• The icons and options added by the cell phone provider are removed in the process. This is usually not a problem unless they are heavily used by the user.
• You might run into problems if you contact the provider for maintenance or repair.
• The process requires manual research and the operation of several software programs
• The firmware update will erase all settings like contact information which can however be restored if a backup is created prior to upgrading the firmware.

The first step that you should undertake is to backup the contents of the Nokia cell phone. This can be done with the Nokia PC Suite. The suite can be used to backup all contents of the Nokia cell phone to the computer system making it possible to restore the contents at a later time.

The Nokia PC Suite software can also be used to check if a newer firmware for the cell phone is available. It does however only check the branded firmware and not the generic Nokia firmware. The information provided by the Nokia tool can be used to compare that firmware version with the latest unbranded firmware version of the cell phone to see if updating the firmware makes sense at all (it obviously does not if the firmwares are identical).

The firmware of the Nokia N73 cell phone is already up to date according to Nokia’s Software Updater application. The current version is listed as 4.0812.4.2.1. The same information can be displayed directly on the cell phone by dialing *#0000#.

The research begins now. The first step is to compare the current official firmware for the branded cell phone with the latest generic firmware for the same model. Sites like these provide a good overview of Nokia firmware releases. If they do not list the cell phone or model use Google to find the information.

In the case of the N73 the latest firmware listed on the page mentioned above is 4.0839.42.3.1 which has been released six months after the latest branded firmware release. This means it is possible to update the firmware to a newer version. Researching the actual change logs of the firmware releases is not always successful on the other hand. Best practice would be to enter the firmware into a search engine and add words like “changes”, “change log” or similar to the search phrase.

Unbranding Nokia Cell Phones

The actual unbranding process requires additional software, specifically Nemesis Service Suite. It can be downloaded right from the developer’s homepage. Make sure to select Virtual USB Device during installation. Connect the Nokia phone with USB cables to the computer system afterwards.

You start by clicking on the Scan For New Devices button in the top right of the application. It will display the following screen:

Change to the Phone Info tab afterwards and click on the Scan button. Now click on the Read button on the right side of the screen. This will retrieve important information about the phone which we need. The most important information is the current Product Code of the cell phone which is 0544952 for the Nokia N73 test phone.

The important step begins now. Changing the product code of the cell phone will make it look like an unbranded model of the same type. It is important to use the unbranded product code of the same cell phone model to avoid breaking the cell phone.

The same website mentioned earlier to look up the latest firmware information for a Nokia cell phone does list the different product codes as well. There are product codes for different languages and – if existing – different models of the same cell phone. If you cannot find your language or cell phone in the database you can try finding the information using search engines. A search for Nokia N73 unbranded product code or Nokia N73 generic product code should do the trick. Make sure to change N73 to your phone’s model.

The generic product code for the Nokia N73 Music Edition is 0539351. Check the Enable box next to Product Code, replace the old with the new and click the Write button in the end. This will replace the cell phone’s product code on the cell phone. You can use the same method to restore the old product code again. NSS can now be closed as it is no longer needed.

Start the Nokia PC suite application again or open its window and select the Update Phone Software option from the main menu. If everything went well you will now see that the updater will list the newer firmware for the connected cell phone with the option to update the Nokia phone to it.

The updater will download the latest firmware from Nokia servers if you agree to the terms (tick the check box) and click Next. The download had a size of more than 70 Megabytes and it took several minutes afterwards to update the actual firmware. The program will display the progress in the interface. Make sure not to disconnect the cell phone at this time. Best practice is to connect it to a power supply to ensure that it does not run out of power during the process.

The new firmware changes some settings back to factory default, e.g. the time zone, language or date. It is now usually possible to restore the previously saved backup files to the phone. This is important as all contact information and messages are not shown anymore after the firmware update.

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Nokia managers call it the Facebook phone. The reason is obvious. Nokia is gearing for the social networking and multimedia crowd as much as it tried to improve the business aspects of the phone.

The main features that make it interesting in my case are the full QWERTY keyboard, the WiFi support and the 640×360 screen. It does come with additional features like GPS, flash lite 3.0, tri-band HSDPA 3G, a 5 Megapixel camera or 32 Gigabytes of memory which will appeal to many users.

No word yet on the important battery component but Nokia is claiming that the cell phone is capable of 36 hours of continuous music playback. A video of the new Nokia N97 was published on Youtube that is showcasing some of its features.

A few factors will help me make the decision. The first and most important factor in my opinion is the responsiveness of the cell phone. The Nokia N73 for example is sluggish and slow. The keyboard should be good enough for the occasional article in an Internet Cafe or at a Wifi hotspot. Lastly the battery should last long enough to survive a workday without recharging. The current suggested price tag without contract is around 550€ ($695).

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The application works in principle like the Windows startup folder. The mobile phone owner selects applications that he wants to autostart and enables Powerboot afterwards. The selected applications will then be automatically started when the phone is turned on.

Powerboot offers several options on how to add applications to the startup. It is possible to pick an application from all installed applications, a running application or a Java application. There are also two modes to consider: Safe Mode and Quick Mode. Safe Mode displays a query before autostarting applications while quick mode will start them without interaction.

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It is therefor no coincidence that touch panel support was one of the major improvements in this release. Besides that the new Symbian OS will support higher screen resolutions and advanced sensor technologies. Nokia optimized the operating system for longer battery life and performance.

Nokia has done a lot to create a competitive operating system to compete with Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android plattform on the same level. The first new handset running on Symbian Os 9.4 was announced in the same webcast.

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic smartphone with a 3.2″ high resolution touchscreen and a resolution of 640×360 will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2008. The name implies that it will be a phone for entertainment and a direct competitor of Apple’s iPhone plattform.

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Most companies do not seem to think that giving the user choice is a wise thing to do. If you have ever installed a Windows operating system you probably know what I mean. But this article is less about Windows but about the general lack of choice in consumer products and one of the best examples that is affecting me day in day out is the blue blinking light of my Nokia N73 mobile phone.

The phone is starting to blink blue every five seconds or so if it is in sleep mode. Sleep mode has the advantage that the phone is using less battery. It is only possible to turn off the blue light if sleep mode is turned off which would mean that the battery of the phone would drain faster.

Nokia did not think that it would be necessary to give the user the choice to turn of the blue light of the phone but still offer him the choice to keep the sleep mode. The phone has to be placed with the face down to avoid the blue light which is annoying at night.

That’s a case of bad choice on behalf of Nokia to give the user no choice at all but to live with it. I really cannot see the reason why they decided to construct it that way. I also fail to see why Microsoft is not giving its users more choice when installing Windows.

Most customers can probably live happily without facing choices which could make the products more difficulty but that’s where custom setups and settings come into play.Give the average user the default installation but please provide experienced users with a way to customize the product accordingly.

Have you discovered a product like the Nokia N73 that is giving you no choice but to use a feature that you do not need? Let me know about them.

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