Early feedback: MNB Nokia fans very happy with Nokia Belle update
Yesterday we asked for some feedback to those who got the official Nokia Belle update so far.
To those that have the official Nokia belle update and voted, 75% of you guys have voted at least 7 or more out of 10, with the largest majority very pleased and giving a 10/10 score so far.
About 16% of those voted are still waiting – though the roll out was only just released on Tuesday. It seems based on the comments, there are still quite a few things that need resolving but overall positive for those that manage to get Belle.
To keep up to date as to when Belle is arriving for you, check out the availability Map for Nokia Belle.
We’ll revisit your findings of Belle probably in a few weeks time once it’s settled in and more users have it.
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Hey, thanks for reading my post. My name is Jay and I'm a medical student at the University of Manchester. When I can, I blog here at mynokiablog.com and tweet now and again @jaymontano. We also have a twitter and facebook accounts @mynokiablog and facebook.com/MyNokiaBlog. Contact us at tips(@)mynokiablog.com or email me directly on jay[at]mynokiablog.comSubscribe
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- Early feedback: MNB Nokia fans very happy with Nokia Belle update | | February 9, 2012
You do realise, that Nokia have stated they will not be making Belle available to Australia and Canada? Though they have given in slightly to Canada , by providing at least Generic Unbranded Codes..Not so in Australia. Aussies are really furious at Nokia at present and i guess Canadians would be feeling the same..
Has anyone came out and bluntly stated why?
In the USA I was extremely satisfied that we were in the first round of Belle updates
…but I’m now really worried about my australian N9 and PR 1.2
“We are also working very closely with our operator contacts to get operator variants tested and approved. Some countries and operators have nevertheless decided to not make Nokia Belle available due to technical reasons.”
http://conversations.nokia.com/2012/02/08/nokia-belle-download-your-faqs-answered/
To me, it sounds like they’re blaming the network operators in Austrailia for not allowing it…
Thats untrue for Australia.. Telcos have indicated willingness to pass on the update (bar Telstra) but Nokia havent supplied FW for testing.
It says “countries and operators”, so it may be Nokia Australia who said no to Belle. I wonder what the technical reasons might be? Does Australia have some special frequencies or some other thing separating them from other markets that would require extra work or something?
As for the whole Symbian thing, I think the thing is so far all over the place when it comes to variants and stuff – and probably has been going that way for years due to the way it is done, Nokia really is feeling the pain with these updates. A lot of work to get updates to everyone. I hope Windows Phone will fare much better when it comes to a unified codebase etc.
Nokia probably did wisely to dump Symbian, Belle is nice but it is still feeling the age and with all these troubles to get Anna and Belle and all that out to the world, who can blame them. (What we can all probably agree is that Nokia should have dumped Symbian silently phasing out instead of a public execution.)
http://discussions.nokia.co.uk/t5/Software-Updates/Update-on-Nokia-Belle-Availability-for-Australia/m-p/1301843#M110580
Nokia have given in to Public Pressure.. Technical Issues disappeared..Still may take some time till Operators approve updates though.. Many of us just want one OZ Generic to Flash with. And soon..
Thanks Paul for posting the link. I was just about to do the same.
Thanks to you Yvonne..
Not true I am in Australia and I have Belle
Still waiting fot Belle, and judging by the time I had to wait for Anna, I think that I’ll only have Belle in my N8 like in April… what a shame!
I had 38 apps open on my N8 yesterday, that’s amazing!!
the battery seems to be a lot better too, I think it later 37 hours on heavy usage (installing, downloading, browsing etc…).
The only thing I don’t like so far it’s that when you select an app a large blue select square appears, it’s really ugly and I want it home.
My Belle rating was 9/10 on MNB and it still is.
i’m very happy with Belle.
I shouldn’t Swype drunk. Sorry about that.
Later = lasted
it’s = is
home = gone
37 hours heavy use??
yeah, i’m not buying that one. let’s not get carried away
actually yes it is, I was on leaked version and it only lasted a day, this one at lease lasts longer
As a long time loyal nokia customer, I’m in Canada, and I waited for Belle, thinking, I would stick with Nokia because of belle. Not anymore, Nokia has lost a 17 year customer forever. If belle is not available to me because I live in Canada, and bought my phone from a carrier, then thats just a slap in the face, I will soon be switching to Samsung.
dude download navifirm and flash with the NAM version Quickly….ROGERS,belle and telus are all balls i’m canadian and i’ve been with them all….and WIND,Mobilicity give you the unlocking code so you can unlock your C7 and 500 …ELOP fucked up let again by NOT providing EVERYONE with this update…..this is the main reason why i never by carrier locked phones….they fuck with people all the time
he can do that, but its a matter of principle. a company should provide equal service to each and every customer. he payed money for his device like everyone else.
Haven’t you heard – Nokia is no longer in the business of selling devices. Now they are selling an ecosystem *whistle*
Tho, to be fair, generic Nokias will be getting the update, the problem is with specific carrier customized (read: cannibalized) versions – so they should at least take half the blame.
I neef a working version of phoenix.
