Before we proceed with the manual installation procedure of the latest Nokia 5800 firmware v51, there are a few pre-requisites which need to to be met. They include -
Working installation of JAF on your PC (Any version, Any OS)
Firmware files downloaded using Navifirm or Download (APAC IND RM-356 RED) Here
Phone backup using PC Suite before flashing with JAF (New firmware will erase all data on your phone memory only)
The firmware files that you download from the Nokia Servers include a total of seven files. We are only concerned with four files out of these -
RM-356_51.0.006_prd.core.C0r (change extension from .C00 to .C0r) as MCU Flash File.
RM-356_51.0.006_prd.rofs2.V19 as PPM Flash File
RM-356_51.0.006_C01_prd.rofs3.fpsx as CNT Flash File
RM-356_51.0.006_026_000_U01.uda.fpsx as APE Variant File (Don't Miss This File)
To begin with the procedure, you can follow our previous JAF posts with detailed installation guides. Follow this link. Everything in the process remains the same except for the careful selection of the above mentioned firmware files. A video of the installation process is posted below.
The latest firmware does not have any major changes that i have found out in my last 2 hours of usage. However, the performance and touch response time is greatly improved. I wonder if that is because of a fresh install but still there is some difference. The navigation of the menus is faster and smooth. If you remember well enough, in the last firmware update of v50.0.005, many of yo0u had complained that the Quick Office and Get Rihana shortcuts were missing. It is time for you to be happy as the new firmware update has both of these and i have put the pictures in this post.
Furtiv is a 3rd party software vendor that enables the Nokia Share Online to support a lot many upload options. So far by default the Nokia Share Online supports only Vox. However, with Furtiv you can now upload pictures on many different social networks. These primarily include, Facebook, TweetPhoto, Picasa, Orkut, Dropbox, MySpace, Flickr, LinkedIn, TwitPic, yFrog, Img.ly and TwitGoo. This is a long list of sites supported by Furtiv. You can also upload videos on YouTube and high resolution pictures on Picasa but then the plugins for these two services are paid. I think if you wish to upload videos on YouTube, it is better to upload directly on the YouTube site and the same stays true for Picasa as well.
Many of you would have wondered that nothing happens when you click on the Rom Patcher icon in the Menu section with the custom firmware Xtension^1. The case here is that for some reasons, the patch files were not transferred to C:\patches which holds all the patch files for ROM Patcher. However, some of the patches were pre-configured when you flashed your phone. Some that remained were the unsigned application install, call log up-to 365 days, short tap, battery notification removal, etc. I am supplying the ROM patches That you are required to copy to the phone memory in a desired folder and then move it to C:\patches using the FileBrowser application in the RnD Tools folder.
Patch Details
12 Months Call log - Increases the call logging from the 30 day restriction to 365 days.
Disable Charger Notes - This disables the charger notifications when you plug in or unplug the charger from the device
Install Unsigned Apps - Allows you to install unsigned applications
Long Multi Tap for 5800 - Reduces the long press time when typing a message. For instance, a long press on 'A' give 1
Make all the files visible - makes all the files visible in C: and E: drives using the regular inbuilt Nokia File Browser
No Profile Switch Note - Removes the profile notification when you change profiles.
Remove red LED ON 5800 - Removes the Red LED that displays while recording videos
Short Multi Tap for 5800 - Reduces the time delay between two taps while typing a message
Globle Note Fix - To be used with No Profile Switch Note patch
Having reached a saturation and very few things happening on the Nokia 5800 front, we are now stepping in to the arena of custom firmware installations. Custom Firmware is a modified version of the latest firmware released by Nokia for Nokia 5800. These firmwares are modified across the globe by modders who showcase their creativity by introducing performance tweaks and enhancements to the already existing Nokia 5800 firmwares. These firmwares are absolutely free of cost and legal as Symbian is now open source. Some of the common tweaks would include, desktop widgets in Nokia 5800, installation of symbian applications with expired licenses, startup time and audio improvements, minimizing the double tap delay, running N97 firmwares on Nokia 5800, running Android on Nokia 5800, etc. This list is exhaustive.
Installing Custom Firmware on Nokia 5800
Like anybody else, even i was scared of flashing my Nokia 5800 but to my surprise it is as simple as installing a theme on your phone. You just need to get the initial few things in the right place. I have been reviewing a number of flashing tools lately and finally found JAF to be the simplest one. So once you have JAF installed and working, changing firmware is equivalent to changing themes.
Getting JAF installed and working on your Computer (tested on Windows Vista, should work on other OS as well)
Step 2. After you have downloaded JAF, follow this video tutorial very carefully. It invloves a number of steps that should happen in the right sequence. This is one time installation only.
After, having followed the above video, many of you may still face some issues starting JAF. This varies from PC to PC and has numerous reasons behind. A list of all such common errors are given below.
1. Can't load winscard.dll - Just replace the winscard.dll in Windows/System32 folder with the one present in C:\Program Files\ODEON\JAF folder.
