Device sales over March 2010

Tom Hanna just sent in the device sales data for the month of March 2010. The data has been acquired by monitoring the aggregated data from their software sales.

Compared over previous months, sales seem to have taken a big dip this time.

Name                               March      Feb

XpressMusic 5800:        35.2%     (20%)
Nokia N97 series:          29%        (56%)
Samsung Omnia HD:     25%        (7%)
Nokia X6:                       4.48%     (2%)
XpressMusic 5530:        02.8%     (8%)
XPressMusic 52xx:        01.6%     (7%)

 Last month the Nokia n97 had driven sales at an astonishing 56%, but ever since Nokia's public acceptance that the device is a disaster it's sales have slumped big time!

 

Nokia 5800 test drive - comes with music

A test drive on the 5800 - it came with music.

All Nokia 5800 come with defects?!

Mobile-Reivew have been looking into the situation around the faulty earpiece on the Nokia 5800 and analyzing feedback from the users since early December. For me this work was exciting from several perspectives – for one, I was able to find a connection between warranty claims and certain usage patterns, as well as put together a thorough picture of various types of defects (both hardware and software) present in this phone. We are not going to cover the 5800 XpressMusic’s software issues, though, as they are fairly easy to rectify with a new firmware version, whereas its hardware flaws require the user to return the phone for repair, so they are a lot more crucial. Also, we won’t touch upon the statistics on warranty claims and issues of this nature – rather, we’d like to tell you more about the design flaws in the Nokia 5800 and also the real scope of the problem.

Before we start I want to note that since December we have torn apart over ten retail units of the Nokia 5800 – basically, we put them through a whole array of tests and experiments, in an effort to find out what the reason of breakdowns was. While one could argue whether we have tested enough phones to make any sort of competent conclusion, we have reached the point when we are no longer eager to spend money on these experiments, as no matter how many phones we try, the end result is always the same. The same defect manifests itself under similar circumstances in all units without exception, including those that were fixed by Nokia’s authorized service centers.

Anamnesis
The main problem that many users complain about is the top right corner of the casing that tends to loosen up with time, and, supposedly, causes the earpiece to give up the ghost or, at very least start making creaking noises and spontaneously changing its volume while in a call.
Apparently, it stood to reason that we needed to investigate these two flaws as one, since a loose-fitting part of the casing probably made the earpiece slip several millimeters down from its original position. Skipping the details, I’d like to say that this approach has proven to be inadequate – these are two separate problems, because over the course of our experiments we ran into several phones that didn’t have any issues with their casings, however their earpieces were barely usable and vice versa.
The right corner of the phone tends to loosen up because of a slightly displaced screw. All in all, this design flaw is characteristic of most 5800 XM units. However, it’s rather an unpleasant feature, as the frame surrounding the earpiece doesn’t go anywhere, meaning that the abovementioned issue with the 5800’s casing has absolutely no effect on its earpiece performance (in that it doesn’t slip down or start to wobble in its slot).
With this in mind, we decided to focus on the problem with the 5800’s earpiece and here is what we have managed to find out.

Nokia 5800’s earpiece
The Nokia 5800's earpiece isn't soldered onto the contacts on the circuit board, rather it's pressed into the circuit board. In fact, the 5800 XpressMusic is not the only phone that employs this design, most other Nokia-branded phones do too. However, their percentage of failures isn’t nearly as substantial as that of the 5800 XpressMusic.
As a rule, you can get a malfunctioning earpiece to work simply by disassembling the phone and putting it back together, without touching the earpiece module at all. This method was stumbled upon by employees of Nokia's service center and in truth it made the situation even more perplexing, as we managed to bring one 5800 XpressMusic back to life in this manner.

This indicates that the problem probably lies in a thin oxide film that forms on contacts and breaks down whenever moved. Although the question remains as to why similarly designed earpieces found in other phones (like Nokia N85 and Nokia E71) don’t suffer from this effect as well? However it turns out that they do too, just like the Nokia 5800, but the number of failures is insignificant.

