No Belle for Nokia Astound :’(
Sad news to any Owners of the Nokia Astound (T-Mobiles C7-00 Twin on US shores); according to the tweet above the Nokia Astound will NOT be getting the recently released Nokia Belle Updated. Before you rush to blame nokia the real reasoning behind this is that Any update to a carrier subsidized phone has to be approved and edited then pushed out by the carrier themselves (in this case T-Mobile); but apparently T-Mobile isn’t willing to bother spending it’s time and money pushing the update out… Sorry folks :’(
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Well I really must oppose this behaviour. It’s not solely up to the operator.
At least in Germany a firmware cannot be deployed as is. If you buy your phone and it has bugs, not the provider is to be held responcible but the creator and distributor of the FW that is Nokia in both cases, branded and vanilla variants.
They either are bound to deliver bugfixes separately or push them through the mess that is operator branding. In the latter you may sue both!
That is so in Germany, not in the USA.
In Europe consumers have the priority, in the USA the mega corporations and their lobbyists are the ones in control.
And they would rather sell a new device than breathe new life into an old one.
Astound can be flashed with C7′s firmware, IIRC, so that’s an option for those stuck with T-Mobile’s unenthusiastic look on Nokia Belle…
I’m sure this will still be blamed on Elop somehow.
Unfortunately it will be. That’s usually the case with carrier phones. Most consumers don’t realize that all updates to phones on carriers have to go through the carrier itself and the carrier is the one who will decide to push the update or not.
When it comes to carrier subsidized phones, the manufacturer produces the device, SELLS it to the carrier and only supports it by creating updates, whether those updates will be pushed to subsidized phones is not for the manufacturer to decide.
Another reason to buy unlocked.
That’s a bad move by T-Mobile which will reflect poorly on Nokia, even though they have little to do with it. Astound users should be able to flash their devices with Belle downloaded from NaviFirm, but that has a small element of risk and requires some technical knowhow.
I’m looking into how to do this, though I won’t do anything until I understand it well. So far, I don’t understand much! Haha. Got to figure out what all those file names are in Navifirm…
It sucks for Astound customers, but it makes sense, I guess.
Nokia is not committing any more manpower hours to support Symbian in the U.S. They’ve already stopped selling Symbian phones here, aside from older existing models.
Still, the to the few that bought the T-Mobile Astound, Nokia is pretty much giving them the bird. Not a nice way to build good will in the U.S. when they need all they can to sell their Windows phones.
Didn’t you read the article? Nokia is willing to support their devices and they do. It was T-Mobile who decided not to push the update. Nokia has NOTHING to do with it.
Nokia is one of the few manufacturers who was always committed to supporting their devices.
Any proof for that? Nokia only said that it wont get belle, but no word about the reason.
In the US, that’s how it works. Updates get pushed out by the carrier. It’s up to the carrier if they want to push it out or not. Every carrier subsidized phone has carrier bloatware in it. When an update comes, it goes through the carrier first so they can make it “compatible” with the bloatware version of the OS.
Kind of sucks how tied to carriers we are here in the States. But that’s how it is here
Well that’s funny. It’s the same in Germany and I’m 100% sure that it contradicts some elemental laws around IT and software as well as consumer rights.
It does not. Software most certainly is sold “as is” everywhere. What you were referring to in your first post to this thread was “fundamental flaws”, i.e. if you would’ve bought a phone that cannot be used for phonecalls, then yes, you would be entitled to some reimbursement.
Let me illustrate this with a fe examples:
You bought an iPhone 2G in Germany 2007. Good luck trying to sue Apple for not pushing iOS5 to your device.
You bought a laptop with Windows Vista in 2007. Good luck trying to sue Microsoft for not providing you with a free copy of Windows 7.
Well I have to partly agree. Still you’re wrong on a few issues. If you buy a software it is required to work bug free. If it doesn’t, the manufacturer is forced to deliver a patch. It’s like that in german IT law. Might be different elsewhere but even if you buy the software in germany ‘as is’ law still insists. Doesn’t matter on how the software is sold your claims are still valid. The same applies to general terms and conditions. In germany the whole thing is going to be invalid if one part conflicts the law in any case. They must be absolutely in tune. And even on Nokias behalf most of the AGB and general terms and conditions are not valid in germany even if presented in german.
