Having used a Nokia X6 for a few weeks, I became painfully aware of a few dozen dust particles and the odd small hair stuck under its capacitive screen. Read on for an explanation of how they got there and what was needed to both remove them and stop dust encroaching in the future.
Read on in the full article.
steve i remember nokia 3250 had this dust problem under the screen too
Marco9012
Steve, have you not seen Tim's desk?
I think it was Tim who was to blame. Not Hungary. Nice try! =P
Maybe Nokia should take more attention to their build quality huh? Seems they didn't learn their mistake from the N97.
Apple have gotten round this by putting the screens directly together therefore no space for dust to get into.
Samsung's Super AMOLED don't have this problem as the capacitive sensor is part of the screen itself.
If you don't to that route then you can bond the entire sensor to screen like the iphone 4.
Of course both methods, replacement costs more since you're replacing both at the same time.
@ifanboy I don't think Apple have got it right, if you google 'dust screen iphone' you'll see a lot of iphone users complaining about this very problem.
On the iphone 2g/3g/3gs, its not bonded together. Only on the 4.
In Brazil Nokia Care is known to be EXTREMELY bad with customers.
Leaving then waiting MONTHS before repair, deleting personal data, leaking personal data to the internet, installing things or using your phone. Or flat out losing your phone entirely.
Nokia is one of the worst in post-sale support.
There are 5 nokia phones in my house at the moment. 6500c, 6220c, n86, n900 and a n95 8gb.
The first 3 have proven to be of dubious build quality at best. N900 and n95 have been champs but I really feel the "Nokia build quality" is a myth. Maybe it's model specific but how is that a good thing if you can never know if the next nokia phone you buy is any good?
3 out of 5 phones poorly built is not good.
"You are holding it the wrong way."
I don't think I have to add anything else.
Since this is turning into a nokia Build Quality thread...
I have a Nokia 5230, and a fleabay sourced bicycle phone holder, which is a copy of the Nokia holder.
Out on the bike last sunday, with the phone in the holder and sports tracker running, when I bunnyhopped off a kerb at about 20 mph, and on landing the phone parted company with the holder and bounced along the concrete.
Amazingly, given the impact, the phone apart from a couple of tiny scuffs is undamaged, and it was still intact and working, and has been fine ever since.
Just the other day my N900 flew out of my shirt pocktet (from height of abt 7feet) bounced off its edge and landed flat on its back on my kitchen tile floor (very hard). To my surprise it only had tiny scuffs around the edge and phone works a charm even 6months on. Try that with iPhone4 😊
I bought a N79 in January '09. Two weeks on and the video board gives up the ghost. Had to wait four weeks to get it fixed. Got it back and the camera button was inoperational. After another four weeks, it was returned.
Returned yes but was it fixed? I don't give a monkey's. With all that messing around, I now need to push the camera lenses in, otherwise I see odd-looking reflections on pictures taken with the LED "flash".
It goes without saying that this N79 is my last Nokia phone and that after 15 years of my only brand of mobile phone.
To wrap this rant up, one final thought. Nokia is a great company for their customers and I'm sure they take pride in that but they don't care much for the users of their produts. A "user" is what I and most of you are.
Nokia's customers are the Vodafones, the T-Mobiles and the Soneras of this world: the networks. With these being dragged to the condition of bit pipes (which is what they are), is anyone really surprised with Apple's success?
It's the user, you-dim-manufacturer-you.
Nokia has average build quality. My 5800 which is only 7months old now has a loose stylus due to the cheaply built latch breaking. I have dropped this phone only once and that was on carpet from my lap,must have been at most a 2ft drop,ive taken great care of it,and yet something breaks even before a year. My N81 dpad startd peeling at a very early stage of ownership, and i dont even want to think about the N80 i had before that. Nokia Care ruined my N81 the1st time. I took it in due to the camera no longer working,a week later i get the phone back and find that the numbnut who worked on it broke the spring loaded keylock switch,took it back,took them well over a month to fix,absolutely pathetic,glad i left.
Hmm I also have that dust under the glass... Mayby I should take it to a care point next week...
Nokia's customers are the Vodafones, the T-Mobiles and the Soneras of this world: the networks. With these being dragged to the condition of bit pipes (which is what they are), is anyone really surprised with Apple's success?
What, you mean Apple's success in bringing to market the ONLY phone which doesn't work if you are stupid enough to actually hold it while trying to use it. Hmm, interesting definition of success...
In this case, it seems that Apple designers were arrogant enough to try to ignore the laws of physics. And when users complained, Steve Jobs was arrogant enough to blame the users; so much for "satisfying" users...
buster wrote:What, you mean Apple's success in bringing to market the ONLY phone which doesn't work if you are stupid enough to actually hold it while trying to use it. Hmm, interesting definition of success...