2. Other error are mainly due to outdated system files, so try updating via Windows Update. However, i am always there to help.
Stay tuned for the next post on Navifirm and its usage as regards Nokia 5800. Do post your comments and queries.
I came across a question about downloading the YouTube videos and they not being able to play correctly. This generally happens even though the format may be supported as per the phone specifications, there happens to be other factors that play a role too. For instance, as per the question, our blog member 'kat' was not able to play a Mp4 file downloaded from YouTube on Nokia 5800. There are a number of other parameters that are involved, Mp4 has a parameters like, encoding, resolution, etc. If these are not supported by the phone, it would not play. In order to solve the problem i have an online solution which allows you to download the video file directly from YouTube optimized for Nokia 5800.
Q.1. Why is some phones not eligible for the update? Will that change?
Ans. It has been a long time since the update was released and I think it should now be available for all the phones. The firmware upgrade provided by the Nokia server depend on a lot of factors like, your carrier if you have a carrier locked phone, the country you reside and the hardware version that your phone has. Nokia is a responsible organization and they would never release a firmware upgrade unless they have tested it on a device in your region which is in itself a long process. This may delay the upgrade to be available for your device.
Q.2. Can you please let me know how I can check if my product code has changed or not apart from NSS?
Ans. Yes you can check your device’s product code. You can use JAF to confirm it or after changing the product code disconnect your phone and repeat the entire process on NSS and you should be able to see your new product code.
On February 4, 2010, the Symbian Foundation made Symbian an open source platform. On February 15,2010, the new Symbian^3 was announced open source an the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. From a consumer point of view, this is a great news since following the footsteps of Android, we can now have great improvements and features in the existing Symbian OS.
Symbian Three basically focuses on the touch devices and how Symbian can actually evolve as a complete fully functional and bug-free OS for mobile phones. Symbian^3 is already into development and there are some important improvements being made. We will now have a single touch operations across the OS which means that you won't have to click any option twice to activate it. Something like what we have in iPhone and Nexus One. Also, there will be multi touch feature incorporated into Symbian giving you the same iPhone like feel (may be even better). You will have multiple desktop pages to which widgets can be added. Kinetic scrolling has been given a very high priority.
How does it affect Nokia 5800?
I am not really sure about how this is going to change things in our phone but certainly some of these features should come to Nokia 5800 via successive firmware upgrades like the one we had lately. We may have the entire Symbian^3 being ported to Nokia 5800 via upgrades, who knows? Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Nexus One is the latest offering from Google and HTC which selling at a competitive price of 529$ for a single unlocked unit in USA. This has the most amazing specs that i have seen at this price. Even Nokia 5800 started at a similar price but Google's Nexus One has much to offer at the same price. Nexus One comes with an amazing 1 Ghz processor and 512 MB RAM which is as good as a desktop PC. It promises an amazing screen clarity with its WVGA Active Matrix Organic LED (AMOLED) touch screen.
It features a 5MP auto-focus camera with LED flash. It has an amazing 512 MB user memory and external storage capacity upto 32 GB. With a 1400 mAH battery, it has a very good battery and backup. You can recharge it with both USB and charger. Nokia 5800 cannot be recharged by connecting it via USB cable, however, you can buy a special charger for charging it via USB. The phone has a digital compass which is not available in Nokia 5800. The back panel of Nexus One is Teflon coated and gives it a good durability.
A second microphone is provided in the phone which helps in noise cancellation. The touch screen has a response rate of 1ms which is amazing and a point which Nokia should not take lightly when it comes to its own models.
The latest phone named 'Satio' from Sony Ericsson is a cool brand name. The phone too compliments all the hype created. Satio is quite different from all the other phones launched by Sony Ericsson. The phone runs on the same OS which was inaugurated by Nokia 5800. Satio runs on the Symbian S60 5th Edition OS which opens a whole new world of Symbian applications to it which the other Sony phones were deprived of.
I somehow feel as if Satio was designed keeping in mind our very own Nokia 5800. All its features happen to be exactly double to that of N5800. Nokia 5800 has 128MB RAM whereas the Sony Ericsson Satio has 256 MB RAM. Satio has external memory support for microSD cards upto 32GB which is half in N5800's case. A dual LED flash in N5800 has a rival in Xenon flash with Satio which promises better picture in poor lighting. Satio wins over N5800 with an amazing 12MP autofocus camera in the imaging category. I truly believe that imaging is one such category that has always been ruled by Sony. No matter how many Karl Zeiss lens Nokia may put, a Sony picture is unbeatable.
Talking about the core engine in both the phones, Satio has a powerful ARM Cortex A8 600 MHz processor and N5800 has a ARM 11 434 MHz processor. To support better graphics Satio has a dedicated PowerVR SGX graphics chip. Gesture control is one feature which is not featured in N5800 as an inbuilt functionality and Satio is born with it. In the end, i would just say that technology is ever growing and Nokia 5800XM has just laid the foundation and set the level of performance which all the other phones in the market are following. Nokia definitely rules !!!
