plug in again. Also when plugging in the USB to computer, sometimes it asks you to select the mode several times. Also, a bug from V10, and V11 is still present, Screen Lock switch still has some issues in V20.
A (Frank) : We have improved the USB connection mode – but still connect and disconnect from USB will bring the phone functionality to resumes to the point left.
Q (NokiaUsers) : Some of our members are reporting losing data when removing the data cable, so clearly something is still wrong?
A (Frank) : That should be prior PR 2.0 and we listened to your feedback. If you still see this, please indicate.
Q (Mobile World Innovation) : The RAM on the N97 has been tweaked, but it still is very poor in handling multiple apps, my N86 with same amount of RAM can open much more apps and multitask much better, why is that and will we see more improvements with future upgrades?
A (Frank) : The N97 has clearly a bigger display and therefore needs more handling on for the screen. So let’s only compare Oranges to Oranges.
Q (NokiaAddict) : How is Ovi Contacts going to be expanded and when? more services added or mash ups with other Ovi bits, Ovi Files etc?
A (Frank) : We will come back to this topic later.
Q (N97Fanatics) : Would it be possible to have Multiple homescreens? I assume that would greatly reduce the available RAM which is why it might not be possible. Is this something that you’ve already thought about?
A (Frank) : We will tackle this later
Q (N97Fanatics) : Theme effects (transitions). We all noticed that most of them were removed between Nokia World 2008 and the phone launching in June 2009. I’ve found that turning Theme Effects on, negatively affects performance of the phone. Is there any plans to add the effects back to the phone or fixing the problem that exists with them now?
A (Frank) : The Nokia World 2008 featured a promotional video of the effects – reviewing that video myself and no problem with it… And personally I very much like the current effects.
Q (TheNokiaReview) : Future question… Will we ever see threaded messaging and smiley support? If not why? And why can’t i simply access my phonebook and send a contact?
A (Catalin) : Our platform is under continuous changes and improvements, stay tuned for the next releases, you will love them.
Q (TheSymbianBlog) : Will the browser get shortcuts to open bookmarks etc from the QWERTY number pad like older S60 devices. Eg. 1 for Bookmarks, 2 for Find… Also will a future FW bring any other functionality to the N97 that we haven’t seen yet. Maybe tweaks to the interface? On the lines of say the new UI Video from Symbian?
A (Catalin) : With a touch device it is much more easy and convenient to use the finger than using the keypad to get a bookmark started.
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