Nokia firmware scare bricks E70s

As we recently reported, Nokia's been dabbling with the whole do-it-yourself firmware upgrade phenomenon as of late. We applaud the effort -- in our opinion, getting the latest and greatest software for your devices should never be any more challenging than connecting a cable to your PC. Murphy's Law being what it is, though, initiatives like this are never going to be without their flaws. Many E70 owners who gave the update process a whirl in the past few days (present company included) were horrified to find that the procedure magically transformed their multi-hundred-dollar bundles of S60 joy into paperweights in just a handful of minutes. It happened to us, and it's not pretty; the phone teases you by turning on and dutifully displaying the "Nokia" logo, but that's as far as she goes. Rumor has it Nokia did the right thing by pulling the offending firmware and quickly replacing it with a new one, but that's little consolation for the folks bidding farewell to their handsets as they get shipped off to Nokia service centers around the world. We're going to give the upgrade another shot with our fresh E70 today and we'll pass on the word if we end up with a second brick -- wish us luck.

Update: We've got good news and bad news. The good news is that we don't have another bricked E70 on our hands. The bad news is that the latest and greatest firmware being offered by Nokia isn't yet available for the US-friendly E70-2 variant (which is what we have). Let's go, Nokia! Americans want faster refresh times when switching to landscape mode just as much as Europeans do!

[Dan S @ Sep 15th 2006 3:36PM]

Hopefully they get that sorted out quickly, that's going to be my next phone (the E70-2).

[eight @ Sep 15th 2006 4:19PM]

They've already fixed the problem apparently.

[Knut @ Sep 15th 2006 4:58PM]

Updating a phone by an authorised Nokia repair shop can occasionally 'brick' your phone. This is just the risk involved in updating a phone!

[brxbmr76 @ Sep 15th 2006 5:22PM]

despite your e70 woes...how is the device? I have the e62 and LOVE IT!

[Grmbl @ Sep 15th 2006 5:51PM]

Several hour ago I've updated my E70. Went nice and smooth.

Significant UI performance improvements - display switch on opening phone is almost instant. Apps start faster (almost like on my good ol' Treo 650).

> despite your e70 woes...how is the device?

Very good and functional once you get used to it.

[PEZ @ Sep 15th 2006 8:23PM]

DUDE, that SUCKS! But I do envy you for having a US E70-2! (I want one!)

[Laura @ Sep 15th 2006 8:58PM]

Aiiieieeeee. For once I am glad I was internet-less for the last few days otherwise I would have bricked my own E70.

[E71 @ Sep 16th 2006 4:38AM]

Remember Nokia, you're one digit away from a lawsuit!

[SoFreshSoClean @ Sep 16th 2006 9:31AM]

Review pleeeeease

[dov @ Sep 16th 2006 11:00AM]

HAHAHA!

I don't buy Nokia, since they went mad with the prices..
Who wants to pay hundreds for a cellphone??
not me..
I bought my 3G Sony Ericsson k600i for $87..
and I like it so much, even if I don't really fall for SE..

[Peter @ Sep 20th 2006 1:18AM]

I love this phone - I have no idea why it hasn't gotten more distribution by carriers.

It's a phone first (unlike many PDA bricks), but then it folds out into an entirely usable keyboard. The BlackBerry sofware emulator on the phone works perfectly and I have my corporate email on the go.

This is a great phone.

[Dr. Kenneth Noisewater @ Jan 3rd 2008 11:35AM]

WHERE IS THE G-DD-MN 3.0 FOR E70-2?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?