Quick note on the N95 firmware update 12.0.013

All right, last friday I updated my N95 to the latest firmware. So here is a quick note on the troubles I had and the few changes I noticed. Mostly this is about the outstanding improvement by AGPS and problems with the restore of the phone backup. The mapapplication did not change significantly, you still have to wait for a GPS lock to pick a destination.

Luckily it was not my first update so I kind of knew the major pitfalls. First I synced the phone, lifeblog synced and did a quick backup of the phone memory. Next came the upgrade of my update software and then finally the update. Then of course restoring the backup.

Restoring the backup

Here I got troubles, the phone complained that it could not restore the messages. A closer look showed it lost several applications and lots of message data. First of all it lost all e-mail accounts, sms messages and bluetooth transferred stuff on the phone (I did not have mms-messages). MMS is very silly if you have e-mail and can record MP4 video quality. I guess they rewired the message system completely. I had windows live client installed and the Live e-mail account it created was also lost. Then again perhaps the live client caused the problems in the first case. I would love to hear more experiences from others on this.

Several applications were gone or broken and needed to be reinstalled/replaced and reconfigured: SymSMB 2.0, Fring, Global Race, MWeather. On the other hand several games, the StowAway bluetooth keyboard driver, SportTracker and the MobiPocket reader were just restored fine. Most configurations were restored fine too. The media menu however needed to be reconfigured as well as the standby menu needed a reconfigure. My SIP configurations survived nicely. But now to the interesting stuff, where is the indicated AGPS support and the map application improvements.

AGPS

Well first interest to check out was the AGPS support. It is there. In the Tools->Configuration->General->Positioning menu there is now AGPS support and one can configure a server address. The default setting is just fine: supl.nokia.com. Testing time! 

MAPS

Starting maps seemed quicker to me. First time you need to select a network make a connection to the secure positioning server (supl.nokia.com).  BTW: Thank you for the secure part Nokia! A wifi network does not work, a GPRS or 3G network should be picked. This neatly speeds up the GPS lock time but more important, it now boosts a better sensitivity outperforming a Holux SIRFStar III. In my living room 3 meters from a window the Holux had 3 sats locked and a flickering location lock compared to 1 sat locked and no location lock by the N95's GPS. Inthe cnter of the living room I had 0 bars reception on the N95.

Now I have 3-5 bars locked! The GPS lock drops occasionally, but locking does occur there. And hey, there is a big reinforced contrete slab met steel mesh inside above my head called the second floor. Talk about signal dampening Some effects of reflection effects were also noted indoors, in the beginning it was about a 100 meters off my actually position. Still not bad, but it seems to learn and it improves with time. A hotstart gets me a position fix in 40 seconds in the center of my livingroom. Way to go for AGPS. 

A quick reconnect to the extra services was made to reinstall my mapping license and it went flawless. Learned that trick after my previous upgrade the hard way. I still can not select a navigation target without a GPS lock, so you still will be annoyed if you are in a underground parking garage. You have to get out and set a destination after you exited the garage and waited for a lock! The map applications still looks and feels exactly like the old one. Other than the AGPS support and a speedier boot nothing seemed changed.

In total:

• The phone is faster
• Slight retouch of the icons in Messaging
• A-GPS support, better and quicker locks
• Zoom in gallery goes upto 800%

Additionally Michell Bak at Mobile Expert reported amongst other that:

• Loading the gallery seems to be quicker*
• Camera sharpness bug fixed*
• Changes in web browser - one of them is that you now have to hold OK-button to get the menu to pop up
• YouTube and streaming videos in general is still not working on my phone
• When light is out in the screen, the gallery button blinks.*

* Can't confirm this.

YouTube works occasionally. Sharpness still defaults to normal, drat.  I guess they also would have fixed some minor bugs like the alarmclock bug. I am hoping for a full changelog to appear. Please post your own observations in the comments or Nokia N95 Users Group.

Snoyt