I updated my Nokia Suite to the latest version and plugged my Nokia N8 in to see whether there were any software updates. When I ran the Software Update checker, they happily reported that Symbian Belle is now available and the computer commenced downloading 257MB of updates!
There are some questions I can imagine many of you are asking in your head. First of all, how come you have the Symbian Belle update? I got the phone from London in 2010 at the Nokia World conference so the phone model is probably a UK one :) Should have checked for an update earlier.. so here are a few other questions you may have
Do I need to backup my phone contents?
Nokia Suite will backup your phone contents. However files on the C:\ in your phone (not your SD CARD) will be wiped so they do pause the installation of the new firmware to give you time to copy C:\ into another location. I just copied it into the 8GB SD Card.
So what happens during the installation of firmware?
The phone turns off after the installation and then asks you what language you want. Then they want you to sign in to your Nokia account to get Maps, Music, Mail and Store settings. It will then ask whether you want to transfer your phone contents from another phone. After this, you can set up your email account.
How long does it take to update the firmware?
It took only 10 minutes for me.
When do I get my contents back from Nokia Suite's backup?
It's quite funny because as I was adding in the date, time, and regional settings, I noticed my computer was busy in the background with Nokia Suite. It was (without prompting) restoring my phone's contents!
In the meantime, my phone was loading up an amazing, completely new homescreen! I immediately thought it looks a lot like my brother's HTC phone with the large flipclock taking up most of the screen real estate. You can see up to 6 beautiful home screens with icons customiz, get notifications covering sms/calls etc, live traffic deviation, one touch control of wifi/bluetooth/silence/vibration etc and so much more to explore!
What else needs updating?
Nokia Store required a 4.3MB download for the latest 3.20.050 version.
So what does it look like?
