Mobile Review: Defective Flagships. The Nokia N8 and Nokia C7 Dying around the Globe

[HC - NO "i"]

Folks,

Check out another investigative piece by Eldar Murtazin (eldar@mobile-review.com)

http://www.mobile-review.com/article...-brak-en.shtml

[terre08]

Troll warning

[liknsmak]

Troll warning

How is this trolling? Did you even bother to read the article?

[mrrphone]

I don't think this is a troll either. Nokia has had trouble with this type of malfunction before, and hasn't learned enough to avoid it in the new models.
I first saw this "failed to boot" type of issue on a N770.
It's sad to see Nokia continue to have these issues.

[liknsmak]

In this case, there have been people online reporting the problem. If he was saying all phones are defective and the N8 is badly designed, then yes he would be trolling.

I admit eldar posts some outlandish things, but this isn't one of them. This is an issue that nokia has admitted exists as well.

[ccrows]

Some of these symptoms I've seen, some of these I've seen on Nokia conversations.


TBO I really haven't paid attention to the C7 launch but if it is indeed having issues then this might be a problem for the e7 early adopters as well.



The article recommends that, "Customers planning to buy Nokia N8 or Nokia C7 should wait until February or March..."



As it is the N8 is no doubt an amazing phone, but with the new browser coming in Feburary (unless there's a big sale before then) that may be the sweet spot for non early adopters to pick it up...

[HC - NO "i"]

Troll warning

terre08,

Greetings.

While everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion, whether it is well-informed or not is anther story. If you think I am a troll who post the link to Murtazin's article, feel free to click on the REPORT button and let the mods to deal with it.

As for myself, being a Nokia fan since the DCT-3 era with almost 70 different models I have been used / collected / tested / mod / hack / love / dis, 1/3 of them are on S60 platform. So am I qualified to be a "critic" if not a "troll"? As for Murtazin himself, either he is the most brutally honest "troll" or the most grossly misunderstood "critic", it is up to one to decide.

However, I can faithfully say one thing on behalf many, many loyal Nokia die-hard fans... we are frustrated. Set aside the decline of the build quality in hardware at Nokia (e.g. the fragile microUSB connector used in many handsets), we have got the old Symbian wine in the new N8 bottle of S^3 with the flawed supporting desktop software, Ovi Suite! The new boss, Stephen Elop says he would listen to people, reconnecting people. Then I challenge any corp type users to put away their BlackBerrys for a month, try to use the N8, C7 or upcoming E7 to deal with the major corp messaging solutions – Domino, Exchange, Groupwise and see if they would continue to "connect". Not here to say Apple iOS, Google Android, Microsoft Windows Phone or HP/Palm webOS would do better / worse than S^3 in this category. But I am here to point out it is not just me alone on this planet who have been frustrated by the state of Nokia.

[terre08]

terre08,

Greetings.

While everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion, whether it is well-informed or not is anther story. If you think I am a troll who post the link to Murtazin's article, feel free to click on the REPORT button and let the mods to deal with it.

As for myself, being a Nokia fan since the DCT-3 era with almost 70 different models I have been used / collected / tested / mod / hack / love / dis, 1/3 of them are on S60 platform. So am I qualified to be a "critic" if not a "troll"? As for Murtazin himself, either he is the most brutally honest "troll" or the most grossly misunderstood "critic", it is up to one to decide.

However, I can faithfully say one thing on behalf many, many loyal Nokia die-hard fans... we are frustrated. Set aside the decline of the build quality in hardware at Nokia (e.g. the fragile microUSB connector used in many handsets), we have got the old Symbian wine in the new N8 bottle of S^3 with the flawed supporting desktop software, Ovi Suite! The new boss, Stephen Elop says he would listen to people, reconnecting people. Then I challenge any corp type users to put away their BlackBerrys for a month, try to use the N8, C7 or upcoming E7 to deal with the major corp messaging solutions – Domino, Exchange, Groupwise and see if they would continue to "connect". Not here to say Apple iOS, Google Android, Microsoft Windows Phone or HP/Palm webOS would do better / worse than S^3 in this category. But I am here to point out it is not just me alone on this planet who have been frustrated by the state of Nokia.

