N97 V11 - What do you think? What would you like to see in Future Firmware Updates?

[Micky]

I have been invited by WOM World Nokia to attend a live Q&A Virtual event on the 30th of this month, so only a few days away. Its all about the N97, and its firmware. What I/we think about it, and what do I/we wish to see in future firmware updates for the N97.?

This is open for all current owners of an N97 handset only. Let me know any questions you may have in this thread, and I will do my best to put the questions to the Nokia Technical team on the 30th.

I have many things to bring up myself regarding the N97, but this Q&A is sadly narrowed down to Firmware specifically, so can't raise the valuable points I have about the recent flood of complaints regarding the camera lens protection design, or the lack of RAM.

So there you have it, if you have any suggestions, on what you would like to see in future firmware updates for the N97, please let me know in this thread below.

Reminder - Please only post in this thread if you currently own an N97.

Thanks.!

[pogiewun]

im not sure if its possible, but it would be nice if the new firmware somehow made the external speakers louder...maybe it could adjust the equalizer or something. im just so used to my n95-1 and n95-4 being soooo loud.

i also wish that the music player was the same as the n95's. on my n95, it would always have the last played song in the music player, but on the n97....when i exit the music player it clears away everything and i have to always go back into the music library and choose another song. im not too sure if yall know what im talkin about but its something that became quite bothersome since i play music on my n97 ALL the time.

web browser with flash capability.

enable bluetooth usage while charging. very annoying how i cant listen to music while charging my phone via computer.

add a screensaver option (w/cClock app) so that i can tell the time and date just by looking at the phone instead of having to press a button or unlock it.

add another favorite contacts widget so that we can have 12 or 16 total contacts on the home screen.

[buxz777]

V11 PROBLEMS FOR ME

gps is unstable , very unstable , roughly 500m from where i am via maps 3.01 and garmin ,

music player can take anywhere from 20 - 50 seconds to open the all songs folder on 1st boot which is a very long time

menu lags very common

writting sms messages can be annoying due to the caharcters taking along time to show up

signal is ok but could surely be imprroved

WHAT I WANT FROM NEXT FIRMWARE

on screen qwerty

improoved gps signal --------- this is a joke now my n96 , n95 , n82 , 6220 never had such troubles as this it needs to be sorted by someone big time

improoved speed of device including how quickly characters show up on screen and menu navigation

would love too see multiple home screens , keep it the same as it is now but you can swipe left to go through different home screens that the user can create or right to hide homescreens , you could have the user select how many they want , the user could give each one a name like widgets home screen or apps home screen or contacts home screen , the user tcould then customise what they wanted on each home screen , this would mean you wouldnt have to open the menu as much and could just swipe to each screen

mutli touch emulation in certain places like the gallery and web , this could be handy in certain places like this. it has been done in a few games etc so could be put into the gallery and web at least

music player improovements , different skins , visulisations , album art easier to use , i like the s60 music player but improovements over the one present would be nice

more themes as standard

MY MAIN ONES ARE IMPROOVED GPS STABILLITY , MORE HOME SCREENS

i think the home screen feature i mentioned would have so much use and customabillity it would just be brilliant and maybe would take the heat of the ui which alot of people are moaning about

also imagine flicking from your main home screen to a calender home screen with full calender listings , then flicking through to your music player home screen with full screen music controls song details and album details etc , then flicking through to your apps screen where all your fave apps are stored for quick 1 click access , then flicking through to a full live widget home screen with say up to 12 widgets and live feeds taking place ,

the main home screen should stay i like that its nice but should be imprroved with multiple larger home screens ata flick of the finger

you could even have a little number pad widget where if that is on the original home screen we have now , you tap the widget then tap the number of what home page you want , thus bringing up the home page corresponding to that number

it has alot of potenial i think and surely it could have an option to turn it off (ie multiple home screen off)

[roberth]

1. phone memory to be used as virtual ram (it is possible)
2. better optimization - on startup clock,log,contacts and messaging start up
using handy taskman i "kill" these...but each of them take up about 1-3mb ram...
either dont let them auto start or if they must optimize them so those 4 only use
1mb ram total
3. transitions like the video commercial
4. and answer and solution to the camera lens scratch issue
5. ability to move the clock,date,time etc on the homesecreen - as in drag and drop anywhere...
not it being stuck to the upper left....
6. the "second" homescreen being put to other use maybe more widgets? maybe full screen calender widget or weather?
7. improvements to speakers as stated above....they sound really low in comparison to other devices up the ante a few notches!
8. ability to remove ALL applications.....boingo must go!
9. ability to install all applications on mass memory (ovi contacts, ovi messaging, ovi files....seeing the pattern?)

may sound like alot but these little tweaks could turn the n97 into a bigger beast than it already is.....

