After a long wait, I’ve got a firmware update on the E72. This is 031.023. I’ve been using it for a while now and have to say that things have settled down a bit.

The Good:

1. Less crashes

2. Feels more responsive (but this is because the transitions have been turned off by default)

3. The spacebar bug seems to have gone away

4. Haven’t had to reformat the phone

5. d-pad selector responds better when pressing down, light or hard, on it.

The Bad:

1. Email client still doesn’t support Destinations.

2. They bundled Smart Connect to address point 1 (sloppy way of addressing it. Just implement Destination!)… but the version they bundled doesn’t work! Although there is a patch available

3. GPS is broken. It can take forever to lock on, and sometimes not at all. Works worst in Maps, and works better when another app locks on the GPS first. Maps annoyingly doesn’t make it clear what kind of ‘lock’ it has (GPS, cell, WiFi), which became an issue when I had reason to direct emergency services only to realise it was locked to the cell position despite being in the countryside with clear blue sky.

4. Email client still feels clunky, the email viewer is rubbish, and the client can lock up the phone sometimes when flicking through menus and options, and especially when it’s been on a 3G connection for a while.