Build quality and Nokia's N and Eseries

[slitchfield]

...In which I ponder the respective build quality of Nokia's N and Eseries smartphones and conclude that the grass is rarely greener over on the other side - you'll still get mud on your feet...

Read on in the full article.

[krisse]

I'm going to sing the praises of numbered S60 models yet again! :-)

A friend of mine recently damaged their Nokia 6290 by accidentally dropping it from a fair height. It worked fine, although a small chunk of plastic chipped off one corner.

Here's the interesting part: the paintwork on the plastic underneath the bit that chipped off is absolutely identical to the rest of the phone, so you can't actually tell that it's damaged unless you look closely.

Compare that to the N76, which has paintwork that deteriorates so greatly through normal use that it was pulled from sale by one UK phone network. The N76 has practically identical specifications to the 6290, but the N76 costs about 40% more.

Numbered S60s are generally cheaper, with better build quality and with more stable firmware, which seems to indicate that Nokia Mobile Phones (the numbered S60 makers) know a lot more about high quality volume production of smartphones than Nokia Multimedia (the Nseries makers). Perhaps Multimedia are happier designing cool things than actually getting them into mass production.

All of this is academic, as Nokia's device makers are all about to be merged into one company, Nokia Devices. Hopefully they will adhere to the same production standards as their predecessor Nokia Mobile Phones, and if they do then the Nseries and Eseries models should see a great improvement in build quality.

[iainmann]

And I would like to praise the Nokia 6110 Navigator. It has a good solid slide and overall no wobbly bits, or flaking, that I can find yet. It seems a good sturdy build.

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Well, the 6110 Nav is a rock solid slider phone except in my case, the back cover didn't sit properly. It produces some creaking sound when holding and pressing the keypad. This same point has been pointed out in one Australian phone review site.

[Waynester]

i am losing the will to Live with Nokia as a company

I do however have a great contact in Nokia who has provided me with handsets very quickly when mine have gone wrong!

i recieved a Nokia E90 in the Mocha colour
had the latest firmware on it
as soon as i made a call i get the "shhhhhh" coke can static type noise. if you know what i mean? lol
anyway, i sent it back and recieved a new one the next day, and this one is perfect, no problems like the last one with the "reported" fault on the Microphone
unfortunately today when i was at work, the phone re-started itself!!
thoughts on WHY its doing this?

i have a Nokia N95 aswell, infact i went through 7 of them from the 02 network, in the end my friend at Nokia sent me one direct from the warehouse which was unbranded, since then this N95 has been perfect.......

im just surprised that my E90 direct from Nokia is showing symptoms like my rubbishy 02 Nokia N95`s

im now becoming fedup with Nokia overall as they fail to deliver with QUALITY products

all their phones keep developing restarting issues, high pitch noises, poor workmanship, wobbly sliders as reported here, and a few other problems etc etc

anyone else had similar probs?

[stuclark]

How about SonyEricsson & Motorola phones?

The SE P range and the W950 have great build quality - especially the W950, which is simply stunningly built.

Moto's Z8 has amazing build quality too - the slide on that phone feels *SO* much better put together than the N95.

So far my E65 has been faultless both hardware and software wise. The sliding mechanism is well built and still solid, and the phone has only restarted once when i was installing program whilst having sms and web browser in the background. I'm quite happy with it actually.

My gf's E61 has also been very good, hardware wise it's been top notch except scratches from dropping the phone and having the phone in the bag with keys. Software wise is good as well, although it seems to lag more than my E65, no issue with crashing yet.

I guess it really is pot luck, but it does seem that N series are more likely to have problem, as my friend's N95 also has the wobbly slide problem.

As for other brands, not sure about Z8, but most Motorla's build quality isn't that great to be honest. SE's UIQ3 phones have software issue, but hardware wise seems well built. However, with W950i, the phone slows down as you put more and more music on it.

Personally, i find Samsung's hardware build quality to be best, never had a problem, and none of my friend's Samsung has developed a fault yet. But, i really wish they come out with more Symbian phones, and have them sold worldwide as it is very hard to find a Samsung Symbian phone here in Australia.

I've had my W950 for about half a year now. It's almost always full of music ( <100mb free of the internal 4gb), and I've never experienced any major slowdowns. Granted, navigating the albums/songs/etc. on the walkman player does get a teeny bit slower as the number of songs in memory increses, but definately nothing to shout about.

As pointed out by Alan, the software/firmware has been - and to some extent, still is - anything but perfect. However, there's no show-stopping bugs anymore - at least for me.

As for physical build quality, I've had 2 problems:

1: the upper right corner has a very, very small play, and it can cause some creaking noises, if pushed directly. However, this is not a problem in general usage, as I don't very often need to push the upper right corner of the phone.

