Predicting The First Nokia N96 Customer Complaints

It’s December 2008 and the Nokia N96 has been on the shelves for the last few weeks. As users start upgrading to Nokias new flagship device the customer feedback starts slowly rolling in and it isn’t all good. So what are the users saying?

Battery Life

Why does my battery die by lunchtime? Do the math here:

Wait, what? The biggest single complaint the original N95 users had was battery life. The N95 had so many compelling features that users started to get into but this extended use had an adverse effect on battery life. Using WiFi does suck a lot of juice after all. The N96 keeps those same features but throws in DVB-H tv and LEDs for your pics into the equation, both of which are pretty power hungry. So the fact that Nokia have reduced the battery size in the N96 from 1100 mAh to 950 mAh is just mind-boggling.

Back at MWC I had a chance to chat to the N96 Product Manager and he said the reduced battery size wouldn’t matter as Nokia had optimised power-usage in the device. That really isn’t any consolation as optimisation coupled with a smaller battery would probably mean similar battery life to the original N95 which just isn’t good enough.

N-Gage Bugs

Why can’t I play Snake without having problems? The new N-Gage application is currently only available on the Nokia N81 but users have already reported a huge list of bugs. By December the N-Gage application should have rolled out to most S60 devices so expect more device specific bugs. With so many issues it is doubtful everything will be fully fixed by the end of the year and it is also doubtful that N-Gage on N96 will have been through enough testing before launch. I expect this will initially be a let down which will be fixed in Firmware releases.

DVB-H Channels

So where’s this Mobile TV thing I read about on the box? I think it’s great that DVB-H support has finally made it into a flagship device. In the past this technology was limited to fringe devices by most device manufacturers which were usually only available outside of Europe. However just how many DVB-H networks and channels are going to be live in December? We’ve been expecting DVB-H services since the start of 2007 but so far we have only seen services in a handful of countries and by the end of the year we’ll probably only have limited services in major cities.

I’d expect most users won’t have access to DVB-H services out-of-the-box with the N96 and that will lead to some confusion and some complaints. Having said that I also think the N96 might be the ideal launch device for networks that are going to launch DVB-H networks in late 2008 so this issue probably won’t effect all N96 users.

Software Bugs

Didn’t they even test this thing? Nokia is notorious for releasing devices with buggy firmware and the Nokia N96 will be no exception. This is one of the first few devices to run Feature Pack 2 of S60 3rd Edition so don’t expect everything to be ironed out before it hits stores. New technology like smart buttons on the left-hand slider and the first implementation of DVB-H in a high-sales device might also contribute to the Bugs list.

As with past devices Nokia will release Firmware Updates to fix most of the software issues and at the rate they are improving I’m hoping to see an Apple-esque system both in terms of frequency and bug fixes.

The Camera

Couldn’t they have put in more Camera features? Aren’t we are a fickle bunch of technology-Hitlers these days! It seems a 5-megapixel camera which won many photo contests in its previous incarnation is just no good if it doesn’t have all the latest bells and whistles. Where is the Xenon Flash? Where is the Optical Zoom like on the Samsung G810? Oh and what’s this, no lens cover?

The Twin-LEDs on the N96 haven’t proved anywhere near good enough for this technology-rich generation and I have no doubt they’ll make sure Nokia hears their grievances. Nokia gave Xenon Flash its S60 debut on the N82 and now it looks like people are expecting it to become a S60 staple. I shudder to think how much poorer the battery life would be if the N96 has a Xenon Flash. As for Optical Zoom, sure it’s another cool feature but I expect Price and Size were the reason this was left out (for now).

NAM Frequencies

Why can’t I use HSDPA in the USA? The very fact that users are asking for this is a good sign that Nokias long-term strategy for S60 in the US is making progress. Unlike past models, like the N95 and the N95-8GB, Nokia have already announced their intention to launch a NAM (North American) version of the N96. It’s unlikely that this will be available at the same time as the regular version so there will be some voices questioning why.

I still don’t quite grasp why Nokia can’t just release devices like the N96 and other flagship models with all the frequencies built in. HTC have managed to this on their handsets for a while now, time for Nokia to catch up. It will certainly help their US cause.

Why It Doesn’t Matter

No I don’t want to return the phone! Despite the complaints I doubt there will be a huge amount of returned N96s. It truly is a  remarkable device and is worthy of being Nokias Flagship. The updates like DVB-H and faster USB transfer rates are sure to enhance the S60 experience and with both 16GB of internal memory and the crucial memory-card slot you will never run out of space.

At the end of the day it will be the more tech-savy fans that will be vocal about what they perceive as the N96s shortcomings. The average user will just be excited that they can do things on their mobile that they didn’t realise could be done (with the exception of battery life). I really look forward to putting the N96 through its paces at the end of the year and I’m sure I’m not the only one.