I'm feeling that it's almost time for a firmware update for the Nokia N82. Has anyone heard of a new firmware update for the N82 coming anytime soon? I personally haven't but I'm hoping the next one brings some good improvements.
I've been wanting to talk about three things that have to do with this topic:
What can be improved upon?
What can be added?
What bugs need to be fixed?
I don't want make this list as long as a bible because I want to hear what all of you want improved or fixed as well. This will be a 3 part segment, today we will be talking about what can be improved upon. In a few days I'll talk about new features that should be added.
Current Features That Need Improvement...
WLAN Connectivity - This is probably one of the biggest issues with S60 Feature Pack 1 phones such as the N95 and N82. Everytime my phone connects to the internet I would like it to first see if any WLAN access points I define are accessible in the order I choose. If there are no WLAN points ready than it can fall to my carrier's data connection. All this should be done in the background without me having to see it. The new Nokia N78 with Feature Pack 2 has something similar to this enabled and it works perfectly. There should be no reason Nokia can't add this feature.
Messaging - For many this list could be really long. First off I'd like to have the option to make the Conversation application I talked about last week the default messaging application. When I get a new text it should take me to the Conversation I might already be having with the person so I can see what was last said. Another user pointed out to me message details. We should at least be able to see the time a message was sent without having to dig around for it in the options. It should show right under the name of the person that wrote the message or below the actual message. I could go on and on about how bad the email system needs to be fixed but I'm saving that for another day.
Phonebook - I've been playing with the Nokia E71 for a few weeks courtesy of WOM World and I've fallen in love with many internal features that are different than Nseries devices. One is the phonebook. Say I open the phonebook and find the contact I'm looking for. I decide inside of hitting the green button and calling that person I want to just text him/her. Right now I'd have to push options then scroll down five clicks to "create message". What a hassle for such a simple task. On the E71 I can simply highlight the contact and push d-pad right. I then get a few options to call, text, email, or PTT. Simple and fast. No fumbling through the options menu. Keep in mind that the Nokia E71 also sports Feature Pack 1, but Nokia likes to change small features on Eseries and Nseries devices. They never give us the complete package. This small feature would be a great addition to the N82.
Audio Quality During Video Recording - I'm not sure that this is something that can be fixed with a firmware update, but I sure hope that Nokia is trying. The audio quality during normal video recording is not so bad, but when things get loud the audio just sounds terrible.
Smaller Top Headers In Basic Functions For More Real Estate - I'm talking about the top of the screen mainly in the Contacts and Messaging. There's no need for the huge picture of a phonebook and the large "Contacts" font. I already know I'm in contacts. I'd rather have it more subtle and small so I can see more people in the list without having to scroll. For instance, go to your Contacts and turn the phone landscape. You'll notice there is now no phonebook icon and the Contacts label is much smaller. This is exactly how I would like to see it in portrait mode. Like I said, this also goes for the messaging application when viewing lists of texts and emails.
Faster Gallery Load Time - Right now I only have about 100 photos on my memory card and only about 600mb worth of media. When I go to my Gallery on first startup it currently takes about 10 seconds to load. Can't we speed things up a little Nokia?
Camera Settings - Allow us to make our own Scene Modes and save them. Also an option to always use a default Mode we choose so we don't have to constantly change it to the one we're using that day. This would be great.
Bigger Caller ID Picture - Yeah I know I can use an application like FS Caller to do this but I think it should be built in. What's with the tiny thumbnail Nokia? If I'm not wearing my glasses you think I'll be able to read who's calling, let alone see the picture of them? Once again this is implemented in Feature Pack 2 phones like the N78 and upcoming N96, there's no reason Nokia shouldn't add this to the N82. It's a NO BRAINER.
I can go on and on but I'm going to leave some discussion up to you guys and gals.
I really want to know your thoughts and ideas and hopefully Nokia will pick up on some of our requests. I'm not saying all of these should be complete changes, but rather options. I'm sure many of you wouldn't welcome some of my proposals and like things just the way they are.
Stay tuned for the next part of this segment which we'll talk about completely new features that we should have but don't. This one should be interesting. Oh and thanks for hanging in there with the lack of articles during my vacation this past week. I had a great time and i was much needed time off for me and my girlfriend.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Next N82 Firmware Update Part 1 - What Current Features Should Be Improved Upon?
Posted by Mike Macias at 9:35 AM
Related Topics: N82 Firmware Updates, Rants
Posted by Mike Macias at 9:35 AM
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50 comments:
i have an suggestion: make the focus light to be able to turn on when recording video in night mode or use it as flashlight.
also it would be nice if there was a option to use gps for remote phone locating when it gets stolen.
