GRRRR

[revdkathy]

It’s not often the bear growls. But I learned something today that made me angry. It appears that some of the n900s being sold by Vodaphone are carrying a branded, locked and otherwise knobbled version of the wonderful, open, free maemo firmware. I just can’t quite make up my mind whether I’m madder at Vodaphone for doing it or Nokia for letting

Comments

[anonymous]

Nicely written.

I've got a N900 myself and the ability to buy it without a contract was one of the things that made me decide to buy it. I'm also sick of locked phones (iPhone, Palm Pre).

Regards,

Rob

[revdkathy]

I should probably have made it clear - this isn't about me. My Mo was one of the first production models out of the hutch from Nokia UK back in November.

To be honest, when I saw someone complaining they couldn't get the new update and wondering whether it was vodaphone I Just Couldn't Believe it. The very idea that Nokia would allow the branding of maemo firmware was just... well, somewhere betwen incredibly stupid and morally wrong. And my experience of the Finns is that they're neither. I can only guess Voda bribed them big time.

Everyone makes good points. I guess most people are as hacked off at these practices as I am. The sooner we persuade people to vote with their feet the better - but for most people the whole 'buy now, pay later' deal of putting the cost of your phone on the contract is appealing.

great post

[anonymous]

great post. Nokia are a business and i guess this was a condition of the profitable exclusivity deal made with Vodafone. I remember when i got the n95 from T-mobile and it took almost a year for t-mobile to release the latest firmware update which reduce memory usage and enabled auto-rotate! pita!

[turnselfoff]

iirc, its not the first time. Nokia allowed something similar with either the N800 or N810 and a asian company.

Great post

[anonymous]

Can the locked phone be flashed with a generic firmware?

I mean, I'm either blaming the carrier or the user here, don't buy from carriers anything else than membership fees.

Nokia is putting the phone out there and selling it, and they're the first wanting to kill the carrier stores but they still need them in the meantime...

Re: Great post

[revdkathy]

There's a lengthy debate going on over whether flashing with a generic firmware voids the warranty. Since both the flasher and the firmware are provided by Nokia, it's hard to answer with any clarity. A number of people are taking the line that if there's a problem, they would be likely to reflash anyway, and can revert. And if there's a hardware issue, then can revert - unless the damage is so great it's relevent anyway.

Like I said, the n900s are getting set free despite Vodaphone.