AT&T Lumia 900 gets firmware update, fixes display issue and more

Good news for those on AT&T with the Lumia 900, Nokia in conjunction with Microsoft are now pushing out a firmware update to fix numerous lingering issues with the premier phone. 

The following are the main changes:

  • Fixes purple display issue - In short, when the screen would dim down to "low" greys would become purple across the whole display, including on graphics and photos
  • Proximity sensor - minor adjustments to the sensitivity of the proximity sensor should make phone calls more pleasant when the user puts the phone to their face
  • Others - We're still getting details but there are also a multitude of other smaller fixes that will greatly enhance the user experience

The update went live 10 am PDT and users should be able to plug their devices into their computers (Desktop Zune) and pick up the new firmware. Note, this is NOT an OS upgrade and it does not contain "Tango"--this is simply a maintenance release for firmware. However, Nokia does note:

"...we’ll be rolling out new updates and surprises in the near future to all Lumia 900 users, so stay tuned!"

Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.

139 Comments
  • I wonder if it has improvements to the camera optics?
  • I sure hope so. It needs it cause Camp Bisco is soon i am taking videos and pictures like crazy
  • Never thought I'd see another tDB fan on WPCentral! Have fun at camp!
  • Splatums!
  • Its actually MS that would have to make improvements to the camera I think the default WP7 camera app is made for BSI sensor cameras. If you want to take good pics use Nokia Creative studio the difference is stark in most cases. I will take the same photo with the default app and it will be full of noise when I use creative studio it works takes a good shot everytime.
  • That is good to know.  Thanks for the tip... Will have to move that app to my home screen.
     