Just a couple of extras on the back of what you've already come up with...
1) I think the contacts should automatically close (to save memory / battery life) after you have selected a contact and made a call. There's no real reason for it to stay open after that, but often I find I make a call and sometime later check my open applications and find that contacts is still open. Very annoying.
2) I agree with the larger picture for the caller ID picture. I used to have a Sony Ericsson K800i and this placed a beautiful full screen picture of the caller on screen when they called. Even more desirable would be the same feature when a text is received from one of your contacts. My Sony Ericsson used to pop up a full screen picture of my contact, with a caption to say "Message received from......". We get none of that with the N82 - just a notification that you have received a message, but not even the name of who it is from, and certainly not their picture, full screen or otherwise.
sjh777
text messaging should be improved for sure. At least I would like to show what time the message was sent.
We need an editmode for video. Like on the N95. Putting clips together and even putting on a different sound on. And for editing to MMS-quality after shooting.
As it is now, we have to choose which quality before recording.
Jeppe
Zooming and panning images in the gallery is painfully slow. That could probably be optimised.
/Bj
As first post said, it'd be very nice to have the focus light on for a few secs (if its too battery draining) or some minutes so we could have some video recording available during low light conditions.. that could be a proggie too, eh?
itanium
Calendar should be like in E66 - its awesome!
What needs improvement is the SIP-Client. I have three SIP-numbers, but the N82 handles only one. You can set up more profiles, but it will not work :-(
The WLAN improvement is next, the phone should find any known AP and let the SIP-Client register with the service immediately. (In theory this should work with Psiloc-Connect...)
battery, battery and battery. don't know if it's a problem with my instrument or in of n82 general but the battery dies a sudden death. i really can't count on the phone anymore.
also, i recently added an eight gig card and now the phone has suddenly started hanging. i read some posts recently which highlight this problem.
the camera setting point is also very valid. why does it always resets to default? it should be the last used mode/custom mode.
all others i can live with but the battery and crashing flaws are driving me nuts.
btw a purchased an e71 recently. very good phone! not as flashy as n82 but gets the job done. also the qwerty pad helps a lot.
i agree with full caller id, i have a nokia 5310 xpressmusic its beautiful! and its not even a smartphone! nokia,HELLO!
Hello!
1st:
I like to have predictive text input like on my old mobile Nokia 6630 through 3rd party software from ZiCorp, its a pity that this is not availible for S60 3rd devices! Take a look: http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:OFj_DbHnKMZfdM:http://www.blogs.s60.com/tommi/images/zi_predictive_text_suite.gif
2nd:
The build in webbrowser does not show in fullscreen in rotated screen, even if it is set in the preferences!
3rd:
I like to be able to rotate the standby screen also, not only the menu, and I like to lock the rotation, and I like to be able to rotate 180 degrees not only 90!
4th:
I like to customize the "active standby" like search my content and the internet, calendar, wlan scanning.
i would like to have my photos in order like when i open my gallery i have to first press option albums and i dont like that i would like to have first showing me a screen with my total images an number of albums like with the music player
1) I discovered that to exit all opened applications greatly saves battery. So I would like to see all opened applications as lines or icons on the main screen AND have one button to close them all.
2) Bluetooth should revert to off once a connection is dropped (i.e. you walked away from the car) for battery saving and security. A one click reconnect (i.e. I am back in the car) would be nice too.
3) Why the video recording goes on a bit more after I press stop? I have to remember to keep the video still a second more to save on the strange finale.
4) Zooming quality is not what I would expect from a 5Mb camera.
5) Geotagging should be on by default (no need to calculate the position at the same rate as while driving).
Mike... You think you're having a hard time with the loading time in the gallery with 100 images? lol ive got exactly 1337 images and thats growing by the day by at least 5! its painstainkingly slow sometimes. and it takes for ever to just delete an image.
Alot of what you mentioned is true and i agree. i have a feeling nokia isnt going to implement much though, not till they update the firmware to FP2 like they have done so with the N81.
one other thing ive found heavily useful is searching for a contact directly from the standy screen. Sony have implemented this (k850i) and so have Samsung. if you pres the number 2 in standby mode, all the names staring with 'A' comes up. its so much faster finding a contact and calling them and it doesnt leave the contacts app left open after the call. there IS however a 3rd party app (not free) called SkyeQuiKey, that does JUST that, BUT it needs to be running constantly in the background and also has abit ugly UI lol
:hMd:
1) A possibility to configure the active standby screen.
