Nokia: No Belle download for Apple users
Even if they have its own Mac OS X updater app
Nokia has told Mac-using owners of handsets capable of being upgraded to its Belle operating system they need to switch to a PC to apply the update themselves.
The Finnish phone giant posted the latest incarnation of the OS formerly known as Symbian yesterday for a series of older Nokia handsets.
Alas, the new code is only directly available to phone owners through Nokia Suite 3.3, the company's Windows handset management app.
Mac owners must either find a Windows machine or locate a Nokia Care Point, where the upgrade can be applied for you.
Ironically, Nokia has - perhaps its CEO, a former Microsoft employee, has merely forgotten this - a Mac software updater. You can download the latest release here. It was released in March 2011 - when Reg Hardware gave it the once-over - and last updated in January 2012.
That app provide access to the last major Symbian update, Anna, and its subsequent service pack tweaks.
Here's hoping the app will be re-released shortly, to support Belle. Then again, with Nokia's eyes firmly fixed on a Windows Phone future, does it really care whether folk adopt Belle or not?
It can't have a downer on the Mac. After, all the Apple platform is the fastest growing PC type in the UK. ®
COMMENTS
Do they?
I got a Mac specifically to get away from Windows. Why on earth would I want to put it on my Mac? I wouldn't let Windows anywhere near it even if it was free! I have absolutely no evidence to back this up, but I would imagine most Mac owners feel the same.
RE: @Micky 1
"Apple manage to hit lots of different good design principles in each device. Nokia manage to hit a few."
You neglected to mention that Microsoft have hit roughly none...
The reason...
Updating to Belle requires a complete wipe of the phone, and reinstall of the system from scratch. A backup of your settings is performed first, and then when the install completes, your own settings are written back to the phone.
Nokia Software Updater lacks the ability to do this full back up of the device (the Windows version of NSU has the same problem, incidentally). It'll be able to do the incremental upgrades after Belle, though.
A word of warning: some settings aren't preserved (Wifi access points, and message/alert tone settings), and some apps need to be downloaded again from Nokia Store. Other than that, though, the upgrade works very well.
And, @Micky 1 : I'm in the exact demographic you're talking about. I'm primarily a Mac user, but the reasons I like OS X are the same ones why I'd never use an iOS device: OS X was built on the principle of using and supporting open standards, allowing interoperability and giving the user freedom to do what they want with their computer if they want to..
[quote]does (Nokia) really care whether folk adopt Belle or not?[/quote]
or, perhaps more importantly, do folk really care to bother with a platform whose end of the line is only a couple of steps ahead?
half assed policy
i used to have to build a windows system every few months just to run nokias software updater. a real pain in the ass. people who are using expensive phones are more likely to be using operating systems other than microsofts. i didn't want windows on my then mac systems or now linux systems. it was one of the things that drove me away from symbian.
of course android is not perfect either with both my samsung wanting windows kies software to update the firmware and my sony xperia wanting similar windows crap to do the same. is it so hard to understand that people who use android might not be fans of ms?