2: In very bright (sun) light I can see two little (~5mm long) cracks on the plastic just left of the screen. I really have to know what I'm looking for to spot these, and even then they're easy to miss. Also, I'm not sure whether they're flaws in the casting and as such have always been there, or whether they've developed later. But they're there, nonetheless.

Other than these two smallish issues, I've been extremely pleased with the build quality of my W950.

[pintofale]

I agree with Krisse's 'number' theory, and I wonder to what extent it's because Nokia assumes that high-end smartphones are bought by geeks who will mollycoddle them in leather holsters and briefcases, whereas the 'numbered' phones are presumed to be in tight jeans' pockets and thrown around the inside of a transit van. Hence the former are highly specified but fragile, while the latter have compromised specs but are designed to survive a year's contract with some rough and tumble.

Having said that, all of my 'smart' Nokias have been treated roughly, kept in pockets and occasionally dropped, and aside from cosmetic damage I've not had any problems which affect the functions. Lucky, perhaps? Or do I just take the view that breaking it will give me an excuse to buy that new one with the better thingy and the added jobby-whatnot...

[Bassey]

I seem to have been very lucky with phones (or I choose very well ). I have an SE R380 that is still perfect. A Nokia 7650 that is still spot on (still the best slide mech I've ever come across). A mate bought my year old P800 (3 years ago now) and only replaced it recently. A tip had broken off the flip by then but he is an electrician so he crawls under floors with it on his belt!

My wife still uses my 3 year old P900 which looks virtually new. I now have had an XDA MiniS for nearly two years. It's looking a little worn but then I work part time in Mountain Search and Rescue and this is my GPS navigation device as well as my day to day work and personal phone/pda. One catch snapped off the battery cover when I dropped it down the hospital stairs (my wife had just given birth to our son and I was trying to dial my parents and my concentration wasn't exactly 100% ). However, the battery cover still fits fine (slight creak if you squeeze it) and the metal trim around the edges absoobed the impact with just a couple of minor dents. That was a year ago and it's still going strong!

I tried to claim under insurance at the time but the O2 insurance assessors claimed there was water damage in the PCB (probably due to using it out on the mountains in major storms!) and that the device was A) about to die and B) no longer covered by warranty. Pah! Showed them!

I'm a big geek, but am fairly new to the cell-phone world (user for about a year so far). My first phone, a Samsung "trace" T519, has worn very quickly. The main problem is the keypad will register the wrong key-press. Sometimes the wrong letter will appear, which is very frustrating! Or sometimes it'll do something completely unrelated like backspace or even send the message IN MID SENTENCE!

I've replaced that POS with a Nokia E65 (which I'm using to write this comment). So far it's OK, but it's already developed a little creeking under the keypad (at least the keys work though). Also the fascia is very scratch-prone.

Compared to the various other devices I've had; this E65 isn't something I'd write home about, but it certainly isn't poor quality.

[Richard Ross]

In recent years I've had a 9300 and N70 and not had any hardware issues at all. I do have several friends who complained that the N95 hardware deteriorated faster than expected (notably, slide got loose and the paint appeared to be rubbinf off - e.g. not needing to be scratched).

My girlfriend has had numbered Nokias and Moto Razrs and Slvrs and all seem well built (tho' the 'brains' behind the Moto in-house UI needs to be taken outside and shot).

I've got an m600 now and have had low-end SEs in the past - all well built and proof from everyday wear and tear.

The one phone I've owned in recent years with serious hardware issues is the HTC TyTn. In many ways this was an absolute marvel when it launched but the hardware quality is apalling and deteriorates VERY quickly. The keyboard is stiff and unreliable, the slide gets so loose (quickly) that a slight shake will often pop it and the front buttons are wobbly and prone to fail.

I hear that the latest generation of HTC devices are better but my experience with the TyTn has put me off the company and probably will for several years to come.

In short, I think the major mainstream manufacturers generally do a good job but HTC really struggles to combine their design ingenuity/obsession with the cutting edge and reliable production.

I suspect Nokia Mobile does a good job because it's not trading price off against utility - it doesn't need to create the most cutting edge devices so all that production spend can go on materials and quality control.

[noctilux]

Owning an E70 myself, I have something to say on this topic. My E70 has had to withstand a lot during its 1 year I have been using it, including one incident I can't believe it survived:
I was running down a pretty steep road in Austria, forgetting I had my E70, in its opened state, in my trouser pocket. So, while running, it flew out of my pocket and I kicked it with my leg without noticing it. It flew about 2m high and then skidded down the asphalt for about 50m, playing Bach's Matthäus Passion all the way . When I had caught up with it, I couldn't believe it was working without any problems whatsoever. The display did not take any damage in fact, although the side with the camera looks quite battered now. This was one of about 10 drops it has survived, but by far the most spectacular one. I am extremely impressed by this phone's build quality.

noctilux

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