Hello. It's great to see this post. I have a N9 from Vodafone Australia (059L488). I have read a few of these discussions around the web, but not entirely clear on a response to my question below. Hence am posting to see if someone can help.

What's the best variant to update to, without any carrier dependency and being future-proof for firmware updates as they are released from Nokia?

Appreciate all help.

Either Australian or Global, although I'm not sure of eithers pecking order regarding updates.

But you can always flash again to get the newest release...

Thank you for your response. I am fairly new to this, but excited with this phone after trying N800/810 years ago. Can you please share more details on either one, as I see a number of entries in the variant list, and don't wish to brick this device. Especially, as it cautions against doing so in the guide on first page. Have a great day.

OK, first off look at this >

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zeet3k1_330

Then download and install NaviFirm+ and Phoenix.

Open up NaviFirm+, in Products scroll to N9 and click to open. In Releases click on 30.2012.7.1. Above Variants click 'Export PC List' to expand all variants. Then take a look around and see what you think may benefit you, maybe google for extra info.

***Whatever F/W version you decide to use can be changed in the future.*** Incorrect - see next post below

Just remember that this could possibly brick your phone, but I have used it multiple times on my N8, E7 and N9 without any problems.

Abiove all make sure you do exactly as instructed in the vid. If you are still unsure and have questions then let me know.

Good luck

Not quite, and that has to be the cause of at least half the problems flashing. It's not permitted to lower the variant code when flashing the same firmware version. If gbrm flashes the PR1.2 Asia Pacific (005) firmware, it won't be possible to flash the PR1.2 Europe-1 (001) firmware later. However, it's possible to go in the opposite direction.

Also, there's a lot of product codes, but only 5 generic variants and 5 generic firmware images. I would strongly recommend using variant 001 whenever upgrading to a new version - downloading the images for 059J1Z5 is a safe bet. Telling people to just pick a product code is asking for trouble.

It would be nice if people would stop asking the same questions over and over...much of this thread is "which image should I flash"?

Right, I stand corrected - thanks for the valuable info.

And apologies for my misleading details in the above post

Thank you, both of you for the detail information. I did search a number of discussion groups, and was left very confused, which prompted me to post here. Sorry for posting if it had been already raised before. Unfortunately, I did not learn it during my search online.

Now, I am not tech savvy but pretty good with following instructions - it is clear now that the best option is to go to 001 firmware. I've checked out the video, and plan to update this weekend through phoenix or win flash method. Hopefully, it will all go well. I have been waiting for Nokia to come back, and hoping N9 will be great after spending quite a bit of money on N800 and N810 when they were originally released, and not being satisfied with the experience. Those devices are gathering dust now!.

Thank you again, and have a great day. Cheers.

Update - I seem to have a problem installing Phoenix. Tried a few times but no luck. It says to connect Nokia dongle or something along those lines. On re-install, it stalls on launch. Shall read up more and try again. Thanks.

Unless you absolutely need Phoenix, you're probably better off with flasher, which is free and legit. In order to use Phoenix, you'll need to find a cracked version, as ordinarily it requires the dongle to run.

Thanks mate for the info. That explains why I was not having much luck...

Luckily, I got the update automatically from the carrier Vodafone this morning, and so far all looks good. Pretty timely, as this was one of the initiatives for the weekend for me. Appreciate both of your help, again, and shall use this learning and method for the next release. Cheers...