K700 / K500 Firmware Overview
Each firmware revision listed below contains the fixes listed against that revision plus the fixes of all the firmwares above that entry.
R2A041
- First release
- JBenchmark 1 - approx 2,640
- JBenchmark 2 - approx 123
- Software versions:
LCD 200404231
Camera 3.9
ITP CXC 125 813 R1S
R2C001
- Released around 30/6/2004
- Ability to mute the shutter sound of the camera
- Software versions:
LCD: 200404231
Camera: 3.9
ITP: CXC 125 813 R1T
R2E011
- Released to service points around 14/7/04
- Improved battery (i.e. green (full) to red (empty) is now slower)
- Smoother video playback
- New Bugs
Appointments are no longer marked as bold dates in the month calender. So now you can no longer see on which days you need to do things.
R2J002
- Were available from SE Online Firmware Update (*www.sonyericsson.com/updateservice/K700/frameset.htm)
- Not released at service centres
- Software versions:
LCD 200404231
Camera 3.9
ITP CXC 125 813 R1S
R2J015
- Released to Chinese service centres around 27/7/04.
- Software versions:
- LCD 200406041
- Camera 3.9
- ITP CXC 125 813 R1T
New bugs
Ability to mute the shutter sound of the camera taken out
R2J041
- Chinese release (perhaps Chinese version of R2L?)
- Snooze is now available on Recurrent alarms
- At least 10% improvement in battery life (over and above R2E?)
- Time of the last call now displayed in the missed calls list
- The fonts of Operator logo, the command keys such as "Calls", "More" are a bit larger and the font of Date & time has been Slightly reduced.
- Faster loading of JAVA games
R2L001
- 4/8/04
- One second delay before the person at the other end of the phone can hear you when answering a call bug fixed (unless they are associated with a picture?)
- At least 10% improvement in battery life (over and above R2E?)
- Backlight timings have changed to improve battery life (20s, 26s, 40s to 15s, 20s, 60s - Fade, Backlight off, Display off)
- Pressing a volume control button when in Standby mode displays the time, or the missed call icon and time if you have missed a call, for 3-4 seconds.
- Use Now option appears when transfering pictures to the phone (previously just Ok). Options are View, Set as wallpaper, Set as screensaver, Set as starup screen, Add to contact
- SE wap link removed from Application folder
- Faster image browsing with selected images appearing full screen.
- Improved Bluetooth stability
- Bug where entering multiple names & numbers could delete the numbers for the first names entered has been fixed.
- Snooze is now available on Recurrent alarms
- Can now delete one contect from a group without deleting the whole group
- Time of the last call now displayed in the missed calls list
- The bug whereby the first call received after power up produces an "answer, reject, answer and continue" menu seems to have been fixed
- The fonts of Operator logo, the command keys such as "Calls", "More" are a bit larger and the font of Date & time has been Slightly reduced.
- The Globe icon that appears when using GRPS has been modified during initial connection (four silver ball circling around the globe)
- SMS Delivery Notification sound is now different to Incoming SMS sound (fixed to bluetooth transfer notification sound)
- Faster loading of JAVA games
- Screen brightness increased
- Performing a Sync does not cause the phone to reboot (some phones only?)
- Playing sound and video after running Java applications now always works fine.
- When in phonebook, it's now possible to change keyboard language by simply press the # key.
- New contact =>New number =>Look up =>Unsaved list is now limited to 10 numbers rather than unlimited
- Line 1/2 indicator in top line of display
- Additional profile of 'TTY accessory' (Teletype device for the hearing impared)
- Sending pictures via bluetooth to other devices occasionally sent a lower quality image with previous firmwares. This has been fixed.
- Setup wizard has tips on the back and cancel key
- "Mark several" included in messages function
- Moving around in the Main Menu is faster and smoother
- Animated images run at a constant frame rate rather than vary according the the complexity of the image.
- JBenchmark 1 - 2,313 - 2,326
- JBenchmark 2 - 118 - 127
- Software versions:
LCD 200406041
Camera 3.9
ITP CXC 125 813 R1S or R1T
- Bugs
Bluetooth turns itself off if a paired bluetooth headset goes out of range (some phones only).
