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I need to start by going back two years. At that time, my Nashua Mobile contract for a cellphone package was up for renewal. At much that time, my son got caught in a downpour while cycling, resulting in his recently acquired contract cellphone being rendered useless. In order to help out, I suggested he take over my new contract phone, and that I would continue to use my old phone.
Also at that time, after using IBM clone PCs for many years, I bought my first Apple iMac. It has impressed me hugely, and so a year ago when the battery of my now three year old cellphone started to play up, I considered buying the then recently launched, Apple iPhone 4. That proved to be more difficult that I thought it would be. So in the end, like I had done for the past ten years, I stuck with Nokia, and bought a Nokia N8. It is a great phone with an awesome camera. Unfortunately the Symbian operating system it ran, took some of the gilt off using the phone.
To make matters worse, the phone did not last all that long, and it simply died after three months. Nokia replaced it and I had no sooner set this second N8 up, when it too, simply died. This time I complained to Nokia SA. It was replaced. Again, after a couple of months, this, my third N8 also failed. This time I complained to Nokia Middle East and Africa.
I have to say that while the inconvenience to me each time was huge, the service was always great, and Nokia Careline in Pietermaritzburg is to be commended. While I was waiting for my fourth N8, they put me in contact with a local Nokia representative in Durban. He assured me that the next release of the Symbian operating system, Symbian ^3 (aka Anna), would transform the N8. My fourth N8 arrived, and a month later, so did the release of Anna. It did improve the N8 experience markedly, and this fourth N8 is still up and running.
As I have already mentioned, I have been using Nokia cellphones for ten years, and have always been more than happy with what they delivered. Even now, despite what has happened during the past ten months, I still am. However that could soon change as the N8's battery has started to become a problem. More about that tomorrow.
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