Nokia (Old) & Symbian News & Updates
Update (November 21, 2017) – Nokia Software Recovery Tool gets an update to version 8.1.25 (just a “Bug fix” update but still a Symbian related update is nothing short of a miracle now). Read more here
Update (July 18, 2017) – WhatsApp finally stopped working in Symbian S60 phones (Nokia N8 etc). Read more
Update (July 2017) – Microsoft has outsourced the Nokia software related services and downloads to B2X company. Nokia Software Recovery Tool (NSRT) got an update recently with version number 8.0.23 and B2X as the new publisher. For more details about this change and the new download link of NSRT please refer to this post.
Update (June 2017) – WhatsApp has again extended support for old mobile platforms like Nokia S40 (till December 31, 2018), Blackberry, Windows Phone 8 & older (till December 31, 2017). Unfortunately Symbian S60 was not lucky this time – as declared earlier WhatsApp will stop working in these phones after 30 June, 2017. This may be because S40 is still under development and supported by Microsoft. But the same is not true about Symbian S60 – Microsoft has abandoned it long time back.
Update (May 2017) – Handango.com, impart-forum.com & mobipocket.com are no more – even the domain names have expired (more details in this post). These three websites were among the most famous and premiere portals in the golden era of Symbian (2001-2010). Handango was a premium app store for Symbian OS/Win Mobile/Palm OS just like the Google Play Store for Android. Mobipocket Reader and associated dictionaries were among the most popular Symbian apps of all times. Similarly impart forum was a very popular place for Symbian OS users to discuss related issues and share apps/games/themes etc. R.I.P. We will miss you!
Update (April 2017) – Nokia Software Recovery Tool (NSRT) is working again in online mode. Read more
Update (December 2016) – NSRT has stopped working again. Download link of NSRT is not working either. Perhaps Microsoft has finally decided to put it RIP (Rest In Peace).
Update (December 2016) – WhatsApp (again) extends support for Nokia Symbian phones until June 30, 2017 – more details in this post.
Update (October 2016) – Microsoft has released a new version of Nokia Software Recovery Tool (NSRT) recently. This update restores NSRT’s ability to download Nokia phone firmware files. After closing down Nokia servers earlier this year, Microsoft shifted Nokia firmware files to it’s own servers. The new version of NSRT have access to these new download URLs. More info and download link here in this post.
Update (July 2016) – Microsoft has removed the whole data base of old Nokia phones (each and every phone except Lumia). Even the phone specification pages have been scrapped. Related Software download links have also been deleted. Only NSRT and Nokia Suite download page is alive now.
WhatsApp has also declared that it will cease support for Symbian/S40 platform after December 31, 2016.
Bad news for Symbian/Nokia phone users! Microsoft finally closed down support for Symbian OS and related Nokia services effective from January 1, 2016. This includes the official support softwares, updates and Nokia firmware repository. Most Nokia sites and download links are either offline now or are redirecting to Microsoft sites, for example discussions.nokia.com now redirects to answers.microsoft.com. Microsoft support pages have been updated with this info (as you can see in the screenshot below). This is not unexpected as Microsoft declared it way back in 2012 when they took over Nokia devices and services division. Due to this change many older Nokia related services and softwares are not working anymore. Navifirm, Nokia Care Suite, Nokia Suite, Nokia PC Suite, Nokia Software Updater, Nokia Software Recovery Tool (NSRT) and all such software have been affected by this blackout. So in simple words these softwares can not be used now to download firmware files for your good old Nokia (Symbian) phone. However most of these can be used to flash Nokia phones, provided you already have the firmware files.
Nokia Related Software errors
Despite this gloomy scenario, there are still some silver lines –
Navifirm developer has promised to solve the Nokia firmware server issue in the next major update of Navifirm Plus. Navifirm version 4 is expected to be released in second quarter 2016. (Alas! not still in 2017)
A webmaster has created a new Nokia stock firmware downloader which is apparently still working fine – God knows how!
Some Symbian apps like WhatsApp, CuteTube etc are still getting updates thanks to their developers
If your old Nokia phone is not getting recognized in Windows 10 due to driver issues – here is the solution
Some useful Symbian related websites and download links
Here are some useful (old) Nokia/Symbian related links for your reference –
- Microsoft Mobile Device Help page
- PDF User Guides for Nokia/Microsoft Mobile phones and Accessories
- Nokia Software Recovery Tool (for old Nokia phones and Lumias running WP7 & 7.8) – Download from here
- Windows Device Recovery Tool (for Lumia phones running WP8 or later) – Download from here
- Zune Software download page (for Lumia phones running Windows Phone 7/7.8 OS)
- Nokia Suite Download
- Microsoft Mobile Community or Mobile Device Support Forum (formerly ForumNokia/discussions.nokia.com)
- Lumia Denim (WP8) Update – Details
- New Nokia stock ROM/Firmware downloader
- New Lumia stock ROM/Firmware downloader
That’s all we know so far guys! Do let us know if any link(s) is not working, we will fix it ASAP. This page is updated regularly as new info comes in….so stay tuned!