Ideas & Opinions, Products & Services
Comment of the week – Gravity winner
By JBC on 31 July 2009
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.
Related posts:
- Comment of the week – Gravity winner
- Comment of the week – Thoughts on today versus tomorrow
- Nokia N97 mini on sale this week
Tags | e71, Nokia E71, Nokia Software Update


























July 31st, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Well, congratulations to the winner!
And by the way, i haven’t got the chance to pay as much attentions as i would like to this comment. Now that you’ve “spotlighted it”, it was clear to me: This is a good point (regarding the firmware updates).I know i couldn’t say it better.
Once again, congratulations Keith!
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August 1st, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Enjoy your Gravity Keith!
By the way, Gravity works great with Touch phones like 5800 and N97, it supports kinetic scrolling!
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August 2nd, 2009 at 4:19 am
Woohoo- much thanks for the app! Gravity’s great on my E71- I wanted it, but I’m not much of a twitter power user so I couldn’t justify the price, so I figured I’d better just go out and win a copy
. With custom groups especially, and all the other features, it finally makes reading twitter posts doable on my phone. I installed it on Friday and used it to make the best of a difficult situation, as I tracked the latest rumors as my favorite baseball player, Victor Martinez, was traded away.
One thing I didn’t get to about the updates is that it seems to be getting better. Still have to verify on the device, but it appears that my wife’s N79 has some updates in the pipeline, and Nokia was quick to react on the N97. Notwithstanding the issues posed by different SKU’s, I’d think the updates for unbranded phones would be less messy, since it doesn’t have to go through some carrier’s 18-month vetting process. At any rate, I think we’ll get there- I’m sure within a few years every manufacturer will have a “Patch Tuesday” just like Microsoft
.
Oops on the date for the E71, but, at the same time FP1 has been shipped on devices for well over two years. It predates the iPhone, and most folks just assume that before the iPhone smartphone operating systems were about as sophisticated as the abacus. Well, I got my E71 just the May and it holds up quite nicely next to the all the iPhone’s and Blackberries I see around the office.
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August 2nd, 2009 at 12:45 pm
grats…im back from the past ^^ kidin’
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August 2nd, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Enjoy your Gravity Keith! Gravity works great with my 5800~
it’s great~
in chinese
Gravity宣起了一股twitter潮流之风 席卷各大中文手机论坛 opda cnpda dospy 等等一些中文主流手机论坛大量用户涌现 我就是其中一个了
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August 2nd, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Oddly enough the E71 is just over a year old now, NOT 2yrs. E71 is a solid device. E72 is an even better device of the same form.
However, its time that the functions and features of the E-Series gets combined withe the N-Series and vs versa.
E-Series users shouldn’t have to deal with 15fps Video capture, or less than steller optics for pictures. Nor should we not have hardware video acceleration. These devices are meant to augment or replace the need for a laptop/netbook on business travels and SHOULD have the hardware features for such a light travel. Let the bags business users tote around be for clothes, not a laptop & charger. We do like watching videos on any form of commute or travel means. Its time for dual speakers like the N85/N86/N97, and its time HVGA resolution comes to this platform and design. QVGA is getting hard on some of our eyes – those of us NOT 25yrs or under.
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August 3rd, 2009 at 11:03 am
gravity update twice a day, too crazy.
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August 4th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Gravity!Gravity!Gravity!Gravity!Gravity!
super application.
if any one wants to do time pass ,they can just open the app and flick through images , updates pages as this app support the nokia 5800ers favorite “kinetic scrolling”…..
a must try app for nokia s60 mobiles users
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August 5th, 2009 at 1:51 am
I think it’s really the best twitter client in the symbian system phone .
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October 12th, 2009 at 9:40 am
Hi, im from venezuela, gravity is the best program runing twitter.. Sorry my english. He.. why I need gravity? I cant buy that from venezuela.. =S… The dolars here is aprobed from cupons in credit cards, and its hard aprobed that.. Because i need it. Thanks. I hope so take my case in the first please. And Now in spanish.
Hola soy de venezuela, gravity es el mejor programa corriendo twitter, disculpen mi ingles je, por que necesito gravity? por que no puedo comprarlo desde aqui en venezuela.. Los dolares son contados por cupos en tarjeta de credito. Y es dificil que los aprueben.. Por eso lo necesito. Gracias. Espero me consideren.
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