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Getting the Care Point lowdown on the Nokia N97 camera glass and GPS
Published by Steve Litchfield at 14:33 UTC, October 9th 2009
The two big hardware issues which have plagued owners of the first N97 devices off the production line are, of course, the easily-scratched camera glass cover and the very poor GPS reception. Having ordered fixes for both from my local service centre a while ago, I finally had them attend to each and managed to get quite a bit more information for the rest of us in the process. Read on...
Camera glass scratching
You'll have seen Nokia's official statement on this issue yesterday. Essentially, the problem is that the protective pad is mounted too close to the plastic camera lens cover, causing dust to get ground in and produce scratches. There are unofficial fixes on the 'net which involve just replacing the sliding mechanism with a China-sourced replacement, but the official solution, shown below, involves completely replacing the N97's plastic rear assembly, of which the camera protection slide is just part:
The new slide is mounted a millimetre or so above the camera 'glass' and shouldn't cause the same issue.
How to tell if your N97 has the old design: You'll know - you'll have scratches already. If your lens is clear of physical scratches then relax, you're OK. (If you look very closely then you can tell the two designs apart - one has a visible gap between slide and camera glass.)
Poor GPS reception
Rather less visible an issue, poor GPS reception is the biggest showstopper for owners, with Ovi Maps becoming just about unusable. The problem is not with the antenna itself (shown below for interest sake), but with the way electronic interference from the N97's PCB degrades the GPS signals being received.
(note the original, scratched, camera glass is also shown clearly)
The official fix is to install a new antenna, with an additional shield near the point where it attaches to the main PCB. Correctly installed at the service centre, GPS signals are then improved by "2 to 4dB" and this makes all the difference in the world - I was able to navigate a 30 mile journey with no a single loss of GPS lock and with faultless directions.
How to tell if your N97 has the old, unshielded design: You'll know - Nokia Maps/Ovi Maps will be useless in navigation mode - the lock will be lost very frequently. With the latest Ovi Maps 3.3 beta, you'll be spared this message but your reported position will be badly delayed. If Nokia Maps/Ovi Maps are working fine then relax, you've already got the new design.
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It's not known when Nokia changed the design of either component in the N97 production run - my guess (and that's all it is), for each of the two design changes above, is that it happened after a month or so. Which means that if your N97 was made since about mid-July 2009 then you'll be OK. But, as I say, if either of the two issues actually seem to be happening for your phone then just make an appointment with your local Nokia 'Care Point' (here's a directory for you to check out, worldwide) and they'll sort it out for you.
Steve Litchfield, AAS, 9 October 2009
News Discussion
Time to cut my losses and put my POS N97 on ebay me thinks.
Thanks Nokia. That was the last time I wasted my money on your product.
1. mediocre performance (due to limited memory)
2. boring interface (lack of theme effects, kinetic scrolling)
3. defective camera cover
Nokia should, with conscience, have a mechanism to inform and recall all "defective" units for the to be fixed. I pity those who paid considerable buck for this phone not getting the worth that they deserve.
-Dan
Is there any way to identify new units (e.g manufacture date) via the IMEI series number? I ask because retailers will not allow you to open a sealed package just to check the lens cover out.
Also, the defective lens cover had a blue plastic piece underneath. It seems the fixed one is a different color, based on the picture, but it's difficult to tell. Can anyone confirm if the fixed lens cover is a different color?
Thanks
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Originally Posted by Unregistered
wrong! People commenting who have no clue... It took a total of two three days to get the device back in my hands. This from alabama to california by the way.
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I have sent devices 4 separate times for repair, and in ZERO instances did I get the device back in 2-3 days. You must mean: it took 3-5 days for the device to get there, 3-5 days for the device to be fixed, and 3-5 days for it back to get to you.
I'm in Florida if it makes in difference.
On all occasions, they were unable to repair my device so they had to replace it.
It seems I was very unlucky as I both have the Camera-slider issue and the GPS issue.
That said I went to the store I bought my phone I had one complaint "leftover".(Because when the shop delivered it for fix of the camera slider issue, it took longer time than usual)
I can therefore complain about the service (for the first fix) as well. :)
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if you manually input a postcode or town then it hangs on "searching ....please wait"
The N97 customer experience for me has been woeful.
I know because the N97 is only three months old that every single one of them should still be within warranty (unless they've been tampered with, which thankfully mine isn't) but, just in case the people at the shop are difficult, how do I prove that my N97 is still within warranty?
I don't want to have to make an extra journey because I didn't bring everything I needed to bring.
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Originally Posted by steverh
Err - slight problem - the Nokia shop locator page doesn't seem to be working, it just hangs
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Originally Posted by zxon
Mine does too. It doesn't work in Firefox for some reason, and doesn't work properly in Internet Explorer 8 either. If you have IE8, put it into compatibility view (The broken page icon on the address bar). That worked for me.
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Originally Posted by sapporobaby
Take your receipt with the date of purchase. Make sure you point this out very clearly and tell them that they need to fix this under warranty. Do not take no for an answer. It now seems that all of us early "complainers" were correct even though some on this site continued to make apologies for the inherent flaws of the phone. I am glad I took mine back especially considering that this is supposed to be a flagship phone.
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May be a long shot but they could fix it on the day if they have the part in. That way, I can make a day of it in the town centre while I'm there (Stockport).
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