Navifirm, the PC program used to get software updates prior to their official release has finally been locked down to anyone who doesn’t have authorized access.
I first caught the story on MyNokiaBlog.com, who linked the source as being from GSMArena (read it here).
I used NaviFirm to update my Nokia Lumia 900 to the much anticipated Windows Phone 7.8 software back in December, and also used it to download the firmware which allowed me to flash my Nokia N9 when it had a pretty critical error. On attempting to load it up myself this evening I got this error message;
While it is a shame, I can understand Nokia doing this. Installing unofficial software does void the warranty of a device, and as with the early versions of Windows Phone 7.8, can cause problems. In that case, the live tiles were using lots of data, causing users nasty surprises when they found their mobile data allowance had been used up.
Nokia didn’t make a secret of the fact this tightening of the firmware files would be coming, and announced it late last year.
So, got a problem with your phone? Needs a reflash? In future it looks like I’ll be taking mine to a Nokia Care Point.
As soon as this was announced I downloaded and stored all the latest FWs for all my phones. Symbian and MeeGo won’t be getting any newer ones anyway, so I should be all set in case I need to rest/reflash in the future, but this is still a shame for the Geek World.