Through trial and error we learned the following:

How long the phone is going to work before its earpiece breaks down depends on various factors and has nothing to do with the defect of the top right corner of the casing;
All broken earpieces have knobby contact surfaces (we examined them with an electron microscope) as well as scuffs all over juncture points;

As a rule the 5800’s earpiece works for at least a month before giving up the ghost;
And now, here is what we found out during our experiments with several retail units of the Nokia 5800. We turned on one of them and put it in a drawer (it didn’t make or receive any calls, nor was it touched at all); then we used another 5800 XpressMusic as our main phone without any carrying cases, and we didn’t take any precautions either. The third unit was placed in a box with a relative air humidity of 65% (without condensate!!!), and we regularly made calls with it for 2 weeks (around 20 minutes a day). We didn’t do anything to the fourth unit, and for our reference sample we used the Nokia N85 (put in a box together with a separate earpiece module) and we also made/received calls with it.

The results were stunning to say the least. After two weeks in the box the third unit had all the symptoms of the earpiece problem (creaking noise and so on) as well as tiny furrows on its contacts (although it seemed they hadn’t changed, we didn’t have the tools to provide a more accurate assessment of this parameter or prove the presence of an oxide film). On the other hand, we didn’t experience any sound quality issues with the Nokia N85, furthermore, the earpiece that spent two weeks with it in one box didn’t show any signs of creaking noises either. So the conclusion is pretty simple – air humidity is the main reason behind the Nokia 5800’s earpiece problems, although 65% (the level we used in our tests) isn’t uncommon in many regions. Again, I should emphasize that there was no condensate in the box whatsoever; neither did we find it in the phone itself or any proof that it was there. The only part of the phone that got affected was the earpiece of a working 5800 XpressMusic, even though the Nokia N85, packing in the same earpiece type, came out of the box unharmed.

Nokia’s official response
Mobile-Review.com’s request for information about the defect was answered by Viktoria Eremina, Nokia's PR Director for Europe & Asia. Below is the full text of the letter:
All the faulty earpieces have been replaced with units produced by a different manufacturer, both those used in production models and those in the warehouses. I shall emphasize that we haven’t changed the model of the 5800 XpressMusic’s earpiece, but rather changed our supplier. It’s easy to prove since the new units look differently, which you can see in the following images.

Starting in late January all authorized service centers have been receiving packages with the new earpieces and any users who made warranty claims after that time shouldn’t experience the problem again.

It’s worth noting that the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is one of our company’s top-priority products therefore its sales have been monitored by our Research & Development (R&D) division from day one, and as soon as we found out about this defect an official representative of Nokia’s R&D department visited Russia to study the issue on-site.

Recurring warranty claims mentioned in Mobile-Review’s article started with the first phones sold in the region, as back then we didn’t have a solution, and therefore all the faulty earpieces were exchanged for the same units, which were manufactured by our previous supplier. However, as we gained a greater understanding of what the real cause of the problem was it became obvious that a simple replacement couldn’t solve the issue. I can’t name the company that made these flawed speakers, but I can say that it’s a respected and world-renowned vendor whose quality standards could not be doubted. Unfortunately, nobody is immune to these sort of mistakes.

Also, it needs to be mentioned that with the scope of the problem and Nokia’s global operations in mind, the single month that we took to deal with this issue is a very short period of time given the problem. Naturally our record-breaking sales of this phone in December led to the fact that more consumers were ultimately affected, but we have put a lot of energy and resources into rectifying this defect and we believe that it no longer poses a problem.
Therefore, we would like to assure our clients that it’s safe to buy the 5800 XpressMusic. Furthermore, if you returned your phone for repair some time after the end of January you shouldn’t run into this flaw ever again, and if you have just encountered it with your phone bought in 2008 then you can claim for repair and have the earpiece changed for a new unit.

Courtesy Mobile-Reivew

Nokia N97 firmware on Nokia 5800!

It seems that the Nokia 5800 really can work with the Nokia N97 firmware. A Chinese guy successfully ported the Nokia N97 firmware (with some small modifications ) to the Nokia 5800. This is the first time someone been able to adapt a Symbian S60 platform from one phone to another. I’m not sure if these pics are 100% real so they may be fake.

Source : Dailymobile, Symbian-freak

Nokia Releases Firmware Update for Nokia 5800 Xpress Music

The new Firmware brings speed improvements, new features and bug fixes

The Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia has just released a firmware update for one of the most popular handsets on the market right now, the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music. According to the news on the Web, the phone's software has been brought to version 20.0.0.12, and it is available through the Nokia Software Updater.