For the fundamental flaws:
If I buy a featurephone as such and it does offer a browser, yes I have no right to claim the browser to work if it was not advertized as an integral core part.
The firmware of a smartphone though is a completely other matter. A smartphone is no longer a phone where the fundamental flaws are restricted to phone and messaging functionality but to all the functionality offered upon purchase. If those things are not in tune, it’s exactly a case where ‘as is’ cannot be applied. And I’m not talking about the reimbursement stuff. That’s bound to the hardware in germany and your local trader. For software you are directly bound to Nokia and vice versa.
Your examples don’t quite cut it.
iOS5 on iPhone 2G … not a chance. But a bug free iPhone 2G absolutely! How Apple would achieve that is of no concern to you. They may port iOS5 or fix the bugs separately. Same applies to Nokia. Belle would usually be a present! Nothing I have any ‘right’ on but the bugfixes are. And if Nokia only bundles them into Belle, it is no longer a good will present, it’s only their part fulfilling their duty by law in germany. It may look different from an internal POV companywise but that’s what it cooks down to over here.
A laptop with windows vista? No chance on Windows 7 nor on a bug free windows vista. But that’s because Vista is no integral part of making that laptop work as there are other alternatives. For firmwares that does not apply. And I can tell you that you’ll get a refund on windows vista here in germany if it doesn’t work. Very simple!
Err, no. If they were committed to supporting their devices the N95 would have got FP1 and 2 and the N95 8GB would have got FP2.
T-mobile already screwed me on 2 $50rebates. They also have worse service in my town compared to verizon and at&t.
Based on the useless crap they added to the phone, I’m not surprised at this BS move by them.
At least they are cheapest…i think.
No worry. If you look at the 800 package price at micro store next week of rumor 900; subtract the luna,monster headset and play 360, I come up with 428 usd for the great 800 using expansysusa pricing for extras.
unlocked and you also should ask for the free zune for a year deal and ask for a 200usd coupon for next purchase.
I honestly feel that operators are bullshit. Also I hate that the world is heading in that direction.
The world is not heading into that direction – quite the contrary, mobile carriers are destined to become ISPs and a mere commodity sooner or later, just as it happened with their fixed line providers.
They’re dragged away from their business schemes (just one example – charging for SMSes which are piggy-backed on the regular traffic and cost the provider exactly one decent server) kicking and screaming, yes, and they can still throw a punch because decent cell phones are still a bit on the expensive side thus they can still control a significant part of the market, but they’re losing control with every year passing.
With the exception of the USofA, Japan, China and some micro-markets, they’ve already lost most of their control and are effectively commoditized. Give it a couple of years and even the USofA ones will remember the days where they could make or break a device success with a great nostalgia…
my country seems to be heading in reverse. Owh well. That’s great to hear I suppose.
As I said, they will kick and scream along the way, but they cannot escape the inevitable. You can earn money and exert control only this much from thin air…
This just proves my point. NEVER buy carrier branded phone. Because carriers do not care about phones that are little older!!!
Few examples: Nokia e71x (att) was crap but regular e71 was excellent.
nokia e73 (tmobile) crap but regular e72 was excellent
Nokia x7-00.1 (rogers) horrible but regular x7 excellent.
Now we have nokia astound (tmobile) but nokia c7 is great. You know that Att will charge you for gps in their e71x but e71 has it for free!!!! scam
That is reason why i dont want to buy new Nokia 900 from Att. I will wait for lumia 910 or get lumia 800.
Depends, MS is aware of this and doesn’t allow carriers to refuse more than one device update at a time. So if they’ve refused one, the next one they absolutely have to roll out. Lessons they learned from the Windows Mobile days when it was just as much of a mess as Symbian or Android (now).
Carrier branded Symbian or Android is definitely a bad idea though.
Bundling of phones and services are ultimately not consumer friendly and should not be legal. Sadly the laws of most countries are not created for the benefit of its people. Lobbyists have to much power.
aha. the carriers also do not want to sell the n9?
and tmobile usa doesn’t bring belle to astound but other tmobile branded c7 get belle?
and it has nothing to do with the fact that the head of nokia usa was directly hired from microsoft this year….
TMO through their Facebook page is saying you should check with Nokia as to why the Belle update isn’t being provided .
Passing the buck?