2011.46.002.47246 version works quite stable (I’ve flashed C7, N8, E7 and N9 hundreds of times with it) and can be found all over the interwebs.
keep finding broken/dead links, and or bad cracked versions. Need to keep looking I guess.
just flash it ? no point in waiting forever for an official release let alone one that may not even come
Are you able to provide me with a working link to Phoenix. I just keep finding broken/dead links. and bad non working cracked versions. Beyond frustrated. TOO many hours have been wasted in front of my PC trying to remedy this.
Its only been a few days.
Nokia have already tweeted that a status update on the missing countries is coming (I would assume it is technical/carrier issues).
No, actually, they categorically stated that Canadian customers with carrier branded variants will NOT be getting the update. So much for buying my phones outright, off contract.
Nokia Canada have put up some Generic Codes and Nokia Australia is responding to bad press and consumer fury.
Dude my N8 is from rogers and I flashed it 2 months after I got it. It was filled up with all that rogers extra unwanted software, and that firmware barely ever updates. Rogers is nuts and won’t update your N8. gotta do it yourself.
hey buddy don’t get bummed so easy. Please check your set here
http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/nokia-belle-update/nokia-belle-update-availability
Nokia should release x7 rogers belle update soon
after playing with my official Belle update some more Id give the release a 9/10 instead of the 8/10 i originally gave it
I just wish more widgets were available and that the original Music player widget was still an option as I dont like how much space the new one takes up (i know there’s that leaked E6 widget)
same here, I originally voted 7, I’d also like to raise mine to a 9.
The only thing I really like about Belle is that it fixed the batter draining issue I got w/ Anna. Otherwise, it took away a lot of little things I liked – especially widget wise. I wish they left us the Games/Applications/Music etc folders to help organize. We can still make folders but they are the generic yellow – I liked the pink games folder w/ the controller icon on it. Regardless, Belle works just find & I am still content w/ my N8.
U’ll be glad to know that can download the Folder Icon app. from the Store that lets u change.. what else.. the folder icon.. Its really worth the money.. U can even use images from gallery if u like or choose from predefined icons that comes with the app.
Yep, that’s a great little app to make your own folders.
http://store.ovi.com/content/136637
I gave it 9/10. I don’t like the pop up for incoming messages, i prefer the old “Notification” widget. Really hope in an update. =)
I rated 7 due to almost the same reason. I like Belle but I am hating for the things Nokia takes away.
I was wondering if it was even necessary to do the popup since you can just look up at the status bar and see if you have any missed calls, voicemails, text messages, etc. And then access it straight from the pull-down notification bar that they advertised so much
Belle is great, I’m using 700 & C6-01, but I’m missing notification widget.
Should we make petition to Nokia to bring it back?
We should do something effective to bring all the things back that were before and made sense. I don’t know why they were removed all together. They should’ve kept them as an option for users. If someone like larger clock they use that, if someone like old styled clock widget, they could use that one and so forth.
Gave up my N8 around Christmas for a Lumia 800, am now wishing I had it back.
But I will get another Symbian 3 phone one day, always loved the E7 design…
Better get one soon, Nokia may not be in the Symbian business much longer.
y dnt u keep 2 phones,thats wat i have a nokia lumia and n8 lol. i still love the n8 its like a swiss army knife.does every thing i want.
i brought my N8 with me to Iceland just for the possibility of the update, i’m so glad that i did,
can’t play with it though, since my roommate’s HTC died, i borrowed him my trusty Nokia,
the time that i did spend with it, i’d say it is worth it!
Well i still give Belle a 10/10 with the new UI and all. Do have a few issues but well its better than Anna so i cant really complain much.
One thing does anyone have a problem with Ovi Sync telling service is not activated. My contatcs and calendar entries are on there
Second a times the phone really struggles at times when i switch between homescreens
Third when i click add a new widget and i click on the Store button to find new widgets the store says cant get a response or something
Fourth when i changed the theme and later went back to orignal theme the notification buttons didnt change back, probably the problem wth my theme
Seconding the Ovi Sync and new widgets from store problem.
Oh and Nokia suggested resetting/reinstalling, have tried various combinations of *#7370# and a full reinstall from Ovi Suite but to no avail. :/
I read that the Nokia Pure font was supposed to be included in this release but its not showing up on my NAM N8. Anyone know anything about this?
Any E6-00 owners got problems with the lock slider after the update? Mine is acting strange.. can’t pull it all the way, it just goes back to being locked/unlocked.
No Belle in my N8.
PC: 059C073 from Movistar Spain.
Movistar sucks as usual with updates
Belle update is great, i feel like i have a new phone. However, there are few issues i experienced on my N8 with Belle, and also some Anna features missing:
—-
1) for some reason .flv files playback is not working anymore (flash player starts, shows one video frame, but is not playing) – anyone experiencing this problem ?
2) i don’t like new calendar widget which is showing only 1 event… kinda useless. Is there some other calendar widget i can install ?
3) digital clock widget is too big. I prefer Anna’s clock+profile widget, which was much more compact.
4) There should be smaller version of music player widget aswell.
