14 DAY TRIAL // Sony Ericsson has decided some time ago to stop delivering updates for their smartphones. As a result, users have revolted, especially as these devices presented several problems on the software side.
The firmware updates for P990i smartphone, M600i communicator and W950 music phone have been frozen until further decisions. This comes as a result of the fact that previous releases have failed in solving the existing problems for these phone models and that the resources given for this have failed in being efficient.
Niklas Sivander, Sony Ericsson's Head of Product Management, Open OS declared on this matter that "These firmware releases meet the requirements of bug fixes prioritized by our operator customers and the Customer Services organization within different markets. The decision to freeze the P990, W950 and M600 firmware versions at this point has been made based on meeting these requirements. As with any phone project, no product is ever completely flawless. Any remaining issues are of course unfortunate, but we feel that with the level of quality on the latest P990 firmware we now have a good, solid product."
Still, users of these handsets don't seem to agree with his statements, otherwise they would have not risen against their decision. One of the main problems that the P990 smartphone encounters is the low RAM memory, which is no longer competing with earlier released phone models.
Another aspect which proved to be unsatisfying for most Sony Ericsson users has been the UIQ3 user interface on the new Symbian 9.0 operating system. This has proved to have several bugs which could have used some firmware upgrades. Some have, indeed, been released until now, but have failed in solving all problems for this smartpohne.
Still, Niklas Sivander explains that they stand on their position for the moment and have no plans in bringing any future firmware upgrades, despite the current dissatisfaction among users.