I apologize, bad reading from me. I thought it was the same thing posted earlier with the embedded video. Although I would defintely take anything that Murtazin says with a pinch of salt. There isn't any bigger Nokia hater than him after he illegally kept some
pre-production handset(s) and Nokia came after him.

All I can say after owning this phone for 3 weeks is that my phone is great. It has crashed on me twice, once when playing Angry Birds for 2 hours when I received some emails and I tried to multitask and read the emails while pausing the game. Second time when I installed a S60V5 app. Otherwise the battery is pretty good, the phone is fast and beautiful and can only get better with upcoming firmwares.

[HC - NO "i"]

In this case, there have been people online reporting the problem. If he was saying all phones are defective and the N8 is badly designed, then yes he would be trolling.

I admit eldar posts some outlandish things, but this isn't one of them. This is an issue that nokia has admitted exists as well.

liknsmak,

Greetings.

I have been following Murtazin & company at Mobile Review for years. Sure, he can be heavily critical to some vendors. However, compares to what he openly bashed Sony Ericsson last year, I think this piece of N8 and C7 just merely do the tango. Like I have commented, Murtazin is either the most brutally honest "troll" or the most grossly misunderstood "critic" in the circle.

People often would say, "Give them a break! Teething problem is expected for new products!" Granted, nothing man-made is perfect... but wait a minute? Are we all suddenly on Nokia or any other handset manufacturers' payroll? How come we would folk out $600 to be their beta-testers?

[HC - NO "i"]

I apologize, bad reading from me. I thought it was the same thing posted earlier with the embedded video. Although I would defintely take anything that Murtazin says with a pinch of salt. There isn't any bigger Nokia hater than him after he illegally kept some
pre-production handset(s) and Nokia came after him.

All I can say after owning this phone for 3 weeks is that my phone is great. It has crashed on me twice, once when playing Angry Birds for 2 hours when I received some emails and I tried to multitask and read the emails while pausing the game. Second time when I installed a S60V5 app. Otherwise the battery is pretty good, the phone is fast and beautiful and can only get better with upcoming firmwares.

terre08,

No hard feeling

As you have already realized, that embedded video was put up by Nokia in its OFFICIAL NokiaConversations YouTube channel.

As for Murtazin's "access" (not "possession") to the N8 prototype, I think you are better to R E A D his official statement BEFORE passing your judgment if you have not already... HERE.

Compares with the Gizmodo's handling in their saga of "exclusive" lost iPhone 4 proto, i.e. PAY for the "possession" and NAME the careless engineer to the whole world I do not believe Murtazin bash Nokia for nothing but bashing sake in his first N8 first hands-on impression. Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion, agree?

Sure, nothing else matters than our own first-hand experience. However, you cannot discount someone else bad luck with the same product. The difference is that Murtazin would go many steps further into the investigation - with a relatively more scientific approach than an average end-users (or increasingly, bloggers). The issues he has pointed out in his article i.e. failure rates / RMA figures, those 3rd party expert opinions on defective units are manufacturing / sourcing materials / hardware related and cannot be dealt with software fix, are rational enough for a serious discussion and if not constructive debate.

[Dr Tran]

Eldar is definitely a troll now. Anything negative about Nokia he will retweet. His words have been completely worthless this past year and I see no reason to give him any page views.

[liknsmak]

liknsmak,

Greetings.

I have been following Murtazin & company at Mobile Review for years. Sure, he can be heavily critical to some vendors. However, compares to what he openly bashed Sony Ericsson last year, I think this piece of N8 and C7 just merely do the tango. Like I have commented, Murtazin is either the most brutally honest "troll" or the most grossly misunderstood "critic" in the circle.

People often would say, "Give them a break! Teething problem is expected for new products!" Granted, nothing man-made is perfect... but wait a minute? Are we all suddenly on Nokia or any other handset manufacturers' payroll? How come we would folk out $600 to be their beta-testers?

I've been reading his site for a very long time now, before I even cared about S60 phones and simply wanted to read reviews about motorola phones that the USA was slow to get.

This is pretty much the same as his article on defective 5800 earpieces, but the general consensus of nokia fanboys wasn't negative to said article because this was before the whole N8 incident.

