Firmware finally upgraded on Three Nokia E63 to 200.21.012

I finally made the decision over the weekend to upgrade my phone to the new (not so new now) firmware for the Nokia E63, version 200.21.012. Although in an earlier post, I decided not to upgrade, I changed my mind when my phone kept dropping out in the middle of a call. Rather than throw the phone at the wall and achieve nothing from that, I backed up my data using PC Suite and then upgraded the firmware also using PC Suite. I then restored the backup to my phone and it seems to have fixed the calling problem. I am not noticing any other changes to my phone yet but will keep you posted. How did your Nokia E63 upgrade to 200.21.012 go? Or haven't you upgraded yet?


To check your current firmware version, type *#0000# on your phone.

Solution to the E72 space bar problem

I mentioned in an earlier post about the problem with the space bar on the Nokia E72.

• When looking through the contacts list, you can use the space bar. 
• When typing SMS, you can use the space bar
• When you are typing a name in the "stand by" screen, you can not use the space bar.

Then it occurred to me, when  you are in the stand by screen, the phone presumes that you want to be in NUMBERS and SYMBOLS mode, not in ALPHA mode. So I figured out that one solution is just to press the function key which is  the bottom left key on the phone before pressing the space bar, which will "activate" ALPHA" mode and you will get your "space". I know it would be ideal that this was the default but you will need to wait for the first E72 firmware update before this may be possible. 

Also if you were thinking that the torch function on the Nokia E72 does not work, try a little patience and hold down the space bar on the status screen a little longer. There, see it does work :) I fell for this too. The torch feature cannot be activated whilst operating any program and opening any program will turn your flashlight off. Hope you found this useful, leave a comment if you are a E72 user and I've made your day :)

E72 Space bar causing more ? and !

Problems Users have found with the Nokia E72

Looking at some forums around on the internet, there have been some problems experienced by Nokia E72 users who have called for an immediate firmware upgrade to fix certain issues. One user listed the following "problems" that they have found using their Nokia E72.  I've added some comments in italics. 

• It does not auto recognise capital alphabet like E71. If he was talking about the first letter in an sms, it does capitalise it. Also capitalises after a full stop. 
• When u type fast it skips some alphabet. Maybe I'm not as fast but I found it kept up to speed. This could be a problem when you have too many programs running at the same time. I found this with the Nokia E63 when I have the Google application on, the phone misses letters that I am typing.
• When u insert a Image in a word sheet it doesnt recognise. Yeah same problem I had with QuickOffice. 
• Whenever u restart ur phone most of the times u lose your email setting. Not that I found. 
• Web browsing is slower than E71. Seems to be ok 
• You cannot underline or use bold or italic through shortcuts in word like Ctrl U, B, I like E71. Yeah, ctrl+v and ctrl+c for cut and pasting works but not ctrl+b. Strange huh? 
• This phones hangs now and then like a windows based. No hang experienced. 
• Contacts shortkey does allow u to add new contact after long hold. Yeah seems like this option is not available for customising the one-touch key (Solved by firmware update 022.007)
• Basic Barcode reader is missing. Couldn't find it, guess that was his point..
• Web Feeds in missing in he bookmark list, u need to go to setting and find it. Never used it before anyway
• Mailbox clock switches the date at 12 noon. So u get the mail dated to next date. Don't think this happens to me.
• Memory card in setting is missing which was usefull in E71, like format etc.
• Nokia has saved it time by not making new O.S. Has used N-Series user interface which does match with the E-Series User Interface.
• Optical Key not at all useful. Agreed.
• The System is so slow that even setting come very slow, and if u try to select things fast then it leaves you back to the home screen including surfing mails. I found email checking very slow but everything else seems faster.
• Battery Backup is only about 1 and half days, and more worse is that u cannot trust this phone as day 1 it shows full battery, and second day you wont even come to know when it comes from full to drain. Not my experience.
• Even if Wi-Fi server is not found it still says Hidden Wi-Fi found.
• In Opera 10 Browser u cannot use 'U' it only uses *. Haven't installed Opera
• Even space bar key hangs now and then and to use it we need to restart the phone.
• Ctrl + Shift does not activate/deactivate Prediction like E71 does.
• Space bar does not work in searching for contacts (eg on the home screen, type "Adam m" it will appear as "Adam%". Not quite sure why this happens but seems to be a common spacebar problem for E72. (Try this workaround that I came across)

IF you have a Nokia E72 and you came to this page because you experienced the same problem, maybe leave a comment and tell us also where you are from. Got a solution to any of these or more problems? Add them to the comments and come back for possible answers.

Nokia E72 means Business like Never Before

Nokia obviously felt that they nailed the market with the Nokia E71 but the show must go on and new phones need to be released. The E72 introduces various new features but in many areas, it is the best combination of the Nokia E63 and the Nokia E71 combined.

The Build
The Nokia E72 comes in with a exterior design and form factor and a much more impressive look that would feel completely at home in a black BMW car kit. The phone processor is almost twice as fast as the Nokia E71 which should be very good to know for E71 users looking to upgrade to the Nokia E72. The keyboard is solidly built with the keys giving good feedback on each press.

The keypad takes a little getting used to because the left and right selection keys can be confused with the Home, Calendar, Phone-book and Messaging keys. The back and front of the phone are very slick but one concern is whether the back lid comes off accidentally too easily. Unlocking the keypad on the E72 is a combination of left and right selection keys rather than the E63 left selection key and the bottom left key (whatever its called).The battery life seems to have improved but this could be due to the more efficient processor installed in the Nokia E72.

The Camera
The phone camera is still not there yet but has a 5MP resolution which helps introduce a very useful feature - OCR scanning. The Camera has an auto-focus which you can toggle on by lightly touching the main navi-key which leads me to the navi-scroll that has been introduced in the Nokia E72. You can scroll up and down, left or right just by lightly dragging your finger over the main navi-key. As other reviewers have found, this feature is not yet completely perfected and for this model, you may find yourself turning the touch navigation off.

With the E72, you can import peoples' business cards into your contact book, identifying what should be a person's mobile, fax, email address, business address and name.. I haven't tried too many business cards but have been very impressed so far. Also, I was able to take a photo of half a page of text and the phone imported the page into NOTES flawlessly, without any mistakes! Perfect OCR!

The GPS
Navigation on the Nokia E72 is also made more interesting, with the phone telling you when a GPS satellite link has been established and when it has been lost. This will be very useful when using the driving features or just seeing the GPS location in general. Also, I am not sure if this is new but when you are driving somewhere, you can use the zoom-out feature which allows you to get a bird's eye view of where you are going and the phone will automatically zoom back into a closer view of your directions. The Nokia Maps really leaves me wondering whether there is any real point in having a GPS system because the Nokia phone does things so well. You can have the 3D view, top down view or just the directions and how far till the next change of direction (eg 300m Left turn). Also, if you miss a turn, the phone just recalculates a new route for you.

The Small Things
With the inclusion of the accelerometer in the Nokia E72, you are able to do things such as turn your phone over to silence the phone when someone is calling you. Flipping the phone over when the alarm goes off also puts the phone to snooze mode. Another thing worth mentioning is also to do with the alarm clock. Now, finally, you can choose how long you want to snooze your phone when the alarm is temporarily silenced. It would be good if you could choose different alarm alerts for different alarms (eg Weekday work - urgent alarm like "Cubicle", Weekend alarm - soothing wake up call eg Miniature).

Overall the Nokia E72 is definitely a phone worth recommending to my fellow Nokia users. There has been nothing too disappointing to prevent me from honestly saying, well done team Nokia. E72 is a winner for us :)