  • Awesome. I also wish they would add an automatic camera focus mode. Close-up pictures are always blurry unless I manually switch to macro which is inconveniently located near the bottom of the settings list.
  • Right there with you on that with the constant need for Macro, but try this from now on: first Settings option "Scenes" (default: Auto), "Macro" is an option and easy to select :)
  • Appreciate that. Thanks. What do you think is the best scene and white balance option? I don't like how my photos turn out super blue tinted or yellow tinted in certain lightings.
  • Funny you ask, I was just playing with the camera after updating and it really looks like the blues, greens, and yellow tints in low-light settings are mostly gone--if not all gone. After a few days, I'll better know, but as of my first few shots, "Auto" for both white balance and scenes is working much, much better. I would like to see what you think after the update, hopefully I'm not just seeing things. But, if you really know your lighting conditions (e.g. you are certain incandescent bulbs are dominantly lighting you space), then selecting the appropriate white balance setting *should* adjust best (however, before the update, I didn't really think they were any better than "auto" because of the weird tinting).
  • I wonder if the 800 will ever get tethering...
  • True. Seems a little odd that the 800 isn't getting a lot of love lately
  • Thats coming with Tango, and the update has already been sighted on Nokia's servers. http://www.mobiletechworld.com/2012/05/08/nokia-lumia-800-1750-805-8773-12140-tango-update-coming-soon/. Probably waiting for the coordinated Tango rollout that's been rumoured.
  • Lumia 800 users had a firmware update last may which brought some improvements. The tango update will come after the June 20th conference (unless MSFT wants to push it before, which they did with W8 release preview). Lumia 800 users don't quit!!
  • Was surprised when I just plugged in. Funny that the first thing I did was come here.
  • Thank you Daniel!
  • finally that purple was getting on my nerves lol
  • Wp8 I can smell it
  • *snifffff* Me too ;)
  • I've let out a little expletive when I receive a txt message while I'm using the phone. The incoming txt noise is like someone ringing a ship's bell in my earhole. Hope there's a fix for that.
  • Amen to that
  • Hopefully it will fix the WiFi dropping issues as well.
  • Can you explain this issue a little more???
  • After phone is woken up it will show WiFi connected but not transfer any bandwidth. You have to turn off WiFi and restart it to get the bandwidth back. Both by 900s did this, and from what I've read people believe it is a bug related to tethering. I also have had my IE wig out, freeze up, and crash on me. I had neither of these problems with my patch day focus.
  • Doesn't look like it was addressed... Tested this at lunch after updating and still had data problems while connected to Wi-Fi and Cell... Disable Cell and all works via Wi-Fi... Keeping those ConnectivityShortcuts on the screen still. :-/
  • Whew, I thought I was the only one having this issue (sometimes) when on Wi-Fi and cell data at the same time. When I'm stationary everything's fine. But it seems that as soon as I move out of range of my usual Wi-Fi connections I have to turn it off.
  • This happens on my focus s too (8107)
  • Kills me they haven't resolved this yet.
  • +1000
  • Nokia's stellar support strikes again! And promising more to come, what's not to love?
  • updating now...
  • updating now...
  • updating now...
  • wonder if UK based handsets will get a fix, I have issues with wifi and call signal dropping and I'm getting fed up with it.
    btw I'm on version 2175.1601.8773.12141
  • Anyone get on Rogers yet?
  • Keyboard fix????? WTF. I'm going to call the FCC, the MAAD, Fema, and the NAACP! I'm calling the last one first! Yes, I'm claiming this as a racial thing.. Lol!
  • Not surprised at all after that bs you said on the Luna article
  • Am I the only one who has NUMEROUS problems with the bottom buttons? It pissed me off so much, I returned it to get another 900... Has the same problem! I love the phone though, hopefully that is also fixed in this update.
  • Nope, very big pain. Audio playing from the speaker seems to be the cause.
  • Same here, drives me nuts, I was really hoping this would be the fix for it. 
  • Return until you get a good device... My wife had the same issue... It looks like Hardware.
  • Maybe it's me, but it seems as though at 01/30. The volume seems lower, or maybe my work is a little too loud? Can anyone confirm, just updated.
  • Probably working the way it should now, previously its been mentioned that the volume at 01/30 was too loud.
  • Update not available for me in Denmark yet,
    Did they also ship the fix for the screen draw bug?
    http://discussions.nokia.com/t5/Nokia-with-Windows-Phone/Lumia-900-Scree...
  • And the second update for the 900.. Where is the update for the 710.. Come windows/ t-mobile this is ridiculous its been 5 months no bug fix update... Get it together!
  • To be honest, the purple greys when the brightness was low was something I almost never noticed. Nice that they addressed it though. Im still going to wait a day before doing the update, as everything else is working great.
    As for the camera...I've found that while the dedicated photo button is a nice feature, it is the worst way to actually take a photo for me. The physical pressing of the button introduced enough shake on the phone that pics taken using the button are always blurry for me. Ive tried holding the phone as still as possible, even bracing my arms agains something and slowly pressing the button. Blurry. I now exclusively touch the screen to take shots. Only use the camera button to launch into the camera app. I came from iphone 4. Id rate the iphone4 camera and software a 9, the 900 camera and software 5.5. Otherwise, Im loving the wp environment. :)
  • Is tapping the screen less likely to make the camera shake? I've tried it and it's exactly the opposite for me
  • For most people it is, because when you tap the screen, it focuses before snapping the pic. It gives you time to steady the phone.
  • I guess I tend to "press", as opposed to "tap". For example...When I watch most youtube demo videos, the "tap" I see people doing seems...how to describe it...agressive, lol. They tap the screen as if it was on fire and they dont want to get burned, poking at the screen and quickly lifitng their finger far away. FWW, from what ive seen, this often means the button doesnt register the touch and they have to press again, and again. Very frustrating to watch. lol.
  • I'm with you, I take better pics with the button
  • This is a very welcome update for me - well, at least I hope it is. I switched from a Focus S to the Lumia 900 and while I enjoy using the Lumia, there have been many issues present on the Lumia which were not present on the Focus S. Some of them include, slow choppy use of apps, bluetooth uses up way more battery than the Focus S, apps crash over and over. Crossing my fingers...
  • I can't see any diference with the camera performace after updating.  I would htink that Nokia would make a fuss over it if they had "fixed" the camera issues.
    We can only hope for camera improvemtns, but I have to say, I've never seen Customer/Device Support like Nokia is doing!  It makes my decision to get the 900 over the Titan II a really good call!
     
    MadSci
  • I updated but I can't tell any differences?  Is there a link to the release notes?
     
    Michael Coburn
    www.coburn.org
  • Looks like the camera issues in low light are FIXED!
  • "there are
    also a multitude of other smaller fixes that will
    greatly enhance the user experience" Multitude? Really?
  • Hey HTC,
     
    Are you listening/reading? Your Titan 1 owners would love some updates too... %$^$&*#@!
     
