Today, I was listening to music on my N95 8GB, and I ran the installation of Agile Messenger, but suddenly the phone blocked and I could not even turn it off with the power button, I waited long enough, and then I removed the battery to restart the phone.

After restarting, the Nokia logo appeared and then the phone freezed!

The N95 won’t boot! The lights turn on, the Nokia logo appears and then everything freezes !? is that really happening!!!?

At that moment, I knew there was a serious problem. Anyway, I tried to remove and restart the phone many times, but I didn’t help.

Anyway, I got on the net, and searched for possible solutions. The most discussed solution was to Hard Reset the phone.

3 methods are there, but this one works:

Hold the “3″ button, and the ” * ” (star) button, and the Green button simultaneously and then at the same time turn the phone ON!

It’s really strange, but you got to put the phone on the table and use both of your hands, and hold the first three key combination until it asks you either the PIN code or it asks you to enter your country, date and time.

That resets everything on your internal memory, so you settings and customizations will be GONE!

I’m sorry to say that, but there’s no way to get back those data. But your memory card will be OK!

So, I recommend that you back up your phone regularly, you never know!!

Well, once you get the phone back, connect it to a computer, and backup your memory card (8GB Mass Memory) to the computer, and then from the phone, in the menu> settings> tools> memory; go and FORMAT the mass memory, Once formatting is done, hard reset your phone by entering this code when the phone is ON:  *#7370#

*#7370# is a hard reset and does exactly the same as “Press simultaneously the green “call” button, ‘*’ and ‘3′, and keep them down.” The latter is a last resort when everything else fails.

*#7380# is the soft reset.

After this, restart the phone as usual, and everything should be back in order.

You need to read this guide TWICE! (2 times)

Once to know what is going on and what is going to happen (The theory part)

And The second time to follow the procedure (The practical part)

You might need to read this too (http://gibni.com/nokia-n95-8gb-my-new-mobile-phone). (Optional, Recommended)

The translation of this post to French will come soon.

La traduction en Français de cette article sera disponible rapidement.

This tutorial (How to) will guide you through the process of upgrading your mobile phone’s software, also know as FIRMWARE.

I will discuss on how to update Nokia N-Series phones, and the example here will be the Nokia N95 8GB. But you can follow the same steps to upgrade other models of the n-series family like N73, N82, N93, N95, N81 and all n-series phone.

Upgrading a firmware usually makes the device operate easier and become more stable, and sometimes might happen to get new features and functionalities. On mobile phones, the firmware upgrade usually solves the stability problems and improves the phone’s performance.

Even if most of the time upgrading is recommended, you should do it with extreme care. Before going ahead with the upgrade process, do some research on what is new with the upgrade you’re going to apply, search on the forums to see if there are people who already did the upgrade, and what is their feedback on that.

I do not guarantee that this tutorial will work on any other model/brand than the ones above.

So, Be careful, this is an expert step, you risk to “brick” your phone. (= Make your phone not usable).

Been quite a long time I’ve been waiting for a new firmware release from Nokia for the N95 8GB phone.

This week, I came to know that the latest firmware version is the 20.0.016 for the N95 8GB.

To know what is the latest version available for your Nokia phone, go to http://europe.nokia.com/A4577224 and put in your phone’s product number, the page will tell you your phone’s model and the latest firmware available for it.

You can find the product number of your phone by opening the battery cover and removing the battery, there would be a number in this format:

CODE: 0520001

Well, now that you know the latest version available, note that down and now turn on your phone, and go to

“Menu>Tools>Utilities>Device mgr.” , here you’ll see the version installed on your phone, the “Device Software” version!

You can now easily tell if your phone needs an update!?

Before doing anything, I should warn you that performing and upgrade will erase all data stored on your phone’s internal memory (You will lose everything which is stored in the internal memory, like contacts, programs, themes, settings, messages, notes….)

SO! It is very important that you keep a backup of your phone’s memory! My advice would be that you keep a backup on your computer (PC/MAC) using the Nokia PC Suite ( Nokia Nseries PC Suite 2.0 ) . For that you connect your phone with a USB cable (or Bluetooth) and choose PC Suite mode, and on the computer, you use the “content copier” to make a backup of your phone’s memory. It takes about 5-15 minutes depending on the info stored in the memory.

After all is done, make a backup inside your phone too, just in case! To do that, go to: “Menu>Tools>Utilities>Memory” , click “Options”, and Select “Back up phone memory”. This will also take some time. Let it finish, and you’ll be sure.

Well, now put your phone on charge to get the battery full. (This is important!!)

Meanwhile, go an download the latest Nokia Software Updater (http://europe.nokia.com/A4579163), install it on your computer.

I advise you to Disconnect all other USB peripherals, unless they are extremely necessary like your mouse!

Run the installed software from your desktop, it will need to connect to update itself again. Let is do whatever it needs to do!

My advice is that after it is done, you restart your computer and close all unneeded programs.

Now, Run again Nokia Software Updater from your desktop, and keep an active Internet connection, because it will need to download about 110MB of firmware.

Connect your phone in PC Suite mode, and follow the process explained very clearly in Nokia Software Updater.

* Make sure that your phone is on charge and is connected to the charger.

* Make sure you have no electricity problem and that you’re going to have electricity for the next 30 minutes.

*Make sure you open/run NO OTHER software, music, text or any file.

* Make sure you put your phone on General profile (By clicking once the power button and choosing General).

* Make sure no one’s going to disconnect the phone in the update process.

Well, if every thing’s OK, proceed now with the update. It will first tell you if there’s an update available for your phone, and then will ask you if you want to upgrade. Proceed, then it will download the firmware, and apply it to the phone, the phone will then restart and will be ready to use.

