Its here, and its a bit baaaaad.

Nokia have released firmware update 30.0.015 for the Nokia N95-1 (thats the Classic to you and me) and it is available for installing via Nokia Software Updater (NSU) for many product codes. But it will not yet be out for some of the heavily branded prod codes (i.e. Orange perhaps, or Vodafone). NSU will tell you, so there is no risk in that sense.

The usual disclaimers apply. N95 handsets have a bit of a habit of bricking themselves under NSU - it happened to me with a Voda N95 some time back. But if yours is less than 2 years old it is on Nokia warranty - only you might not want to say that you've been using NSU, just in case.

I did the NSU update using my Mac with Parallels running Windows XP in its VM. For some reason it did not like the NSU - some interaction with the USB seemed to cause it a bit of grief. But a few reboots of the VM later got it sorted out. The entire NSU update took about 13 mins to complete.

Make sure that you do a full backup using Nokia PC Suite. After the NSU update you can then use Nokia PC Suite to restore all the files, contacts and settings - the new version is clever enough not to try and reload the "device specific settings" that used to screw up (brick) the handset in the past. Nokia finally understanding that you cannot restore such settings after a new set of firmware - Doh!

Details of what is in 3.0.015 are well covered in this blog here --> http://www.symbian-guru.com/welcome/...te-at-nsc.html and a Google search for "N95 30.0.015" will bring you a shed-load of articles too.

The Auto-Rotate is a bit funky - I didn't know that the N95 had a motion sensor in it. Its not quite as slick as the iPhone's but it does work - just be patient, it will catch up with you

Brilliant news for N95-1 users this today. An eagerly awaited firmware update has hit NSU that brings some pretty killer features to the device; autoscreen rotation, share online on the active standby screen, Maps 2.0 and faster startup time to mention a few. V30.0.015 is available now on NSU for some product codes- and that’s the classic N95-1 only. N95 8GB users can expect a v30.0.018 update available shortly on NSU- for now, a trip to your local (hopefully you have one) Nokia Service Center should square you away with the update. If you’re an N95 user that has neither of these devices- ie a North American product- my crystal ball says you can get in line with your waiting shoes and dream about the features our global brethren will start using today.

At any rate, the forums are a buzz with this news today. Ricky first caught the news from P@sco who has the changelog- and I’ve been reading all about it from some very excited N95users at the forum there where someone has posted some initial observations and thoughts from crazyk @ Nokia Discussions-

- first thing i want to mention - startup time decreased to 15-16 sec.;
- on the desktop there is “share online” option, under WLAN scan;
- added 5th theme, dark one;
- BUILT-IN AUTOROTATE. works fine!;
- renewed standard icons (some are changed, some - just got smaller);
- some camera improvements. colors of the picture are closer to original;
- youtube video works fine, meaning update for flashlite3;
- maps 2.0.
- VoIP client is still there))

Faster bootup time is always welcomed by me- and auto screen rotation is a great addition as well. It has been noted that ASR isn’t as quick to respond as RotateMe, and you don’t have the ability to display both orientations of landscape- if that matters to you. Either way, it’s a nice feature to finally be added to the device. You will need to activate it in the settings as it’s left off by default. The setting can be found in Settings>general>personalisation>display>rotate screen.

It has also been reported that the demo Ngage application is now the full app after the update. There’s also a surprising, if not odd revelation that the N95 8GB will become a Comes with Music device as the changelog lists ‘enablers’ for the feature in the v30.0.018 update…


The new firmware is a breath of fresh air to the N95, quite reinvigorating for it. I can highly recommend this update (subject to the caveats and disclaimers). Just be careful to follow the Nokia procedure to the letter.