    Techiedude
  • I am a Titan I owner and I am really disappointed in HTC. They have a known and acknowledged defect on voice quality and refuse to fix it.
  • Same here. I dumped HTC. Nokia from now on.
  • The scrolling is slower now in the start screen?
  • It appears to have fixed the camera button bug
  • Partially
  • I guess your right. It just stopped working again. I don't see what could be so hard about fixing that
  • That's so awesome.  I made the switch from the Titan to the Lumia and I'm glad to see Nokia is being so incredibly supportive of their products.
  • I got rid of my 710 because I've had all of the same problems as the 900 before the 900 even came out and was told that it was tmobile problems.
  • The phone actually seems more responsive.
  • The volume is louder on my headset. :)
  • Sign of good things to come. With the way things going for the Lumia 900, I wouldn't be suprised if the 900 is the only Gen 2 handset to jump to Windows Phone 8. This is definately something that doesn't seem to be in the hands of AT&T anymore with this device, and feels more in control of the manufacture like it is with the iPhone. I believe it was stated in numerous areas of the internet that AT&T was not going to deliver an update for any Windows Phones until Tango comes, what we see with the Lumia 900 is such an exception; especiall with the Tango update slated for this month as well, it would make sense for them to hold back till Tango, but they didn't and gave it out to us preTango. Nice going Nokia.
    Honestly this is what Windows Phone needs to succeed, hardware support. Software can't get anywhere without the proper hardware. Sure HTC has released some nice stuff, but it is so obvious where HTC's and Samsung's resources are going to, while Apple has their own, and Microsoft was left with the scraps until they got Nokia to come along. Hope this keeps up.
  • My music sounds more clear. O.O
  • Sleeping wifi seems fixed. "Visually" connected when turned on.
  • This is what gets me. Att pushes Nokia firmware updates, and we're still waiting here on 1st gen HTC titan updates.
  • It's not AT&T's fault.  That is a direct result of HTC not supporting the Titan with firmware updates.  If HTC had done firmware updates, we would have gotten them.  I am happy to have dumped my Titan for the Lumia.   
  • I'm getting close to dumping my Titan.  If Nokia can do this there is zero reason HTC can't.  The first LTE fix I figured it was a fluke cause it was so critical...there is no excuse for this though.
     
    There are CRITICAL issues facing the Titan, specifically the memory crash bug and the noise canceling mic bug.....yet nothing from HTC. Time to take to the twitterverse for some public shaming.
  • I would complain nicely to AT&T and see what they will do for you.  You never know you could get a free Lumia out of it.
  • ATT doesn't give a flying fuck about me.  I'm not even with ATT, This is a problem between me and HTC.
  • +1
  • And still no SRS enhancements like HTC
  • Dont need this if your music source and headphones are good in the first place, garbage in and garbage out and all that....:
  • True!  my headphones sound sweet but i make sure i always buy good quality..
  • It makes a difference no matter what, enhances bass, restores lost information and creates virtual surround sound.
  • Why can't we get an update for the HTC Titan!! I get so tired of people telling me that they can't hear me or I sound muffled!!!!!
  • Wifi seems faster too. Everything seems faster. Nokia Drive, Nokia Maps.
  • Its nice to see Nokia on the ball with the bug fixes. :)
  • Wow, just updated my Lumia 900 and now when I'm using bluetooth for hands free connection, my car is much faster and my MPG has increased substantially. Plus, that bloated feeling I had all day after eating those lima beans is gone.  And, the bully in my old high school band class hallway has apologized for all those wedgies.   I'm heading out to the local bar tonight and see if the upgrade has improved my ability to pick-up women.  (Gives us nerds hope.)   Gotta love that Nokia support.
  • lol  Nice. 
  • I don't believe you. No one eats lima beans. Troll!!1!
  • Update worked. Just picked up a chick at the bar. Be on the look out for an update tomorrow on how it goes. Thanks Nokia
  • @Iphone4Convert - LMFAO, but unfortunatly it only improves your chances with Finnish Women - but watch out for the ones with Dragon Tatoos!
    MadSci
  • No two ways about it - the Keyboard "click" sound is a lot quieter now.  That good as I always had to turn the volume donw in meetings to avoid annoying people, but then would often miss importnat incoming calls or messages.
     