5) Shortcut names on the home screen (under the icons) should be optionable (i personally would turn them off)
6) At first, I missed possibility to enter power-saving mode by tapping on battery icon. Later i realized it is still accessible by pressing power button. However, now there’s no way show current battery status (in Anna i could see it by tapping on battery icon)
2) there is – Coming soon – search the store
3) flip clock widget is an option but not exactly what you want
4) compact music player widget was ported
5) there is such mod
for 3) 4) 5) search at forum.dailymobile.se
6) that info was completely wrong, use battery info or battery monitor – both at store
thx
oh I meant ‘Coming next’ not coming soon, sorry
Agree with you on all. At times I remind myself that there is a clock on top now as I always wanted but then I recall that the clock widget was easy access to date and time, as well as profiles. If all of those and Switch Application could set in the notification drawer than that would be perfect.
after the update is it still sending sms to some freaky number (as after hard reset) ?
Nokia Belle my experience thus far..the Good, the bad and the ugly..
The Good….
- The start up process seems quicker and I like the the re-jigged Nokia tune in the start up connecting people holder page thingy
- The new digital screen saver and wall papered screen lock page
- Design and flexibility of most of the new widgets, particularly the Google search, email, FM transmitter toggle and analogue clock
- The transparent tool bar in the homescreens
- The new turning screen transition effect in Gallery
- Facebook and twitter widgets and the new version of social
I adore the kind of water-marked background wallpapered effect to the main menu which mirrors each home screen wallpaper that you have entered from..very nice!
I also really love the return of the 5800 (and original N8 version) style grid search facility in contacts whereby the letters and numbers get whittled down as you close in on your search, I actually find that fun to use!
The contacts section is also better laid out, notably by the fact that you can view the full email address of a contact with out having to tap twice to actually going into editing mode before it appears in full. Something that irritated me intensely before
Some elements of the phone genuinely seem a lot faster, but need a few days probably like everybody else to gain a balanced view.
The Bad…
- Having made a note and then trying to view it, my note goes directly into (non split screen) white screen editing mode instead of black background view mode. Can any body confirm the same experience? Or is this just my phone?
- Gallery in album view. I have 5 albums of photos plus the both the ‘Captured’ and ‘Favourites’ default albums. My last album sits right at the bottom of the screen and is over laid by the transparent ‘back’ key of the tool bar and I can’t get the album in portrait mode to scroll up to make the key press to select it. A little hard to explain but create some dummy albums and you will see what I mean
- Email widget, love the design but the whilst my main email app is showing a new email the widget is not getting the updated feed until I have gone into the main app and do a manual sync.
- Calendar widget, again love the design but as many have pointed out, useless for only one entry and does not display to-do tasks, or rather it does until you enter a meeting entry and then the meeting takes priority and is displayed instead.
- Really missing the notifications widget. Used to love the way the incoming message wrapped itself around the top of the phone and the panel of notifications etc. Loathe the boring ‘back 3-steps’ bland black text message notification covering up all the screen..sexy not!
- As much as I love the clock widget on the homescreen hate the ‘playschool’ version on the screen saver.
The Ugly..
Nokia forgot (on mine anyway) to give me a wallpaper themed background page that is displayed whilst in a call. I am not talking about the display bit for the contact box but the surrounding box. Mine is theme-less and bland boring black, again is this just my phone or anybody else find this?
My last nag…
Theme effects -
I hate the over the top theme effects that you see in some of the you tube videos for Symbian 3 devices, but for heavens sake where are the effects for Symbian belle. Granted there are a few new ones and the gallery transition effect when turning into landscape is lovely, but why does that not extend to the home screen???
I had a 5530 before the Nokia N8 and it did all that and more with some lovely subtle effects. We are 3 versions into Symbian 3 and we still do not have a nice transitional theme effect for the turning the phone into landscape (apart from in the gallery) is it really that hard???
A source at the Nokia Care point near my home says that a LOT of N8s are coming in bricked while updating them to Belle. Mine got bricked too, I hope everyone gets their phones working again.
This is what I like about Apple and Android, you just can’t brick those devices! They are always flashable. Phoenix and Navifirm didn’t work for me. :\
The number of bricking horror stories about iPhone and Android devices that I’ve heard vastly outnumbers the unsalvageable Nokias… Given that a plenty of my friends are bringing me bricked Nokias to bring them back to life – so far there was only one C7 that I couldn’t revive with Phoenix. That is one in hundreds I’ve flashed… YMMV.
Ah, ao all hope isn’t lost yet!
@Yvonne Google Maps is very important for us in the USofA .. and it seems to be working on some devices, and not on others.. it worked on mine for a day, and then it started crashing on boot. Any chance we can push google to update the app for Belle ?
9/10 from me. The N8 feels right with belle. Problems with certain apps, but that is more on the app dev side, not the OS..
i cant find nokia pure font in my belle update and cant play flv files
Nokia! Bring back NOTIFICATIONS WIDGET!
Still no easy way to take screenshots AFAIK.
for Australia the initial word was “Nokia Belle not available”. After some initial noise from Australian users this changed to “Nokia Belle updates in planning” where it has been for some weeks. Very disappointing.