Once every thing’s finished, go to Memory, in Utilities, and click “Options” and then Select “Rest. From Mass Memory” , this will restore the backed up data, and your messages, settings, files and stuff will be back again in place.

You have the latest Firmware and your files are in place too!

Please make sure you read my last post on this topic (http://gibni.com/nokia-n95-8gb-my-new-mobile-phone), it will guide you if you get errors like “No Firmware Upgrade Available for your phone” or “Installation problems with Nokia Software Updater” or “How to change product code” or “How to unbrand your phone”. It’s very useful and important!

Please see this page if you need to know which product codes to use:

http://nokia.nigelcoldwell.co.uk/firmware.htm

I should tell you that you need to reinstall again all the software you had installed and also reinstal the themes you like. (Maybe they’ll be there after the memory restore, but that’t recommended to be reinstalled). You should also refresh the media library.

If you have any issues/comments/question, do not hesitate to put them in the comments section.

The translation of this post to French will come soon.

Well, so far it’s been more than 2 months I’m using the all new Nokia N95 8GB, and i’ve tested a lot of applications.

In the last post on this topic, I introduced 5 applications that I had personally installed and tested.

As promised, I’ll post 5 more this time, numbers follow…

6- Salling Clicker

This makes your phone as a remote form your computer over the bluetooth and even over WIFI if you’ve got a WIFI network around. I’ve installed and tested this app, works nice with inbuilt windows bluetooth drivers and has a lot of functions and even the possibility of making your own scripts. For example, I can control the Windows Media Player (mine’s 11) from the phone, and when listening to music (on the computer) if the phone rings, the application automatically stops the music, decreases system volume and shows a popup windows on the monitor to show that someone’s calling!! (this can be enabled/disable). There are lots of functionallities. If you wanna get a remote control for your pc (even mac) this is the best for the moment

Get it Here: http://www.salling.com/  (It works on MAC too!!)

You may need some plugins and 3rd party scripts, google and search also the forums, but if you don’t find anything, just leave comments on this post and i’ll upload some scripts and plugins too.

7- ALON MP3 Dictaphone

Here’s a nice dictaphone app, which can record your calls automatically, record voice (even the radio) in MP3 format and has the ability to increase or decrease the microphone gain! which lets you record even very small sounds :D!

Get it here: (Trial version) The Full one costs about 30$! http://www.alonsoftware.com/products/dictaphone_s60_3rd.htm

8- Nokia Maps 2 (Beta version)

At last we got something very nice from Nokia for the GPS stuff! They took so long!

Nokia Maps 2, has got a way better interface and a lot of functionality improvements and precision. Still in the beta (test) version, but there seems to be no stability issues till now (be carefull to install it only on latest firmware which is till date v. 15.0.015

Get it Here: http://www.nokia.com/betalabs/maps/ (Still in Beta, use at your own risk)

9- Y-Browser (from Yucca Tools)

This is very useful if you got stuff in your inbox and the phone doesn’t let you move them in the mass memory! that’s pretty wierd from Nokia to have such a dump bug, but with the help of this app, you can browse all your drives and even see hidden and system files.

But be very carefull with system files, you don’t want to “BRICK” your phone.

My advice is that you install the app, and install the ‘mailbox’ plugin so you can directly access your ‘My Folders’ inside the mailbox, from there you can move the stuff which are stuck.

Usually Free, Get it Here: http://www.drjukka.com/YBrowser.html

10- NiiMee

This is a very nice application, which uses the accelerometer inside N95 to make it like a Wheel, Mouse and Joystick! I did play Need For Speed Most Wanted with my phone on the PC, using my phone as the Wheel and staying far from the screen, WIRELESSLY over Bluetooth! This software rocks!

It’s Usually Available for free download at the author’s site: http://www.niime.com/

I’ll Put in the next time, some direct download links and a summary of the best applications. So, don’t go too far!

The Nokia N95 8GB, is a Symbian S60 3rd Generation, Featured Pack 1 (v.9.1) phone. It’s a BB5 type.Here’s a list of applications you can install on nokia N95 which I have tested and they are said to be stable and working.

1- Landscape Pro :   It’s an application which uses the inbuilt accelerometer to detect when you rotate the phone and it rotates the screen respectively. It operates on 0, 90 and 270 degrees rotation. The version 2.0 is the latest till date and is a stable version. Read the post about Landscape Pro 2.0 for more info.

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The N95 made a huge success. If you got an N95, you probably know about the accelerometer inside. And probably heard about applications which rotate the screen when you turn the phone horizontally or vertically.

Landscape Pro, is one of such applications which works great, but’s not perfectly matched yet with Nokia N95 or the N95 8GB.

The previous version I installed on my phone, which was version 1.2, had some issues that I told the programmer about.

here’s the email conversation I had with him:

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Please Read this guide to the end and visit all the resources and links before trying anything

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I bought the Nokia N95 8GB two days ago, and i’m can’t get my hands off it! Every thing is so fine in this handset!

Mine is a branded one, with SFR France. I got a Nokia BH-201 Bluetooth Headset too.

The Handset comes with wired headset, a wall charger, TV cable, USB cable, a manual and Spider Man 3 movie preloaded on the 8GB memory! The camera got a perfect quality and takes very clear photos.

The phone connects with different methods to the computer, either Data transfer where the 8GB memory is recognized as a memory drive (flash disk) or PC Suite method which is used to install softwares and updates and use the Nokia PC Suite functions, or the Media Player Method and the Print method.

I got some issues and resolved them which I will explain here.
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