Everybody has heard about software updates but still not everybody is keeping his or her phone up to date. Why not? Maybe they don’t know how to, or aren’t sure where to find the new version. We’ll take a look in a series of tips and tricks post this week at how easy it is to get right up to date.

Let’s take a look behind the scenes and explain the concept of software updates for both Lumia and Symbian phones. First of all, you might wonder why you should bother to update your phone? It’s simple: updates add great new features and improve your phone all the time. A perfect example is the latest update for Lumia 800 and 710. Not only does it bring you WiFi hotspot functionality but also nice little gimmicks that you’ve already grown to love with your previous Nokia smartphone, like flip-to-silent. I’m sure you’ll agree, compared to a couple of years ago regular software updates are now a key factor when it comes to buying a new mobile phone.

Updates can be divided into two categories, that means you can update the phone software and also receive updates for pre-installed or downloaded apps. All Nokia smartphones and most of the Nokia feature phones (except Series30 handsets) can be updated and we regularly launch updates for both the operating system as well as Nokia apps to keep the software in pristine condition.

With Lumia, you have the updates for the OS that are delivered via Zune (for PC) or Windows Phone 7 Connector (for Mac). Make sure that you have a tick in the notification box under Settings > system > phone update, so that your phone automatically prompts you as soon as an update is available for you.

Look out for more tomorrow! Got any tips and tricks of your own? Let us know below in the comments, or send us them on Twitter.