OK, so what YOU mean is the iPhone 4, which does work fine unless you are stupid enough to try and make it fail by holding a 2mm spot if you are in a weak area, oh, and even if you manage to be that stupid, you would most likely find that it would WORK just fine.
3 million sold in 22 days, care to offer a better definition of success?
So how long have you had your iPhone 4? Oh, you don't have one? Aha, I see.
buster wrote:
In this case, it seems that Apple designers were arrogant enough to try to ignore the laws of physics. And when users complained, Steve Jobs was arrogant enough to blame the users; so much for "satisfying" users...
Um , re write history much?
When the users complained? um, 0.55% of 3 million.
Aha, you mean when the tech press lead by the scum at Gizmodo complained?
Well, when the whining got loud enough, Apple came out and said have a free case, return the phone, AND ALL WITHIN 22 DAYS. What is wrong with you?
buster wrote:What, you mean Apple's success in bringing to market the ONLY phone which doesn't work if you are stupid enough to actually hold it while trying to use it. Hmm, interesting definition of success...No, that's not my definition although your comment is my definition of "side tracking the issue".
I don't care about Apple's success. I have a profound disdain for walled-gardens and for being dictacted why can and can't do with the stuff that I own.
I do care about Nokia's lack of focus (can I say "contempt"?) on its users. In the "smart" phone business, it's the users that count.
Apple has exactly the same customers has Nokia: the networks (did I mentioned bit pipes?) but they care about the users. Nokia does not.
Bought my N79 in Jan 2009 as new (and simlock free). Last firmware update: October 2009. And that's it. The phone's a gonner in Nokia's mind: "sorry, mate. You need to purchase a new phone now."
Nokia has a gazillion "product codes" for each device type. What's that? What that is is taking care of your customer, not the user of your devices. I've seen users complaining that they cannot update their sim-lock free N79s because Nokia has botched something (we know something is wrong but we're cluelless as to what). A network provider needs to approved a firmware update? Pleaaase...
More examples of Nokia's failure? Look at Symbian^1 and tell me what is that. My take is that it's Nokia feeble and pathetic response to the iPhone. How's that for a measure of Apple's success. You know what I mean (use the following words to illustrate my point: imitation, sincere, flattery).
I was (oh, yes: past tense) a diehard Nokia fan. I could even be seen as Nokia fanboy. Nokia had not good but great products. Top range. My first phone was a Nokia as it was every single one since. Same for the wife (then gf) and gift phones for the older generation.
But now? I can see the crapy service they give to users and I'm on the market for something better. Is that the iPhone? No, don't think so. Is that an Android phone? Perhaps but it is still too early. Bada? Nope.
So, it's still the N79 for me. I'm not "content" but it will have to do. I'm willing to spend around 400 eur/year (that's 330 quid a year for the european-chanledged) and I changes phones every 18 months or so.
The saddest thing? Nokia fans refusing to see the obvious: Nokia does not care what you think. They never did.
You can bash on Apple as much as you can but you need to look to the other direction and ask: why is Nokia in such a dire position?
Steve
I love you. You know that. But I think you may be losing it.
Only you could turn a story that should have been about how shoddy the quality emanating from Nokia's factories is into one that concludes:
It's impressive and one of the reasons why so many people love Nokia phones around the world. They're generally robust, not too expensive, do the job (if not as flashily as some!) and have a worldwide support and repair network that's, literally, second to none.
In this day and age, you shouldn't have dust under the screen in the first place. My E71, E75 and E90 all suffered the same issue. It's just plain unacceptable and to try to turn it around by praising the service centre that fixed it is missing the point. Someone who's spent good money on a phone shouldn't have to take it back to have it fixed.
I'd also like to highlight my own experience of Nokia's "worldwide support and repair network that's literally, second to none."
When I discovered the dust under the screen of my E71, I went back to the Nokia flagship store on Regent Street where I'd originally purchased the phone. That's the UK capital's flagship Nokia retail presence. You'd have thought this was surely the best place to get support right? Wrong. They shrugged their shoulders and told me they didn't do servicing, they "just sell new phones" and that'd I have to take it to the nearest Nokia Service Centre. The phone was less than 3 months old at this stage but they refused to simply replace it, saying it would have to be repaired.
The "nearest Nokia Service Centre" from the flagship store? Guess what? It's in the basement of a Carphone Warehouse on Oxford Street. It's staffed by lazy, incompetent kids who literally couldn't care less about customer service. They took the phone. A week later I got it back. They'd taken the screen off, gone over it with a duster and reassembled it again. They tried to charge me GBP 15 for the privilege. I refused to pay. A week after that, dust had started to reappear. I felt insulted and cheated.