For the time being, there is no official word on what the firmware update consists of, yet some changes that it might include should be a smoother general operation coupled with faster screen rotations, while the playback of videos goes much better than before, especially when it comes to YouTube content, making the 5800 almost as good as a dedicated client for YouTube. Other improvements brought by the firmware version 20.0.0.12 include new search capabilities, meaning that the 'Search' on the standby screen does not perform the operation on the phone's content only, but goes on the Internet as well. The new software update is also reported to come with the usual series of bug fixes. Users who would like to update their devices to the latest firmware version can do so either via a PC Suite or through an over-the-air (OTA) update. A 3G or a WiFi data connection would provide better speed, more stability and reliability.

Since the Nokia 5800 features data preservation capabilities, users should be able to find all their personal info in its place after the process in completed, yet making a data backup before proceeding with the update won't hurt anyone. Those who would like to perform the update over-the-air should access the dialer on their homescreen and then enter *#0000#. The device update screen will show after this, offering information on the currently running version of the firmware. The update can then be performed via the 'Check for updates' option in the menu. Those willing to make the update through the Nokia Software Updater should go to the company's site.

Space Dancer, the First Multi-Touch Game for Nokia 5800 XM

It seems that the first multi-touch application developed for the Symbian S60 5th edition operating system, or for the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, has finally made it into the wild. The game, called Space Dancer, comes from a UK programmer, Jamie Fuller, and it seems to reminds us of the popular Guitar Hero console games.

The version that has been recently released is only in alpha stage, yet it is great to hear that a multi-touch application for the high-end mobile phone is already available. According to the developer, Space Dancer can be seen as a game similar to 'Guitar Hero' or 'DDR', where users have to press one or more buttons along with the music. The multi-touch system used in the game is only an experimental one, yet we should remember that up until recently it was almost impossible to run multi-touch applications on resistive touchscreen displays. Others too are working on this at the moment, and companies like Stantum are reported to also be successful in their attempts. The new game Jamie Fuller developed for the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic allows users to play it in landscape mode, by tapping the title of the song on the main screen, and then pressing the corresponding onscreen buttons as the red laser approaches them.Unfortunately, the game creator says that he doesn't intend to make any further improvements to the version released now, which will be a great loss in case the title proves to be a rather popular one. Those who would like to see what the game looks like can do so by watching the video below. In case you'd like to try the game for yourselves, you can download it for free from Softpedia via this link.

Courtesy: Softpedia, Symbianfreak

Symbian: ScratchPad - Draw your notes on the Nokia 5800 and S60v5 phones

With this application you can take a note simply writing on the phone display like a paper notepad. It saves every scratch you made and support pages for new memo.You can also turn pages or tier a page.

Download:

The application is optimized for the Nokia 5800 and S60v5 phone.

Source: dailymobile

Wave Secure

Wave Secure is an ultimate security application for your phone. I suggest everyone to installthis software as it can help you to get your stolen/lost mobile. It not only helps you to track your lost/stolen phone but also ensures full security of the data present in the device. You can easily track the lost device via a Buddy Notification or over the Internet. You can alsoremotely Lock your stolen mobile, so that nobody can misuse the device & data. I installedthis software software in my mobile and feels that applications like this should be bundled with every mobile.

Secure and how:
Track the lost/stolen device via Buddy Notification or over the Internet

Remotely Lock the lost/stolen device, so that nobody can misuse the device & data

Take a Backup of your data including Contacts, SMSs, Calendar Entries & Call Logs

Erase the data on the stolen device to avoid misuse

Restore the data back onto your device once you find it or even restore it on a new device which has WaveSecure installed

Download

Nokia Handwriting Calculator Freeware for Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Mobile

Today I came across a new application for my Nokia 5800 XpressMusic for doing math very easily. The Handwriting Calculator from Nokia Labs will allow you to calculate handwritten math expressions. The Nokia Handwriting Calculator makes use of the touch capabilities of the Nokia 5800 Mobile to give you a very great experience. There is also a version available for Nokia N810, N800(Maemo) and Windows PC.

