Ok, seem to have made progress.

Flashing the new PR 1.1.1 firmware together with the original eMMC flash does not work & results in this issue.

However flashing the ORIGINAL firmware together with eMMC, then updating step/step via application manage gets to a working configuration.

Following that a "restore" appears to work - have not done the apps yet, but successfully restored contacts, bookmarks, email, settings etc.

So watch out with that eMMC file if doing a full restore...