    Good call Nokia - but I do wish we could set the volumes for things independently and just leave the Hardware buttons for Call/Music volumes unless set at zero! - maybe next update in a week or so :-)
  • What about the waking the phone up with the camera button?? It seems like I have to press the power button first then the camera buttonmy HTC never have this problem..???
  • Not for me, unfortunately.
  • Seems earbud buttons work while screen is off now :D
  • I am very interested in this. What headphones are you using if I may ask?
  • I'm using the Samsung earbuds that came with my old Focus S and they work after update :D
  • Can anyone confirm if the Pink hue on a white surface is gone in the Camera. I hope they took care of it. Can't wait to flash my phone with this update.
    Thank NOKIA. I am getting  your stock. So hang in there till Win 8 and we'll all become rich :)
  • Still there. I don't think they've made any real camera adjustments, mainly just usability fixes.
  • that’s not an issue with this phone... most sensors on cell phones have this problem. It is due to the focal length of the lens to the sensor. I mainly does this with florescent lighting.
    I have four different phones that have this affect or defect. I don’t think that it can be fixed due to the small sensor and lens.
  • Does it update the problems with the bottons?
  • I had issues with the buttons sticking and voice activation always popping up. I went to at&t support centre today and they gave me a brand new phone
  • This is my third phone. The first one had issues with text messages and the last one with buttons sticking
  • I tested some stuff after this update and I still have issues with the touch buttons activating while audio is playing. This is becoming a major problem and I am getting fed up, I can't use speakerphone or play any games on this phone.
  • You should return your phone for a new one. My Lumia 900 does not have that problem.
  • I spoke with Nokia, and I am sending it back to them since I am past the AT&T return date. Hopefully it doesn't take too long, I will definitely miss not having the phone.
  • You can still do waranty exchange with ATT, some stores will let you do it in person even after the return date, otherwise you can all att and they will send you a replacemnt. 
  • Yes I had weird issues with my first 900, and then my second one had a problem with the headphone jack (in that it was unusable), but finally my third exchange is a good one. I really think there were some lemons still floating about after the initial wave of them.
  • Camera button is now less reliable when waking phone, but volume buttons are more reliable.
  • Didn't receive any notification on my phone about this update
  • Plug it in to your computer
  • After the update, the brightness setting doesn't show what it's set at in the "system settings". I actually have to tap "brightness" to see what it's set at. Anyone else?
  • Nevermind. Working fine now. Damn this phone is so sexy.
  • Once you make a change it goes back to normal.
  • I'm still waiting for a simple eq in the settings,...I own cheapo to audiophile headphones. I like using an eq,...my Lumia 900 needs it.
  • Have noticed that the screen tends to be a little bit darker than before when in auto brightness. Might be directly related to the light sensor sensitivity adjustment.
  • Has anyone experienced any errors trying to update?  I get an update error 801811CA after Zune performs a backup.
  • I had a similar error. Try doing any windows updates, worked for me.
  • Sitting here looking at the keyboard, I'm suddenly aware of how accustomed I'd become to the purple hue. I can't tell if the volume goes lower or not, I really hope so. That's been the the one thing about this device that's bothered me. We'll see how it sounds when I go to bed.
  • screen is a lil darker: what else changed: dont see much
  • Would it fix call quality issues?
  • Volume buttons now work playing music when the phone is locked/sleep mode. Also the play/Pause is way more responsive with headphones
  • What headphone are you using?
  • HTC does not support their brand, exchanged 3 titans and still had that poor sound quality with all of them. I will never buy another HTC crappy phone, they refused to address any issues with their phone. Glad I threw that crap away and got me and lumia 900
  • Color balance on shots seems much better. Took 20 shots and they look good.
  • Aren't the shots better at low light now?
  • The pictures look much better, before they were okay, now they are good. Even in lowlight and the flash doesn't wash out the picture as much.
  • I've been getting lousy cell signal since the update. When the phone is literally right next to my wife's 900 (not updates) mine consistently has 2 few bars. Anyone else seeing this issue?
  • I had the following issues after I updated my phone: very hot phone, full battery lasting only a couple of hours, and most annoying, screen flipping to Bing constantly while playing a game.  It wasn't until I saw your post that I looked at my phone and saw 2 LTE bars when there should be 5.  I went to Nokia's website - software updates - link to restore the previous settings.  It took a while on my old XP computer, but now I have my phone back to normal temp with 5 LTE bars and lovin it.  Story here, don't update if you don't have to if everything is working!  smartrthanu, thanks for your input!
  • Agreed - WiFi doesn't work well at all and signal is horrible. Weird freezing issue with tune in also. Screen looks better and all but NOT liking the WiFi and signal issues. Any fix that involves keeping the new firmware?
  • edit: nvm! bricking averted! just had to hold down the power button forever
  • I feel that scrolling speeds have improved. Camera is a little bit better and also apps open faster than before. Nokia is the best!!!!!!!. Bring WP8 to the Lumia!!!!!
     