2) SMS Details needed, why oh why isn't more displayed when I read a sms?
3) Mapping of keys for shortcuts. When I am in a manu I can use "1" to access the top left item without having to click it. However, if I scroll down "1" still corresponds to the original program even though the program in the top-left part is now different..
Call logging needs to be improved...
The phone only shows you the last time a particular number called.
I often need to find out exactly when certain people called me, but I can only find out the last time.
It only remembers a maximum of 30 days of calls too. My old Nokias used to remember calls going back ad infinitum.
Messaging - the notifications need to be improved. At least tell us would sent it rather than "1 message received".
Gallery - the pointless use of albums and putting all images in one bucket needs to stop. Just mimic the folder structure on the phones.
Like all N-series a timed mode for profiles. i.e. at night put on silent until 8am when it reverts back to general, in that way you will not miss a call by forgetting to switch or the silent mode.
count down timer!
Podcasting needs to allow for more than one 'favourite' hotspot for automatic sync.
It also should have a cutoff time/MB or no sync at all when you're not running on AC
Easy way to delete old used access points
Allow changing the default browser. Not that there are tons of options out there, but I'd prefer to go into Opera Mini on a successful WIFI connection
No one mentioned about the camera settings?
I'd wish the camera remember to use the settings I set. e.g the timer for 2 secs, I won't have to select it every time after I take a picture.
after last update i had to switch rotation off permanently because it was rotating my screen even with smallest move. last update ruined this function for me :(
why the hell there's no setting to set sensitivity of this thing?
i'd like to use my keys for turning settings on and off in camera and music player. now we have full keyboard we don't use and to change smallest setting we have to go to menu/menu/menu/settings which is annoying.
i'd like to save more of my personal profiles in camera. not only one. and i'd like to activate them easier.
countdown timer would be great.
gallery is useless (and gallery button too) when you have 8gb card inside. after pressing this button or entering gallery you have to wait for few minutes till it's ready. albums are useless too right now.
alerts in maps are annoying. (like "theres no internet connection"). just let me use my maps and don't show me those alerts.
and most important: stop crashing.
I echo the remarks on the rotation. Thats a real issue for me. Also maps has a habit of crashing the entire phone while multi-tasking. Thats fixes...as for wishes. Photo image compression settings. Its a good camera, why limit it? Also the videos audio quality as mentioned. I'd also liked to see some browser update...
theres a bug: total calling time is resetting to 00:00:00 after reaching 99:99:59!
More information on a received text message for sure. Like many i've made the jump from SE to NSeries and the whole text interface on the SE i must say is very much missed. Come on Nokia/S60 at least tell me who has sent me the message before i open it!
i agree with a lot of things already mentioned..here is my wish-list (already posted somewhere else on a blog), the top-most being my most wanted:
1. email:
possibility to save attachments, even if the filetype is not known by the phone ("retrieving" is possible, but you can't save a copy to the phone/card memory..so you kind of can download it, but can't access it anyway :-( )
2. search:
possibility to mark search results with the #-key, so that e.g. i can use the result of a contacts-search to send an sms to several people appearing in the result
3. web browser:
- possibility to mark text on a website
- easier way to open new tabs
- status-bar where you can see where a link points to, when you hover over it with the "mouse" (and maybe be able to only copy the link location instead to directly load it)
- general improvement of speed and stability (!)
4. calendar & contacts:
- link birthdates of contacts with calendar
- possibility to enter all-day events
- possibility to save the thumbnail of a contact to the phone/card memory (instead of only being able to replace or remove it)
i also would like to see more details of a log-entry, e.g. in the missed calls..so that i see when, how many times and what number called me (if a person of your address book called you, you only see the name..you'd have to hit the call button to see the number..also the icon besides the name always shows "telephone", even if the person called from mobile phone)
cheers
I agree with all the above. A couple of additions:
1) Ability to run widgets on standby screen.
2) Support for Nokia wired remotes in applications other than Music Player, e.g. ability for 'back' and 'next' buttons to change radio channel, etc. Nokia Sport Tracker could use the Play/Pause and Stop buttons also - it isn't a serious sport application if every start/stop/pause/lap function requires the phone to be removed from a pocket, unlocked and the menu to be opened. These functions require one-button access.
3) Ability to nominate applications to open at boot and then run in the background without the use of third-party utilities. Apps like Autolock and Flipsilent would really benefit from this.
And last but not least...
4) PROPER. SUPPORT. FOR. MAC. USERS. Why can't I load maps, why can't I update my firmware without going to a service centre, why can't I design themes....?
