N95 on Orange

[Marwood]

I thought that I would champion the requests from other forum members to have a thread dedicated to the N95 on Orange. It seems that this 'tradition' began with the N80 and was very 'popular' for some considerable time. LOL

Any news on an exact release date bjh?!

Marwood.

Spoke to Jo at Orange CS this morning. She checked the system and it showed no release date. Not even listed for review at the moment. She commented that the N serries had had alot of problems (really!!) and that perhaps Orange would let it go generic and then keep an eye on the phone before branding. I went through the motions of telling her to check out my experiences with the N80 but I pointed out that my present one was fine. She put this down to the fact that I have my packet data switched to 'when needed'. Suggesting that this had a big impact on performance. She is still using a 6680, believing that the N serries is a great idea but flawed. I sugested this was down to RAM. Wonder what the actual RAM of an N95 will be? will it be enough to support the phone properly or will the N95 be another example of 'Nokia work in progress'.

M

[bjh_101]

Yes, most of it is RAM problems. If Nokia spent that bit extra on putting a bit more in, they would sell many more, as the main complaint that puts people off them, is that they are just a bit too slow, and crash a lot!

As for Orange, do you mean they won't release it until they see how it performs on other networks etc? Or that they will release it themselves unbranded. I personally hope for the latter. I like the little Orange logo on the phone, but everything else they do to it is a waste of time and money.

When do you think it is suitable to start bugging Orange CS everyday?!

(oh, and Marwood, did you really phone Orange just to ask about the N95?!

[bavlondon]

Yes ram has become a problem with Nokia phones of late. Infact RAM management on v2 firmware, as on the E61 and E70 is better. All S60 3rd Edition devices should really come with at least another 32MB of RAM.

It would only cost Nokia a bit more to manufacture and would have saved them a HUGE amount of R&D in terms of trying to work round the RAM paucity in software.

I am not certain how much base RAM the N93 has but free RAM has been a problem.

Having said that apparently the CPU speed is higher in the n95 than the N93 so it may well have more RAM.

[bjh_101]

After reading this: http://www.3g.co.uk/3GForum/showthread.php?t=48463 about the N73 on Orange, things aren't looking good for us peeps wanting the N95 on Orange

[mobieg]

i have seen a picture of the n95 in orange livery from the orange partner camp in the summer in spain.

[Marwood]

Well, yes I did ring Orange CS about the N95. I'm sure they were expecting me to bother them about it at some point! LOL.
I'm not clear exactly what Jo meant about generic N95's but I suspect she means that Orange will wait to see how the phone performs on it's release through Nokia retailers first. The upshot of this could be that where the N80 was released relatively promply by the network there could well be even longer delays before it could be released. CS will no doubt use this as their well worn rhetorical excuse in the months ahead. Indeed, Jo's comment could well be doing the ground work for this type of gibberish. Remember It we knew about the release of the N80 before CS did and it was a week or so after that when the Birkenhead shop became aware that it had gone on sale. A visit to the Birkenhead shop yesterday suggested the N80 has run out of steam......it wasn't on display anymore. Sadly, I did not have the time or the inclination to ask the staff.

Again, from Orange's perspective they will be looking at the demand for the N95. Will it be able to generate enough new buisiness for them to take it up warts and all, like the N80, or will it just cause more problems and disatisfaction, leading to a loss of business if they just run with it??
Perhaps we should all start hounding CS, requesting a release date......that would signify at least some customer interest.

Orange will blame Nokia, Nokia will blame the network....whilst secretly knowing their programmers have had to cut the odd corner to satisfy the sales and marketing team's deadlines for release. More RAM vicar?

We have all been here before........just a little bit of history repeating.
M

[boozer]

Just to go slightly off topic, o2 is showing the N95 as coming soon in March...So that will be July then...

[bjh_101]

Don't worry, this topic is likely to go off-topic several times before the N95 is released...

Anyway, its good to see that (hopefully) at least one network will be getting it so either Orange will have to follow suit, or we can all move to O2!

[DeniseR]

It is supposed to be released Q1 2007 but I read somewhere (cant remember where), but it was a reliable source that it had been pushed back to Q2. I was stupid with my N80 in taking up an 18 month contract. Been on my account today as I'm only just over half way through my contract to see how much an upgrade would cost me. I was surprised it was only £100. I had expected it to be loads more, but then I do use my phone a lot and am always going over and I am on Panther !!!!!.

My N80 died and couldn't get it replaced by Orange as they no longer stock it and was not happy to have a refurb so got another Nokia, not 3g unfortunately. They had nothing I wanted.

[DeniseR]

Marwood, generic means it will be as nokia made it with their firmware on it and will not have orange firmware/branding on it. It could also mean it is not sim locked. My Mum had one of the 1st 6280's which had no branding on it and was not sim locked, later ones were orange branded and locked to orange

[stevierides]

hi, i will be surprised if orange miss out on the n95, i'm sure they will brand it with their own rubbish firmware which may or may not foul it up. judging on how orange have ditched other n series, it may never make it to the orange range.
the future's bright. i turned the light on...