Contrast that with a friend of mine who found dust under the screen of his out of warranty iPhone 3G. He took it to the Apple Store, they looked at it, apologised and handed him a brand new unit. He was in and out in 15 mins and felt like a star. THAT'S customer service.
@Theprodigalfool
Be fair though, everyone has said all along that Carphone Warehouse is a disaster for support and repair. What SHOULD happen is that Nokia revoke CPW's license to act for them etc.
Proper Nokia Care Points do a damn fine job, I have ABSOLUTE faith in the ones I've been to.
And re: the Regent Street shop, the less said the better.
Haven't heard of dust under E71, E75 and E90 screens though - all mine have been perfect, too....
Mr. Litchfield of All About Nokia strikes again!
"(Nokia) have a worldwide support and repair network that's, literally, second to no none."
It was nothing but absolute NIGHTMARE dealing with Nokia when I had to replace the E90 couple years back. That same E90 might I mention that had the manufacturing fault of keypad touching the screen. Great job Nokia!
Nokia Canada was a complete joke and a waste of time. It took many days, emails and countless telephone calls to have the thing replaced.
But... don't listen to me. Why don't you check talk.maemo.org and read the threads about people having hardware problems with the N900.
So Steve would you please stop spreading misinformation?
Nokia support is abysmal here in Slovenia. The main corporation should ensure better quality across countries. It's lacking even in the EU.
Nokia support in the US is pretty bad. When I wanted to return my N97 because the battery door wouldn't close right, they wouldn't do an exchange. They wanted me to buy a new N97 (at a higher price since I purchased it during a promo), and then return the white one to be refunded my original purchase price. It took quite a lot of back-and-forth and "escalating" to get it right.
OK, ok, so Nokia's support is excellent apart from all the places just mentioned 8-)
Hey, look, I call things as I see them - and proper Nokia Care points in mainland UK are pretty decent. I guess it depends which country you're in?
In the U.S., Nokia Care Center = returning/exchanging your product from where you purchased it, usually Amazon.com, so you had better hang on to your receipt.
Down the road, if the company ever wants to try to take another crack at the market on this side of the pond, they're going to have to do something about their post sales support over here. It's non-existent.
Wow, I remember dust under the screen being a big problem with the original Orange SPV (Canary) back in 2003. Having the original silver N95 with massive screen gaps left and right, I thought it would be prone to a similar dust nightmare - but was never a problem.
Maybe there is something to capacitive screens not properly sealed that makes them impressive dust magnets? Then again the X6 IMHO is one of the cheapest, nastiest, Fisher Price abominations ever to be foisted on the phone buying public. Maybe Nokia should start getting some data points on 'Gorilla Plastic' for future phones?
slitchfield wrote:OK, ok, so Nokia's support is excellent apart from all the places just mentioned 8-)Hey, look, I call things as I see them - and proper Nokia Care points in mainland UK are pretty decent. I guess it depends which country you're in?
Let's cut out the fan boy stuff. Nokia's support is "excellent" ACCORDING TO YOUR OPINION in the UK. Fine, that's your opinion. But in your article you actually said: "worldwide support" which is obviously not true.
I can tell you, and once again it is only my opinion, Nokia support in Canada is an utter and complete waste of time.
Don't believe me? Here....why don't you read a horror story of another unhappy Nokia customer: http://talk.maemo.org//forum/thread/48666/&highlight=canada
Not quite "worldwide" and "excellent" support, is it Steve?
After having had a nightmare where a Nokia Phone of ours took 6 weeks to be returned and un repaired I will never buy a Nokia Phone again. Again like many I would from back in the 90's always buy the 6 series phone then was it the 7110 and Nokias all the way up untill the E71 and N900. I managed to get the wife to have a 5800 instead of an Iphone which she found useless then the radio stopped working for no reason (no dropping or damage to the device) then the Service from hell where 6 weeks of my life were spent trying to find a phone where shops with nokia care point over the shop door way were not known of by Nokia departments in the Uk.
The Wife now even though brought up on Nokia where in the Phillipines it was the "only brand to have" now everyone wants blackberries or if lucky enough to have the money an Iphone. She bought a Blackberry and will soon
I used to think people were joking but I seriously can see Nokia dissapearing from view in a few years or having to merge like Erricson..
Its no one thing but the poor quality of bulid, poor after sales service and simply when i look at the best phone on the market I dont see Nokia up there at the moment.
I was going to get whatever replaced the E72 when it was time to renew in a few months but from the reviews the qwerty replacment seems to be nothing groundbreaking and possibly in fact a step back!.
RIP Nokia you served us well
My E71 developed dust under the screen within weeks, in fact there is a gap between the screen and the buttons.
I have had no physical problems with my N95 or the N80 before it. The one thing above all else thatApple does perfectly is supply firmware updates not dependent on the goodwill of a carrier that does not give a damn about you after you buy a phone from them.