There should be a counter where you can see how many sms you have sent. just like the nokia 6230i or the Sonyericsson phones. For those people who have an SMS package with a certain ammount SMS per month.
Great ideas and most take the words right out of my mouth.
One small one to add - I wish the music player had option to automatically pause playback when the headset is removed.
1. Phone book should close after i make a call from it.
2. Allow me to set the directory where pictures taken from the camera should go.
3. Allow me to set the scan directory/directories used by the Gallery. I do not want to wait a long time and have stupid pictures like application logos and icons displayed in my Gallery!!!! Right now it's scanning the entire friggen memory card!
These are super easy to implement/fix. Nokia, give as your source code if you do not wish to fix them for us.
I would like Nokia to enable the use of the "Navy Wheel" just like on the N78, so that you can navigate through the menus like ipod wheel.
Becaus i read somewhere that the n82 also has sensors on the pad like the N78,So it´s just matter of time for new firmware!
Navi wheel on n78
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVqjXrtKhOE
I'm surprised that no one has brought this up. But the N82 Nokia headset...needs to have functional buttons for the music player, like skip track etc tired of having to pull my phone out just to skip tracks
Also the headset volume for the music layer could be a tad higher
cola286,
this was annoying me too, so i bought another headset on ebay ;-)
i now have the HS-45, AD-54 and it works perfectly! it would even be the better choice if the original n82-headset worked :-)
cheers
yeah very annoying headset!
The ability to pause radio and start listening again (tivo for FM)
ffwd/rwd within a music track
@ cola286 - yeah the headset is a pretty pathetic one. but the article is about firmware update so i didn't mention it. i don't understand why nokia is cutting corners by providing this particular headset and i was devastated to see that the new e71 doesn't have a 3.5 mm jack! come on nokia, i don't want to buy a new pair of headset/accessories with each new handset particularly after spending so much money on the handset.
I don't get it, why can't we use FLASH WALLPAPERS?
Yeah flash wallpapers is something we should've been able to do a long time ago.
1 )I know its a feature that not many will use but it would be nice if the phone book is more simcard friendly, i.e. allowing the setting either sim or phone or both as the memory location for contacts. currently im using my phone with someone elses sim, and its really bothersome if that person wants to make a call(or is this feature present already?)
2) Again in phone book flexibility is needed with the default numbers, currently its cumbersome to send message, or in the case of conference calling, impossible, to non default numbers.
3) the headset buttons could be better mapped(what are all those extra buttons for anyway?) for radio and esp music player.
i really hope that nokia will finally make a good thing with folders, for this one is unebearable... i know there is a lot of software like Y browser, but that`s not good enough...
can update cause us to get better battery performance as with n95
what about the new operating system 9.3 that would be the best, what more could we want
The keyboard locking behavior should be improved when opening and closing the camera lid. If the lid is opened while the keyboard is locked, it should always be locked again when the lid is closed afterwards. The current implementation forgets to lock the keyboard if you use other applications besides the Camera while the lid is open.
There really, really needs to be selection for different levels of jpg compression. With the 5MP camera, it could really be a pocket camera replacement if it had this one feature. Pocket cameras don't have good zoom anyways, and the digital zoom can compensate for that. But you can't use any of that good quality if it is compressing it all away after you take the photo! Give me 3 modes of compression: the current one, a less aggressive one, and a light compression one. Come on, add on SD-cards make this a no-brainer!
It would be nice if the f****ing music player would work!
The library doesn't refresh at all which seems to be a 'feature' of the current firmware version.
@nokia: yeah, great, suckers! Go and get someone for quality assurance!
sure, they're moaning at every bug they find und also bug the developers with these little things - but otherwise your customer are
like me?
or short: PISSED?
Yes, a big +1 on variable jpeg compression. Otherwise your outdoor scenes will look really weird with all the lines being blurred away with the aggressive compression. It is a "no-brainer", and I question why it wasn't a feature in the first place. Other phones have it--why does the top of the line N82 not?
Change the track playing by pressing the button on the headset lik changing radio stations by pressing the headset but its sux to only be able to change d volume dat way, and to take ot th fone every time you want to change a track
Are you connected with Nokia in some way? Do you know if they are going to make a real effort at another firmware update?
The N85 and N96 are coming out, so I sort of assume they will try to make the N85 and N96 "bad" in comparison with them now. But the N82 has a lot more potential as a camera if they would just turn off the overaggressive compression. It might be a good idea to continue to sell N82 since it has the Xenon flash too.
show time/date which messages are received in the inbox view at the bottom left hand corner of each message
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