Fret no more, ‘lil camper. Here’s a guide on how to get the firmware update you always wanted.

Background: I own both an E71-1 (European E71) and the E71-2 (North American E71). In October, I was notified that there was an update to the E71’s firmware. Some fixes, some enhancements, all good stuff (see the Nokia E71 blog, HERE for more details), so I embarked on updating my phones. (more after the jump)

Model: E71-1, Type: RM-346, Product Code: 0560654 – success
Model: E71-2, Type: RM-357, Product Code: 0569371 – no dice

To date, there still isn’t an update available for the E71-2 above via Nokia Software Update (NSU).

A couple weeks ago, I stumbled upon a thread on Symbian Guru, HERE, that covered a successful flash update of the Nokia E71-2. The Guru was kind enough to disclose his product code, 0559585.

I recall using a piece of software called NSS or the Nemesis Service Suite, HERE, to change the product code of an older Nokia phone of mine. In this case, all I did was download the software, plug in my phone via USB and go through the steps below.

Step 1 – open up NSS, plug in your phone

Step 2 – hit the magnifying glass in the top right

Step 3- switch to the Phone Info tab

Step 4 – Check the Product Code box and hit Read to read the data from the phone

In this case, my product code is 0569371

Step 5 – type in the product code you want to change in the phone

I typed in 0559585 which is reported to be an E71-2 product code that has an upgrade available on NSU.

Step 6 – hit Write to write the new data to the phone and you’re done!

After that, it’s smooth sailing  on NSU.

You’re golden! A Nokia E71-2 has been upgraded from firmware 100.07.76 to 110.07.127! I’ve been testing the updated phone for a day without any issues – the 3G service hasn’t been impacted at all and it’s totally stable. Good luck with your updates!

This item was re-published with permission from raj.jp.

Recently, I decided to bite the bullet and purchase the North American E71-2 which can take advantage of high-speed 3G internet here in Canada. (more after the jump) I was impressed but I also noticed some interesting differences between the first phone I got and the second one. Apparently, the E71-2 I received has an additional feature – quickdial. On the standby screen, you can start typing your intended victim’s name and voila – the E71-2 will try to discern who you’re trying to reach and wil pop up a list of potential callees. No such luck with the E71-1. This, of course, is pre-firmware upgrade. I’ll report once I actually get to that.

For reference, my E71-1 bears a product ID of RM-346. The E71-2 bears a product ID of RM-357. Other than that, they’re both firmware 100.07.76 dated 08-06-2008.

BTW – I also discovered a new shortcut for the phone. If you want to toggle between predictive text and standard entry, hit ALT then press CTRL then hit SPACE. If you’re looking for other shortcuts, check out the E71fanatics page on the topic, HERE.

This item was re-published with permission from raj.jp.

Thankfully the Moto Q in question was on Telus and they haven’t taken the time out to cripple the phones like Verizon and Sprint have. I seriously pity the owners of phones from those carriers.

Without going into a rant, here’s the quick and dirty which is probably more applicable than Microsoft’s KB article 841060 titled “How to add root certificates to Windows Mobile 2003 Smartphone and to Windows Mobile 2002 Smartphone.” (more after the jump)

So you’ll need ActiveSync installed on a computer as well as a cable to connect the phone (or Moto Q) to that particular computer. After that, cancel any ActiveSync settings… you won’t need them,

1. Explore the phone, see if there is a folder called ‘STORAGE’ at the root of the phone. If not, create it.
2. Grab the CA Cert (I’ve included Starfield’ CA Certificate (in a zip file) since that’s the CA we use to issue certs), HERE.
3. Drop the (unzipped) file in the ‘STORAGE’ directory
4. Download SmartPhoneAddCert.exe from Microsoft HERE or from HERE.
5. Unzip or extract the SPAddCert.exe program from the archive (or self-extracting archive if you got it from Microsoft) and drop it into the ‘STORAGE’ directory you may have created earlier
6. Open up file manager on the handheld and launch SPAddCert
7. Choose the CA Cert that you initially intended to install and reboot the device after installation

Voila! You can now resume doing whatever you needed to do in the first place.

PS – no need to install intermediate certificates – just root certificates for the Moto Q.

This item was re-published with permission from raj.jp.

One of the features which have been promised (but never really worked) since the release of the phone was the ability to connect to SIP servers or in more lay-terms, VOIP.

Well, with the latest Firmware update from Nokia, they’ve done it! I’ve now successfully registered my phone to both Vonage (using the Vonage softphone service) as well as Sipphones.

I can’t reccomend Sipphones, their service doesn’t seem to work with calling PSTN phones in North America (trouble ticket currently open) but Vonage works like a gem. (more after the jump) Finally, I can do away with all the expensive long distance when I’m travelling and use Vonage, so long as there’s a WiFi access point nearby.

So what does all this mean? Cheap long distance while on the road! BTW – the phone itself is behind the NAT so a normal home connection with no tweaks to the firewall is okay to use.

The technical (what to enter into your E61 configuration):

You must have a Vonage softphone account. I haven’t figured out how to do this to a standard or primary account and I suspect that Vonage won’t let you do it (they don’t easily allow you to bring your own device to their service).

Profile name: Vonage
Service profile: IETF
Default access point: your wireless router (NOTE: you need to specify an access point, it will not ask for one)
Public user name:sip:your_vonage_softphone_number@sphone.vopr.vonage.net
Use compression: no
Registration: When needed or Always
Use security: no

Proxy server:
Proxy server address: none (leave this blank)
Realm: 216.115.20.41
User name: your softphone number (including the 1)
Password: your softphone password
Allow loose routing: yes
Transport type: UDP
Port: 5060

Registrar server:
Registrar serv. addr.: sip:sphone.vopr.vonage.net
Realm: sphone.vopr.vonage.net
User name: your softphone number (including the 1)
Password: your softphone password
Transport type: UDP
Port: 5061 (or 5060)

After that, you should be good to go! If your phone numbers are programmed with ther + sign before them for easy international dialing, Vonage may not work as planned. Make sure to start off any phone call with a 1 and omit the + symbol.

Happy VOIPing.

This item was re-published with permission from raj.jp.