The launch of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic North American model hasn’t been too smooth. First they had trouble getting the things out the door due to a broken inventory system at the flagship stores. Right as they patched that up, word got out that a whole lot of 5800’s had faulty speakers, and it wasn’t (and still isn’t) clear whether or not this problem plagued the North American model. Within hours, folks who braved the possibility of a shoddy speaker were complaining of 3G connectivity issues, completing the bad device launch trifecta. I’d imagine that Nokia’s reps are probably getting a bit tired of talking about the 5800’s problems by now, but they’ve just said a bit more about this latest one.
The Nokia Blog reached out for a bit of insight on the 3G issues. Nokia’s response:
“We have learned that some Nokia 5800 XpressMusic devices are having issues with 3G performance. This is a very isolated problem concerning only the North American market* and is not specific to any other region or country. We are currently investigating the matter further to find a quick remedy to the situation. Customer satisfaction and product quality are very important to Nokia and we take all quality and customer satisfaction-related issues seriously. Nokia is investigating the issue. Existing customers of the 5800 XpressMusic who experience 3G signal issue with the device are advised to contact Nokia Customer Care.”
*only NY and Chicago affected, in Dallas and Miami the devices are working OK. The investigation is ongoing on the device itself and the network used in these cases.
We’re not quite sure what would cause sporadic issues in a limited number of handsets based on geographical location, but there you go. The 3G connectivity issues are supposedly limited to New York and Chicago, implying that the network’s at fault here. We’re hoping that means no hardware replacements will be necessary – and that this is the last nasty bit we hear about the 5800’s North American debut.