[dragunx5]

Totally agree with the comments.

But i can see the potential of the phone which is why im holding out for a firmware update to see it it helps.

When i first bought the N96 i hated and loved it.....i loved the design and layout and features. but hated the fact
that itll turn its self off, programs would close on their oen etc.....but when i updated the firmware which fixed a lot
of issues i loved the phone!!

Im hoping the same will happen with the N97. If you think about it, Nokia are going to act dumb about it because what will they offer? A replacement for another handset that does the same. I think they know they havent tested this phone as they should have and are working on a fix. I know 7 people who own this phone and not 1 person has said to me "Works perfect, no problems" All of them are having issues.....some more than others. I think im a lucky one as mine only fails to unlock on occasions and programs running slow but thats it.

Come On Nokia....for £400 These Issues Should Not Be Happening.

[bradbury]

A couple of weeks ago I contacted the store where I bought my N97. They approved the return, but I changed my mind and didn’t send it in. The only reason for this, is that I have seen several others with the same problems as I have (alarm-bug, phone hangs when answering calls with slide, photo browser crashes when zooming, etc), so there is probably not a production defect on my phone, but a general software issue that hopefully will be fixed.

If I sent in my phone, the best case scenario would be a new phone of the same type, but it would probably have the same issues. So I’m hanging back until the next firmware.

[chrispyweener]

I paid closer to £500, which makes it even worse the phone was unusable in some aspects.  I did not pay that kind of money to get a phone which I would have to 'make do with', that's just annoying.  The simple things that Nokia has been doing for years it didn't even do properly, like GPS and the camera flash thing - very poor.  Also for that kind of money I don't wish to be a beta tester for unmature firmware personally.  I expect all of that to have gone on internally to a much greater degree on such an expensive device.  

[witeshade]

just imagine how awesome this phone will be after they fix the issues

[mauriceperks]

I doubt if anyone from Nokia is paying attention to this series of comments. I guess they are all focused on getting out another new phone with even less quality than the N97. But here goes .....

I have had a long series of Nokia phones and they have all been brilliantly engineered. Now we have the N97! What I guess has happened is that the Nokia product designers have not understood the trap that they have fallen into. That trap is simply called software. They do not understand real software engineering, how you design it and test it. 

The German motor industry fell into this trap some years ago when suddenly the legendary reliability of their cars was shattered by all sorts of computer failures. Nokia seems to have received the same results with the N97. They have misunderstood that computers become very complex when you have millions of lines of software. The focus on real engineering gets blurred. It's neither on the hardware nor the software. It's a hard lesson to learn. What makes me concerned further though is that Nokia seem not to have understood the compatibility message that an operating system (aka firmware) needs to have. That is backward compatibility. When I installed some of my apps which had been working fine on my E61i under Symbian 4 the N97 with Symbian 6 issued a message like: this app is not compatible with this phone. I suggest the message should be: this app was not designed for this phone but the firmware of this phone has been designed to run this app (perhaps not efficiently).

If Nokia don't wake up and really understand what they are doing to their image when the release something like the N97 we shall see one of the world's great technology enterprises in trouble and we shall all be worse off. In simple terms they need to pause, take a deep breath and really assess how they have to engineer hardware and software properly. I hope they do.

Wow I fell better now that that is off my perosnal chest!!!

[sockatume]

It's nice to air your greivances, but I'm not sure that doing it here is very constructive. If you write a letter to Nokia - a real, paper letter - then they may pay more attention.

[celios]

I very much doubt a real paper letter to Nokia will do anything, except end up in a real metal wastepaper bin.

Certainly my letter to Nokia 3 weeks ago is unanswered.  They did reply to my email to Nokia support, but in a kind of condesending - "this is the first we've heard of these problems sir" - kind of way.  It clearly wasn't the first time they had heard these problems as this forum and most of the other Nokia forums are full of people with the same problems.

[chrispyweener]

Just to close this thread everyone, I returned my N97 to Nokia last Friday and have been informed today that they have refunded my account so all is now well - currently using my old N85 in the mean time which has not failed me once.  No touch screen though unfortunately and it does feel a bit 'restricted'.

I have since placed an order for a Samsung Omnia HD which should be coming into stock in the next 2 weeks.

Judging by their forums there's a lot more happy people on there with a few recurring niggles but nothing like the scale of what I've seen on here or experienced myself.  We'll see how I get on.

Thanks,

Chris.

[psychomania]

Glad you got your refund quickly, quite impressive service from them.

I really hope that you've ordered an unbranded Omnia HD, not the orange network version of the phone.

[chrispyweener]

Indeed I have - the generic European one.  I read that the Orange firmware is terrible and has lots of features disabled.

[psychomania]

Great stuff, enjoy!

[chrispyweener]

Thanks mate. 

[mauriceperks]

You are lucky getting a reund for your N97, I was promised one and an envelope to return the phone in but nothing has happened after 2 weeks, I have called again and they are trying to get someone to call me again. It's all looking pretty hopeless so I am considering taking legal action. What else can I do?

[chrispyweener]

They didn't post me an envelope - they emailed me a shortcut to print out a label.  You then stick that label on an envelope of your own and send it back that way.  The label is a freepost one so sending it back costs you nothing more than the envelope itself and the trip to the post office.

Try checking your email - they may have sent you one.