GLOBAL – Earlier in the week we announced our Summer Blowout with the news of our comment of the week promo, where we’re giving away a Gravity license for the best comment made on Conversations every week. Also earlier this week, we ran a poll asking what you expect from a software update. Well, what a hot potatoe that turned out to be (results and hopefully some follow up coming next week). There were many points, all well made, but one for me stood out more than most. Read on to find out who said what, and why it mattered.Keith commented on “what do you expect to see in a software update“. You can read the full comment below but two things stood out for me. Firstly the point he makes about the E71, still being a solid device after being around for over a year (sorry Keith, the E71 actually launched in June 2008, but what you say is still relevant). The point though is that through software and firmware updates along with the addition of new apps and services means this device is still very much a contender after all this time. Through software improvements, the lifespan of our devices is effectively being increased and all round I see this as a good thing.
The second point is probably a delicate subject, with many influences we’re not aware of. However, it is the very valid point of availability of updates in different countries and different networks. Plenty of others mentioned this as well in your comments on software updates, so it’s clearly a hot topic. We’re going to talk to the folks involved in this area and see if we can establish some degree of clarity here. It will be difficult as there are plenty of variables here which need to be taken into consideration, but watch this space for more.
Meanwhile, congrats Keith on a solid comment, well made. Please, everyone, keep them coming.
From Keith on “What do you expect to see in a software update”
From the list, I would choose speed and stability over the others. Much ballyhoo has been made over all the features added in iPhone updates, but really most of those features are already present in more mature smartphone OS’s. The one thing all platforms have in common is that they’ll all still pretty unstable, at least compared to computer operating systems. Until one application can no longer bring down the entire phone OS , we have a long way to go.
I like getting new features, but I’m plenty content with downloading them as separate applications. The E71 is still more-or-less a business flagship device- there’s no there option if I want a premium Nokia business vertical qwerty candybar right now, so it would be a bit of a ripoff to buy it in July 2009 if it were that much less capable than all the more recent FP2 devices. Thankfully, with downloads like Nokia Messaging, geotagging, MFE, and others, it holds up pretty well almost two years after its release.
My “Other” choice would be that the updates need to actually exist. I don’t mind if it takes a bit longer to get updates in the US, but often we don’t even have an idea if the updates are *ever* coming. Nokia should at least provide an ETA for when newly-released updates will arrive in other regions. We pay for the phones like everyone else (often we pay more due to lack of subsidies), so we should receive the same level of service.