I didn't realise when they said the Nokia N900 wasn't a phone, they were being literal. I always understood that it was supposedly an Internet Tablet with Phone functionality (rather than the other way around). It seems the phone part really is an afterthought though.
I bought the N900 back in May 2010 after much searching for a new phone. I had some specific features I wanted, which limited me to a few phones. The iPhone, a couple of Android-based phones (HTC Desire, Google Nexus One, Motorola Milestone) and the N900. Ultimately I managed to whittle it down to two choices and went with the N900 based on some first hand reports.
The N900 arrived and straight away I was concerned. I noticed GSM radio interference in the earpiece during the first call. At the time, I hoped it was just that call. But it turned out to be persistent. I was enjoying the phone in any case, it was pretty cool to play with. But the call problem was bugging me. After about about a couple of weeks of software updates and comparing my experiences to others with the same phone, I decided my N900 must be faulty and contacted Nokia's support. Their response was slow and after a bit of back and forth they suggested I bring it in to one of their Nokia Care Points for repair.
There aren't any Nokia Care Points in the Isle of Man (at least, not according to their website). I told them this, asking whether I could courier it to them instead and they responded with a canned response telling me to bring it in to an NCP. Just as I was about to escalate my support issue and generally be angry, I found their repair page, which told me (as the default option) that I could courier it to them at no cost (the very thing I was asking support whether I could do at my own expense). So I run through the process. All very simple. N900 packaged and ready to go. Picked up and off for repair.
I get it back today, about 2 weeks after I sent it off. It seems they've replaced it (my screen protector isn't on any more regardless). Excited to have it back, I power it up and make a call. to my voicemail. "Wow", I think. They did a good job. No interference, not even any line noise. After about 14 seconds I start getting concerned. No line noise, no ringing, no answering. Strange. I call my land line. Land line is ringing, but I can't hear anything. I switch over to speaker phone and suddenly I hear the N900 ringing. I answer the call and play around for a bit. I can hear myself fine through the speaker phone, but am greeted with silence through the earpiece.
After all that it seems that the solution to the earpiece problem was to remove it entirely. I guess it really wasn't a phone after all.
So it looks like I'll have to go through the repair process again or start looking for a new phone :/
Update: I've called them. Apparently I need to do a repair again, but if it comes back faulty a second time they'll do a full replacement. So we'll see what happens.
