Nokia E71 firmware update fixes camera

A major new firmware update for Nokia's rather snazzy E71 business smartphone has been released.

I installed it this afternoon, of course taking care to back everything up first so I could do a simple restoration afterwards (some people are suggesting it's better to manually resync everything so as to get optimum performance, but I couldn't be bothered). There's a lot in this update (full list at the end of this post) but the first thing that struck me, apart from the more tasteful homescreen themes, was the fact that the camera worked.

The camera did work before, if you use a rather loose interpretation of "work". The biggest issue was the ginormous lag between the "it's taking a picture" noise and the camera actually registering the picture - never measured it, but I reckon we're talking 4 seconds or thereabouts. Another issue was the flash - the camera didn't seem to use it when it needed to.

All fixed - the camera has virtually no lag, and the flash comes into play when needed. The camera's still rubbish, mind you - this is one of Nokia's business phones - but at least it works.

I'll keep you updated as to any further improvements I actually notice, but here, courtesy of NokiaAddict.com, is the list of promised enhancements:

New functionalities in MCU SW version 200.21.118:

- Internet Radio application - My Nokia application - 3G power reduction for applications using keep-alive style messaging - User experience improvements: - Easy Dialing support for Simplified Chinese language - Device Lock improvement: Open device lock with LSK + Fn-keys - One key input method switch for China language - ‘Mute’ option in Right Soft Key when wired headset / hands free is connected - ‘Loudspeaker’ option in Right Soft Key immediately when phone call is started - Enlarge characters in Chr-table - NTLM v1 and v2 support for Intranet Browsing - New black and red themes

Changes/improvements made to MCU SW version 200.21.118:

General - Time zones updated - Improvements to localization - Localization fixes - Missing localizations added - Operator name database updated - Startup Settings updated - Certificates updated - Security updates - Stability and functionality improvements - Barcode reader icon changed from 1D icon to 2D icon - Windows DRM keys are not lost during NSU update from 110.07.127

Qwerty keyboard - Stability and functionality improvements - Keyboard mapping corrections

Browser - Stability and functionality improvements - Flash Lite improvements

Connectivity - WLAN stability improvements - EAP-FAST/TLS stability improved - WLAN roaming functionality improved - BT IOP and Dial-up stability improvements

Maps - Several stability and functionality improvement

Messaging - Stability and functionality improvements - Performance improvement

Quickoffice - Several stability and functionality improvements

VOIP / SIP - Many stability and functionality improvements

Email - Mail for Exchange upgraded from version 2.5.5 to 2.7.22 - Improved functionality when sending email via SSL/TLS SMTP server

Mobile dictionary - Stability improvements - Improvement for installed languages. Installed language can be removed.

Camera - Camera image improvements & slow capture correction with certain HW’s - Stability improvements

Music player - General functionality and stability improvements

Java - Update for CLDC-HI (Sun 1.1.1s Java VM)

Device encryption - Device encryption functionality and stability improvements

Switch application - Application updates and stability improvements