The one thing that makes me think about what I read from him involves an article I recall reading where samsung invited him to preview future devices, and ever since then he's had exceedingly positive words to say about most samsung products. I think there was a review (galaxy tab? can't remember) where he did criticize certain parts of the device but in general his view for the company has been highly positive after said visit. Quite a bit of negative nokia commentary and tweets from him after Nokia made a fuss about the N8 preview. Secret agenda? Troll? Doesn't bother me at all, I read his stuff for the pictures and his hands on experience, which usually is true to the device and not biased.

I will see if I can find where I read about the samsung visit, and it's also possible that I may be confusing that as a preview of devices/their future roadmap from a source within the company.

[dutchtender]

the fanbois are so delusional now that they think somebody who actually is Honest about Nokia (and a former big time Nokia user) is a troll. Burying your head in the sand with regards to how mucked up that company is will not magically give Nokia a fighting chance against competitors that are moving way way faster. meego was supposed to be on a device this year. It now appears that it won't be on a Nokia device for retail consumption until next summer. the three Symbian 3 phones are trickling out and Nokia had to publicly admit issues with N8. That's why the stock is under $10 again.

[HC - NO "i"]

liknsmak,

...Secret agenda? Troll? Doesn't bother me at all, I read his stuff for the pictures and his hands on experience, which usually is true to the device and not biased.

Same here I always believe there are different sides of the story in many things...

2. Consultancy work

The rumors, likely spread by Nokia that I'm working as a consultant for Samsung are false. These are clear attempts to compromise me and my position. I have never ever participated in any capacity in any kind of design or development of any device competing with N8. As for the suggestion that I am passing information about the N8 to Nokia's competitors, well frankly it's a puerile slander. It's actually laughable in a sense because they single me out for accusations despite my public profile when prototype units are given to dozens of testers, developers, engineers and partners around the world. If a competitor really wanted to get their hands on a device there are easier, and more discrete ways, than to contact a journalist with a prominent public profile. It's also worth pointing out that were I to pass on information to Samsung would Samsung then trust me enough to work with their own products? I don't think so. Reputation of an honest journalist sustained me through the years and there isn't an amount of money in this world that is worth to sacrifice my reputation, livelihood, business and career for. At any rate, why would I bother showing Samsung, or anyone, a handset I clearly have little regard for?

He is rather "lukewarm" with the Samsung Galaxy Tab though...

Impressions

Samsung tablet is released after Apple iPad and many will view it as an attempt to compete with this reference device. There is no smoke without fire, especially when you look at Messages app, charger and so on. Minor details create an overall impression. Samsung TAB launch is planned for mid October or November, but the most interesting issue is the price. It will be definitely more expensive than Galaxy S, which translates into €650-700 for a 16 GB version. With the subsidies it will be around €300 plus the contract. In Russia the initial price is $1300 and $1200 one month after, which is hardly an accessible price. With such a price in mind Samsung TAB loses out to all rival products on the market. Look at iPad, which costs less in its cheapest version (no video calls or 3G, but bigger screen, metal in the body, protective glass for screen and the power of Apple brand). Various 7″ Android products cost €300 and more, which is two times less. Samsung tablet has technical advantages (camera, processor, memory, additional memory and 3G HSUPA), but who will think about it in shops? I think Samsung TAB will easily acquire the reputation of a very expensive model. It is likely to sell well in the segment of Android fans and rich consumers looking for a tablet. We should not expect high mass demand similar to Samsung Galaxy S. First Samsung tablet is not iconic, but merely one of many. It is not the first on the market and lacks the charisma of Apple iPad. High price makes it less competitive outright. The first step was not completely successful.

I like this product and I think it had good chances for success at the right price. The only issue is an excessive price. In other respects the device is interesting and if the rumors about the update to Google Chrome OS in the first part of 2011 are correct, it will have a potentially long life cycle. There will be several similar products in 2011, some cheaper and others more expensive than Galaxy TAB. But these are still plans.

Anyway, it looks like I am all for defending Murtazin for the sake of this thread I have started. However, I think many like me should be rational enough to sort out the praise from hype and the critic from bash. Perhaps I am too old-school, but I do not rely on his tweets much at all.

[Kam]

I appreciate Nokia for being upfront about this defect, not like Mr. Antenna Gate's precipitous conclusion of 'you're just holding it the wrong way!'