While I do agree that there’s a huge problem in Nokia’s Nseries build quality, and I have ranted several times about it, I also think that there are times where blaming a company for anything and everything can be a bit of an exaggeration.
A few days ago, a good friend of mine, Michael Hell, wrote on Symbian-Freak an article regarding Nseries building material entitled: A Nokia N82 after 3 1/2 months of usage – How much worse will it get with Nokia materials? Basically, he exposes in this article the state of his N82 after only 3 and a half months of usage and says that he took extra care of it, yet finds himself with a scratched screen and back cover, some creaks, and dust under the screen. He also added a few images to show the actual state of the handset. The comments on this post stretch out for pages, with many people complaining about the N82 and other handsets’ build quality. I found myself looking at Michael’s pictures and reading the comments with a dropped jaw, as I have the same N82 Black handset, and I NEVER took extra care of it (I take care of it, but I don’t obssess about it), yet mine is looking miles better than his.
I got my N82 Black from the S60 team on July 4th, that’s 2 and a half months ago. I don’t have a screen protector, but I bought a nice black leather-feeling pouch for it only a month ago. Before that, the handset used to go in my bag, with my wallet, my papers and pens. I usually have a separate pocket inside the bag for my keys but many times I forget to put them there and just toss them inside with the phone. After I got the pouch, I started using it in order to protect my N82 inside my bag. Aside from carrying the phone, I usually place my N82 out of its pouch when I get home or when I’m in my classes, on the bare table/bed. I have also dropped it several times, especially during the last days… Basically it has gone through the normal, not too caring-not too careless cycle of a phone usage.
My N82’s state? Aside from the fingerprints which can be cleaned, and the hardly even noticeable scratches on the back cover, there’s a tiny tiny scratch on the screen that appeared 4 days ago, after a big drop on the asphalt.
In my opinion, the N82 is the most solid and the best-build N-series handset I have held in years, and I have had quite a few in my hands. I totally love it, as it combines everything I need in a stealth-looking colour and an awesomely fit package. It also takes a lot of beating yet still looks perfect from the outside. It has given me the luxury of knowing that I don’t need to be extra careful in order to keep my handset pristine, a luxury that I don’t think any N95, N95 8gb or N96 owner will ever have.
So what do I think about Michael’s N82? I’m very perplex. It might be a different batch production than mine, with other raw materials, but I’m tempted to think that Michael dropped his N82 once which created the big scratch on his screen and a small opening by which the dirt is going inside beneath it. There is NO WAY this is the state of this handset with him never dropping it by mistake. It happens, and most of the time we pick the handset and go on. The results might not be very visible at first, so we usually forget about it, then we notice a few abnormalities and we start shouting and blaming the gods and the companies and the materials… I’ve done it before. But I have learned to admit that sometimes, some mistakes are my own, and that before I rant, I need to search within my memory to see whether or not I might have done something that could have triggered the problem. So when my phone freezes, I look for beta apps installed and remove them; when my battery dies, I try to think about the things I did that drained it; when I have a scratch, I try to remember a circumstance when it would’ve happened. Because there MUST be a circumstance as nothing comes by pure magic.
What do you think? Do you have an N82? How do you treat it and how does it look now? And more importantly, do you think we should rant our heart out at Nokia for every problem we face on our handsets or that some issues are our fault and we must face the consequences?