Pocket PCs can no longer connect to the internet via bluetooth (still possible with IR). Add "Z" to the field of 'Extra dial-string modem commands' to fix this issue
Auto save to SIM option no longer available - Contacts / Advanced / Auto save on SIM.
R2N001
- Released by Vodaphone (Netherlands)
- Functionality as R2L
- Still unable to use MP3s as ringtones, whether they have DRM or not. (Vodaphone specific)
R2V001
- Released by Vodaphone (UK)
- MP3s can now be used as ringtones so long as they have digital rights management, e.g. repackaged using Sony Ericsson's DRM Packager Tool. (Vodaphone specific)
- "Autosave on SIM" facility readded to automatically save phonebook entries on the SIM card. This facility was removed in R2L.
R2Y005
- Released by Orange UK (first appeared around 25/10/04)
- Phonebook quicksearch facility
R2AA003
- Released on EMMA II / Total Multiserver (around 6/10/04)
- Later withdrawn from EMMA2 due to connectivity issues.
- Faster main menu
- Search function disabled in Asian firmware?
- Added shortcut to change the subject line of an MMS (on More rather than through Advanced)
- Improvements to Bluetooth
- Improved battery life (for post Week 40 batteries only?)
- JBenchmark1: 2529
- JBenchmark2: 129
R2AC003
- Released by Orange UK (first appeared around 10/1/05)
- Orange specific version of R2AA003
R2AE033
- Released on EMMA II (6/12/04)
- Faster overal speed
- Search function disabled in Asian firmware (Far east only?).
- Search function in phonebook upgraded for non-Asian firmware (C doesn't delete Contact, but letters you've entered, cursor cancels search)
- 900 ms+ delay on answering a call before the microphone was switched on has been fixed.
- Display Smileys in MMS/Browser
- Support of Apple ITunes format .m4a (=.mp4) including speech encoding format AAC
- Stopwatch no longer goes into backlight off mode or sleep mode
- Noise in HCA-20 car handsfree is gone
- The signal strength indicator has changed. Now signal is lowered by 1 bar at a time. Signal is raised to 5 bars if a strong signal is detected.
- Various crashes fixed (e.g. when music is playing an an alarm goes off)
- Various Java / Java 3D fixes
- Various browser / WAP / CSS fixes
- Various fixes to the Calendar application
- Various layout / font size fixes
- Updated Camera driver to change the default flicker compensation mode from 50 Hz to automatic.
- JBenchmark1: 2129
- JBenchmark2: 125
- Software versions:
LCD 200406041
Camera 3.10
ITP CXC 125 813 R1S
R2AG001
- Released on EMMA II (8/1/05)
- US1/US2 languages only
- No reported changes from R2AE (which is still the latest version for the rest of the world)
R2AN001
- Released on SEUS around 25/2/05
- O2 specific release
- Currently no reported changes from R2AE
- Software versions:
LCD 200404041
Camera 3.10
ITP CXC 125 813 R2C
R2AL029
- Released by Setool on 1/4/05
- Picture preview (e.g. scrolling through the picture folder) is noticably faster.
- JBenchmark1: 2550
- JBenchmark2: 130
- Software versions:
LCD 200406041
Camera 3.10
ITP CXC 125 813 R1T
R2AT003
- Released by DaVinci on 13/5/05
- Less noise in photos taken with low lighting conditions
- Significant increase in Bluetooth speed when copying data to the phone (from around 23.1Kbps in previous firmware revisions to 49.8Kbps)
- JBenchmark1: 2392
- JBenchmark2: 127
- Software versions:
LCD: 200406041
Camera: 3.10
ITP: CXC 125 813 R2C
R2AY004
- Released by DaVinci on 24/5/05
- Currently no reported changes from R2AT
- JBenchmark 1: 2419
- JBenchmark 2: 127
LCD: 200406041
Camera: 3.10
ITP: CXC 125 813 R1T
To find out which firmware revision your phone currently has installed, perform the following:
Where < and > represents pushing the joystick left and right respectively.
To update your firmware it is recommened you take your phone to your nearest Service Centre. Firmware upgrades are free within the warranty period.