[Bascombe]

V11 brought improvements in signal reception, but it would be good to see further improvements in that area.

More use of kinetic scrolling throughout the various menus would be good (get rid of the footery scroll bars)

Like the idea of multiple home screens above - the switching between the two existing versions is one of the slickest aspects of the current ui, but I've found it to have precious little actual use. It would be good if it could be developed into something associated with a meaningful function.

I know Nokia have launched that ui blog, and it will be good to see what comes out of that, I just hope it isnt all held over for a future phone, and the n97 actually sees some of the benefits.

The n97 is my first touchscreen, and I dont know if this is something that is a limitation of the format, but somehow working in some gesture shortcuts for browsing to e.g. go back a page, or get to the bookmarks, would be good, as it is it takes 3 taps to do something simple like see your bookmarks.

Further optimisation of the c drive would be nice.

The music player is perfectly functional, but its not exactly slick - maybe it could benefit from a general revamp of the ui, at the same time as the rest

Calendar widget - would be nice if, instead of just listing when the next entry was (e.g. Next entry on ....) it listed what that entry was

The contacts widget is great - but it would be nice if a group could be added to it as well as individual contacts, so that e.g. there was a shortcut to all your family phone numbers

More flexibility on what can be removed - on the n95 all the welcome and wizard apps could be uninstalled. GIven the limted spaced on the n97, it would be nice to remove these once they are no longer useful. And while we're at it, can we get rid of joiku and boingo?

How about replacing the default photo app with the new photo browser?

Can we get intgrated html support in the default email app? Nokia messaging is good, but a bit flaky, and I actually find the default app (combined with the 3 mail app) preferable.

More codec support please - the n97 has a great screen, but I havent yet watched anything on it, partly because my past experiences with converting video files were pretty hit or miss. Would be great to just drop .avis or mpegs on the phone and have them play, as I believe the i8910 can.

How about the facility to resize some widgets on the home screen, or remove some of the default ones .e.g the profile widget

Bring back the home network function from the n95 - it was a great means of copying content from a media sharing pc to the phone.

The web feeds management in the default browser seems a bit antiquated. opera mini seems to do a far better of job of displaying content with images. However, the fact that the default browser is desinged for a touch os makes it preferable in many respects.

Think thats about it - have to say, after being initially dissapointed with the clunkier aspects of the n97, and initially v. poor reception in v10 firmware, I'm really sold on it with the improvements brought in v11 - but there are no doubt still areas for improvement. Here's hoping 3 uk is as prompt with the release of the next firmware.....

Bascombe

[gazza1]

Micky

Its nice to no that one of are own will be attending a very important nokia function and also the right person for the job.

Switchable homescreens
Better music interface
More volume but with quality if possible
Improvements to music quality if possible
Camera improvement/tweaks
Onscreen touch full keyboard
Able to have whatever homescreen and widgets each person wants so full customisation if possible.

Liking my n97 an awfull lot at the moment so anything else will be a bonus.

[Sexyback]

menu lags to be fixed

keyboard shortcuts, perhaps to be used when browsing on the native brower. Would be grt rather than going through menus to refresh etc.

Transitions would be nice...

but im another whos loving it just now, im not kicking the bucket over anything.

Apart from that bloody focus light, but i'll cope....

[Recall]

1. Kintetic scrolling throughout.
2. Single click throughout.
3. The missing theme effects from the adverts
4. Better ram optimisation.
5. Ability to remove boingo and joikuspot.
6. Reception stability ( still not convinced it was all vodafone as my 5800 has been fine today! )
7. General speed improvements in UI.
8. Browser improvements for complicated sites such as BBC and Sky Sports, along with auto resize. Also zoom should be transparent on the right so you can zoom in like Opera 9.5 on Omnia windows mobile version.

[MohammadAG]

1. Decrease RAM Usage (40 MBs on bootup is a no no, my dad's E66 starts with 81MBs)
2. 5800 transitions.
3. As everyone has said, kinetic scrolling.
4. Remove Boingo, it caused me enough problems already!
5. More homescreens (5 or 6 should be enough :p)
6. Improved camera application (my N95 shoots better more colourful pics)
7. Theme effects = menu lags, turning off theme effects proves this.
8. Safe Mode (to avoid hard resets if the phone doesn't turn on)
Can't think of anything else but it's a long list already

[TheThinker]

Good luck passing on everyone's thoughts Micky - you'll do us all proud I'm sure.

TBH, everyone has covered one way or another the points I would raise, but if I had to prioritise I'd say signal needs work (yep, it's Vodafone here...) above all else - despite the fact that it's an incredible device, If I need it to do one thing consistently it's make and take calls whenever practically possible.

Cheers,
The Thinker