I could offer my standard rant on the detrimental effect of cell phones upon our culture but I’ve done that to death. I’ll just comment on the general obliviousness and obnoxiousness of cell phone users. It might only be 50% of users but it is LOUD 50%.

Blogged our little adventure with updating the firmware.
http://beth.typepad.com/n95/2008/04/updating-my-nok.html

- Amy

Not once Amy had outlined the commercial basis (i.e. cold, hard cash) that really cemented the need to return the brick, cancel the contract, and return the accessories.

Thing is, though, Tom, that Amy didn’t explain that until *after* my comment. Up until that point, the analogy seemed rather more valid. To me, at least. YMMV.

Yeah, and unfortunately I am quite sure they don’t care.

> Think of the niggles you have had with Leopard on
> your new MacBook Pro - did you throw your hands
> up in defeat when Spotlight wouldn’t reindex, or
> Adium logs weren’t getting saved, or iCal events
> weren’t getting synced, or…?

That’s really not a valid analogy.

It would be more valid if Amy had a Tiger laptop and then ran the upgrade to Leopard only to discover not only would the machine not boot, but the firmware was so screwed up that she would have to send it to Apple.

AND if Apple said “well, maybe we can fix it for free.”

I was disheartened to see Amy go through this. I’m frustrated with mobile technology, too. That’s why I keep it simple — but I don’t have the same needs / desires that Amy has.

Koan, thanks especially for your thoughtful post. It was exactly the issues you raised that brought me to tears of frustration yesterday after my N95 got bricked. You know me, I don’t give up easily, especially when I really, really wanted something.

And I really, really wanted my N95. I only had a couple of days to start learning and configuring it, but in that time I started to fall in love with it. It did everything I wanted. Yes, I had bumps getting it up and running. I expected that. but they weren’t anything I could overcome.

The dealbreaker for me was that Nokia would not guarantee to fix or replace the phone for free, when it was their firmware upgrade process that bricked it. Why should I have any question that I might be stuck with a bill for this fiasco?

Plus, I have only 15 days to return the keyboard and get a refund, and 30 days to return the phone to Amazon for a refund, and 30 days to cancel my 2-year contract with AT&T.

If I sent the phone to Nokia, who knows how long they’d have it (10-14 business days, I was told, and I never believe any estimate of turnaround time for repairs). It was possible I could end up not getting it back in time to return it to amazon for a refund. And if similar problems recurred, I’d be stuck not being able to get a refund for the keyboard.

They don’t sell the N95 in stores here. I wish the US was as savvy about serving mobile customers as Europe appears to be. But since I don’t live in Chicago or NY (the only US Nokia stores currently) I can’t walk in and get it replaced on the spot.

So I’ve decided, reluctantly, to go back into waiting mode for mobile tech. I’ve gotten along so far with only a crappy pre-paid cell phone, and I can hang in there a while longer. I’ve learned a lot through this experience. Eventually I will get what I want. I can be surprisingly patient.

I’m so glad your N95 works for you, Koan. I’m envious.

And Beth Kanter, I hope you don’t suffer the same fate I did. (If you have any doubts, upgrade your firmware first and see if it survives before you come to depend on this device or even get very attached to it.)

One thing is clear: Nokia lost out here. Had I not been beset by these tech nightmares and their poor customer service, I could have ended up being one of their most powerful evangelists. My goal here is to find a first-class moblogging tool that also would be useful to real journalists — and I know a LOT of journalists.

Nokia, you really screwed up this one.

- Amy Gahran

So sorry to hear this! Mine just arrived, but my plan is to use as a camera only and got a data plan only. So far, no bricks .. but it has made me feel incredibly stupid so far — so different from my other cell phone.