The Handwriting Calculator worked very much better on my Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Mobile surpassing my expectations. Actually it is just a showcase of Nokia’s newhandwriting recognition technology. This application will help you to enter your calculations easily and get the results much faster as you can do it with your standard S60 calculator. I even tried the PC version of the applications and it worked pretty well.

The S60 version works on Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and should work on other S60 5th Edition mobiles.
The Maemo version works on Nokia N800 and N810 and should work on Nokia internet tablet deviceswith OS2008 software.
The PC version works on Windows XP SP2 and Vista.

Download:

Nokia 5800,

N800,

PC

Application Tip: Handy Weather for Nokia 5800

Another great weather application for Symbian S60v5 and S60v3. The screenshots are from a Nokia 5800. Keep connected with updated forecasts anytime, anywhere. Weather software for Symbian S60 is the most complete wireless weather coverage available. All you need is wireless Internet compatibility to get weather news and forecast for 40,000+ preset cities worldwide and for any arbitrary location by coordinates (latitude and longitude). With four handy and attractive views, and high-speed and simple access, you will be prepared for whatever Mother Nature has in store. This application is a shareware app and costs 25$ to buy.

Download

We’ve Got 2 Free Licenses For StyleTap for S60

Yeah, that’s right - we told you about the new StyleTap for S60 PalmOS emulator, which was only just released. This application allows you to run nearly any of the 30,000+ PalmOS applications on your S60 phone, including such classics as Epocrates. StyleTap runs on any S60v3 or S60v5 phone currently on the market, from the N95 to the N79 to the 5800 XpressMusic. Full hardware support is there, too, including screen rotation.

You can download the free 14-day trial from StyleTap’s website, and you can purchase the fully licensed copy for $49.95 from their site. However, because we know the economy sucks right now, StyleTap was kind enough to offer 2 free licenses to Symbian-Guru readers!
To enter, all you need to do is register at the Symbian-Guru Forum (don’t worry, it’s free), and then leave a comment on this post, telling us what device you’ll be using your StyleTap license on. That’s it, super easy! We’ll do the drawing on Wednesday, January 21st.

12 new Nokia 5800 and N97 Themes - S60v5 Themes

Forum members Hockey and 636281 has been busy the past days with adding some new Nokia 5800 themes to the forum. Here are a few selected themes. All Nokia 5800 themes can be found in the Nokia 5800 theme section

You can find the 12 new themes after the jump…

Download from here

Download from here

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Download form here

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Download from here

Download from here

Download from here

Download from here

Source: dailymobile

iSync Plugin For The 5800 XpressMusic

The 5800 XpressMusic has started selling in some countries, but if you’re a Mac computer owner and you just got your hands on the 5800, you must have noticed that there is still no official iSync plugin for the 5800 XpressMusic by Nokia which makes it hard for new users to sync their calendar and contacts from their Mac to the device.

Well, this is no longer the case, as the multi-talented tnkgrl has decided to tinker a little bit, and put a plugin for the 5800 XpressMusic herself. I can’t test the plugin myself as I have no 5800 XpressMusic lying around me, but tnkgrl does and I believe that she made sure the plugin works before publishing it.



Anyway, you can head here to download the plugin and get all the information you need to get it to work, and make sure you get back to use and to tnkgrl to tell us if it works and if there are any issues with it.

Nokia 5800 ExpressMedia a.k.a Nokia Tube

The Germany-based Nokiaport has posted the list of specs and a picture of a speculated Nokia’s first smartphone on S60 Touch interface. Codenamed the Tube it is expected to pop up under the name of Nokia 5800 Xpressmedia. The release of the phone will take place by the end of 2008, reports the source. The smartphone lacks any buttons and features a big touch-sensitive display ready for both stylus and finger operations.

The Nokia Tube would most probably be shipped as the Nokia 5800 Tube and will sport a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus. A 3.2-inch touchscreen display with 16 Million colors will go up against the iPhone's 3.5-inch multi-touch display. Then there's a quad-band (850/900/1800/1900Mhz) GSM/EDGE radio with 3G UMTS/HSDPA, Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi, and some GPS thrown-in as well. There's also a 3.5mm headphone jack and TV-out port on the Nokia 5800 Tube - much like the recent nseries handsets. And, just like the updated N82, the Nokia 5800 Tube will support geo-tagging of pics - a nicety allowed by the built-in GPS receiver.