  • Dear WPCentral, How can I give you more money? I've already bought your app and I need to express my gratitude for alerting me to these things before anyone else does! (cough, Nokia, cough, Microsoft) :)
  • Upgraded tonight. I'm pissed. The thing I disliked most about my Focus S was the automatic brightness setting. It flickered back and forth and always seemed dim, even on manual medium. Well with this update, my screen is CONSIDERABLY darker on automatic than normal. In fact, when I take auto brightness off and turn it to low, and then turn auto brightness back on, the screen dims about 50% (i.e. darker than low). Is this true for anyone else? Keyboard is still loud and volume 1 when playing a song through the speaker or a game is still too loud. I don't seen any differences with the lower buttons. Damn. I'm not happy.
  • Hope the lumia800 update is out soon too !!... Waiting...
  • A few things I've noticed:
     
    1) Screen draw is perfect now! Games that have lots of touch action like Wordament, now play perfectly.
    2) Sound from the internal speaker sounds better. I listen to tuninradio a lot and always thought the Lumia 900 sounded great but now it sounds even better! (Amazing for a phone actually)
    3) Obviously the purple hue issue is resolved. With this is new brightness settings. Initially I thought the lower setting was too dim but I was doing some reading in bed last night and the low setting is perfect. Just the right amount of light to read without feeling like someone turned on the light in the room (It was sooo bright before)
    4) External speaker volume is more accurate. Before the volume was too loud on 1-7 volume levels. It's a bit better now. The problem still exists that 1-7 are the same volume level though (minor issue really)
    5) When I plug the phone in to charge it registers that it's charging more quickly now (still a little slow but better)
    6) The camera seemed to focus and take a picture more quickly. The quality of pictures did not seem to improve much except I did notice pictures don't blur as much as they did before. So that's good
    7) My camera always wakes up now when I push the camera button. It didn't before most of the time.
    8) Volume still won't change when the screen is off. This one makes me sad.. I really wish they had fixed it.
    That's it for now since I really havn't used my phone much since the update. I'm sure I'll have more coments soon!
  • You have to double tap the volume button and on the second tap hold down the volume key, its not a method that everybody is going to catch onto right away. Same with the camera, short press then fully press camera button to wake the screen.
  • This did not fix the audio volume levels for me. Volume 10 used to be low enough to where I could leave my old windows phone off of vibrate and incoming text messages would not be to loud. 8 is still uncomfortably loud for when I'm at work :( I almost returned my lumia due to the volume issues and I hope it is fixed next.
  • Wpcentral, how could you go on without noting that users may need to  perfrom TWO updates (perform your update, dissconnect and plug it back in, check for an update to make sure you have the final update).... Some lumia 900's were shipped with the connection fix, and people who didnt trade their phone had to download an update.... this causes the people who bought  a lumia that was fixed to have a different firmware, and when you plug in your phone the computer wants to also download the update the everyone who didnt return the phone, had to download. AND THEN you can recieve the final update..... The Mac sync software didnt say anything... but I do remember reading here that phones where being shipped with different firmware, so even though it said my phone was updated.... I knew (plus i played around with the phone for a second, and didnt see any changes) that I did not truely have the latest update. So I plugged her back in and sure enough, it said i had another update, which happened to be the one that was just released. And as I said in my reply above about the volume fix in the latest update .. "You have to double tap the volume button and on the second tap hold down the volume key, its not a method that everybody is going to catch onto right away. Same with the camera, short press then fully press camera button to wake the screen." 
  • Huge crowd chanting "LUMIA, LUMIA"
  • Been a couple days since the update now and I still think the screen is far too dim. When I first wake up my phone, it's incredibly dark and then brightens up a bit after a few seconds, but never gets as bright as I would like on auto.
  • This software update completely messed up my phone
    My call history ONLY shows outgoing calls (no missed or incoming)
    My visual voicemail is gone (even after being reset)
    I can no longer send MMS I was able to fix these issues ONLY by doing a full factory reset and restore. Now I get to spend the rest of my night reinstalling apps, adding accounts and reorganizing my phone.
    Come on Nokia/Windows! Get it right, for once.
  • Firmware update is more important for the best performance. If you are looking to carry there are mobile slots available in Briefcases from www.blokesbags.co.uk.