[DeniseR]

Originally Posted by stevierides

hi, i will be surprised if orange miss out on the n95, i'm sure they will brand it with their own rubbish firmware which may or may not foul it up. judging on how orange have ditched other n series, it may never make it to the orange range.
the future's bright. i turned the light on...

Unless they decide to leave it alone and leave it with the generic firmware on it.

[bjh_101]

Originally Posted by deniser

Unless they decide to leave it alone and leave it with the generic firmware on it.

Memories...

This thread appears to be going the way of the N80 on Orange thread did before release with much speculation, debate and prayer that the N80 wouldn't have a home screen. Thankfully it didn't!

Again, we can hope that Orange will release generic, or at least very little branding on the N95. If they even release it at all that is...

*bjh gets on his knees and starts praying to the phone gods.*

P.S. I am glad I only had 12 month contract... I can upgrade early anytime from Feburary onwards, so its just a case of waiting for the N95!
By the way my upgrade fees currently are £150. I spend on average £40 per month. But only £25 of that is actuall minimum tariff.

[NB2CREW]

Originally Posted by Marwood

Orange will blame Nokia, Nokia will blame the network....whilst secretly knowing their programmers have had to cut the odd corner to satisfy the sales and marketing team's deadlines for release. More RAM vicar?

We have all been here before........just a little bit of history repeating.
M

It would be interesting to find out if all these problems on the Nokia phones are caused by networks adding their own software.

Does anyone think it would be possible to do a poll and ask people using handsets bought sim free & therefore without say Orange's extra little bits on?

[bjh_101]

Well some people can compare phones before and after flashing with generic firmware.

I can deffinately say that the generic firmware is much much better than the Orange one. However, this is not strictly a fair comparisan because the Orange firmware was v3, and the generic is the new v4, where Nokia made improvements to the memory management.

Additionally, the only extra bits Orange put on the N80 was the photography application which could be disabled. Considering it was Orange, the N80 had suprisingly little branding.

[olly_g]

Hello All,

I was one of the many waiting on the n80 last time and get very good deals from oranage along with the hand sets when they are released.

Just spoke to upgrades and they havent got a date on the n95 at all as they are having problems with the n series phones (we all know its because they rape all their memory hungry softwar on them)

He said end of the month there should be some more news of whats in review, as at the moment it looks like just PAYG phones.

I might move away from smart phones, the n76 looks nice and not over crowded with features?

[bjh_101]

The N73 is back on Orange! This might be hopeful for other N-series phones.

[bjh_101]

Just phoned Orange, and although its still not in review they are gettings lots of queries about it.

If they don't take it on then they will be shooting themselves in the foot big time!

[DeniseR]

Originally Posted by bjh_101

Just phoned Orange, and although its still not in review they are gettings lots of queries about it.

If they don't take it on then they will be shooting themselves in the foot big time!

Yes I agree and if they don't I am tempted to wait and buy it sim free when its been out a month or so.

[boozer]

Originally Posted by deniser

Yes I agree and if they don't I am tempted to wait and buy it sim free when its been out a month or so.

Me too. Might re-new my cantract, get the most in demand phone that I can ebay, then used the cash to put to a n95 sim free.

Also, anyone know the price of sim free...heard speculation of £375.

[bjh_101]

Well, the preorders are £349 in the other thread. Not bad I don't think. That SIM free idea is a pretty good one really.

[bjh_101]

And might have to be done...

Just phoned Orange upgrades:

Me: "Do you have any information on if you will be getting the Nokia N95?"
CSR: "We will not being doing anymore N-Series phones"
Me: "What - never again?"
CSR: "No"
Me: "Why?"
CSR: "There are too many problems with them, so we won't invest any more money into them"
Me: "What happens if they make a really good one, and you miss out"
CSR: "That won't happen."

lol. I personally don't believe it is as simple as that. But looks like Orange might be loosing a few customers over the N95 unless they get it.

[NB2CREW]

Well if Orange stopped putting their crappy software on the phones we could all get more use out of em!

[DeniseR]

I e mailed them and the response was nothing in the system keep watching the coming soon on the website.

Should would start a new thread....................................which network is the best to go to who will be doing the n95, go sim free, or take an upgrade from orange sell it on e bay and put cash towards sim free and still use your orange sim........................mmmmmmmmmm

Perhaps I'll update my signature to include...........WANTED Nokia N95 must be locked to orange .........

[bjh_101]

Lol yes. I really don't want to risk another network. Orange still have yet to wrong me (and my contract happens to be a pretty good deal.)

I phone Orange direct sales who said they wouldn't be getting it, and then phoned Orange retentions who said it wasn't on the system, but that changes weekly.

It really doesn't look hopeful though as it looks like a March release for everyone else. I really am tempted to get it Sim free after selling an upgrade.
(I did also consider not getting it, and waiting for Orange or the iPhone - but i've read a few more previews, seen some demo pics and videos, and this phone is amazing. i must have it.)