[alexgr1987]

Before I start I would like to point that a phone that costs 650€ should have a video out cable included...

The two main problems of my phone are:

1. The GPS reception isn't good at all. It takes about 2 minutes to lock a weak signal thats gets lost if  I move...

2. There is a camera flash problem

Take a look at these samples

Notice the blurry part on the left side of the pictures ?

Do other N97 users experience the same problems ?

Should I ask for a replacement phone ?

[radical24]

it has been discussed several times on the boards, do a search also clean your lens really well and see if this makes any difference

[chrispyweener]

As said, a search will cover this.  Painting the area round the flash fixes it for good I think - cleaning the lens really thoroughly helps a lot and stops some of the light refracting into the aperture.

[dcastrog]

grab a black sharpie and paint the whole recession around the LEDs

sharpie.- (n) a thin permanent marker

[dcastrog]

and about the GPS, please give us more info about the fimrware version you are using and the map version.

[alexgr1987]

Do all the N97 have the sane GPS problem ?

Will replacing my device solve the problem ?

[axelj]

see here:

/discussions/board/message?board.id=navigation&thread.id=11585&page=17

check the video.

[carolinevco]

I have got my n97 for nearly a month now.

but i have the same problem as you have.

i've been having this problem with the flash and i've got exactly the same image problem that u have- the blurred left side of the picture. so i dont know what to do with it.before it wasnt like this.

gps is fine.

but theres a another problem, the moment i downloaded applications via OVI store, my mobile got slower tho i know it has 32 gb of memory.why is that?

this time i cant access OVI, its says APPLICATION INITIALISATION FAILED. And i cant fix it.

picture viewer, slow and makes my mobile hang up.

so have loads of problem now i think for a £500 mobile, this is waht i get> Not fair!

[carolinevco]

well hey hey, i tried the sharpie thing, it worked.so its all about the flash bouncing its light from the rims of the flash.  images are back to normal, great

thanks\!

[m1bxf]

Dcastrog,

When you say paint the area around the LEDs with the pen you mean the lip which the [destructive] lens cover slides along?  I guess it is as access to anything else to blacken would mean removing the lens cover completely!

[djonepl]

Lol the sharpie thing 800$ phone and a 2$ sharpie fix this is F** insane there shouldnt be a problem like that and its not caused by a dirty lense i got N95 8GB without the lens cover the lens its dusty and dirty and still manages to take an amazing picture day or night.

Heres the problem:
http://picasaweb.google.com/djonepl/N97#

The lens glass gets scrached really badly by using the lens cover it shouldnt be happening in a first place.

I had my N97 sent out for repair and it came back with the same lens. But they fixed other thing like scrachy vibrations when touching the screen. Connectivity problems with WIFI BT. 

I called nokia customer care again and they gave me a direct phone number to PALCO repair Center for nokia. I have called them but for now no respose.

[fishfingers]

Yep 100% same as mine, GPS was useless, camera whited out the left side, then the camera lens cover scratched the camera lens, i have sent mine back for an unsuccessful half hearted repair attempt, now i'm logged for a replacement handset but Three in the UK don't have any N97's so im pushing to change the handset altogether.

I spoke with a friend who is a pro photographer and he tells me the flash is not timed correctly, he says it looks like the camera lens is taking a picture of the light leaving the flash, a millisecond later and the light from the flash would be on what is being photographed and not see busting out of the flash.

I was a big fan of the much under rated N95 8GB and thought the N97 would be a good upgrade, but it turned out to be a total downgrade, Nokia should shelf it and try to make a phone that works.

[fishfingers]

So the sharpie work around helps with this, but one thing must be asked, did Nokia even take a picture with the flash when testing this thing, (i say testing this thing in the loosest form as it either got virtually no testing or the test team was selected from the blind and the stupid), come on new firmware with over 100 bug fixes 4 days after the UK launch, they knew the software was full of bugs and launched it anyway

Lets just admit was it just bolted together in a rush and dumped on the market to compete with the Iphone's launch date

[dcastrog]

actually it would be harder to to photograph the picture at middle of t its way, since the light is the fastest thing on the world

the real problem is that the light is leaking trough the glass and bouncing against smudge or particles over it, dispersing in front of the lens.

as someone said before, the scratches are way too near to the focal point, so its very hard  to affect the picture quality BUT the scratches can refract the light of the flash coming near and just besides the lens, this is the real and serious issues.

This is why the sharpie fix works amazinly

[dcastrog]

i meant to PHOTOGRAPH THE LIGHT

[djonepl]

dcastrog i agree with you that the sharpie solution might work, but ita not something that should happend in the first place. Nokia has been making phones since i can remember. They should of overlooked this issue, look at N95 the earlier models had covers but then they removed them why b.c it started making problems. I always say you learn on your mistakes but i guess Nokia has a different policy. I bet the same thing is gonna happend to this cover. It will be gone with a new model release. I Just feel like an idiot now paid 800$ for a phone and Nokia didnt even fix it. And now im being sent back and forth to different ppl different companies. But i hope someone will take care of it and fix it.

Here someone started a petition on our forum to nokia.
http://www.n97geeks.com/General-N97/2230-Petition-Nokia-N97-lens-scratching.html

If you guys feel like this should be taken care of please sign it.

When i called Nokia Care Center i was suprised when i told the Rep that my lens is scrached he put me on hold for 5min when he came back he already has processed a shippiung lable for me. I was very happy about the service that Rep has provided. And i was like Wow they even gonna pay for shipping both ways, so i figured that it has to be a very known issue. But oh well i will keep you guys informed.

[dcastrog]

yes, thats unacceptable for nokia. I discovered this issue on the third day I had my phone, and found a fix on the sixth day. But nokia took 6 months from announcement to release and they didnt discover it!

i cant get mad since I didnt pay for my n97, but I do feel nokia needs better testing!

[djonepl]

I just added a picture to my N97 album its a picture of the letter i got back from PALCO Repair Center.

Theyre sating they have fixed the Ringtone problem where a lot of users have complained it would play Default nokia tone.

I noticed that the lable on my phone under the battery has been removed and really badly put back.

So my question is is the problem with the ringtone a hardware problem ?! And they fixed the vibration noise when u touch the screen which i really didnt mind hehe

[lgkahn1]

just got mine back from palco and they installed new firmware and fixed the gps but the lens is now scratched and the ringtone issue is not fixed.. it is still playing default whenever the phone is locked

[radical24]

the ringtone issue is a software issue that has yet to be solved. the sticker tho is concerning. why did they tamper with your sticker that actually could void warranty. did you talk to them about this? did they have to remove it in order change some components? what is their rationale for it?