Nokia N95

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Lilly

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Topic # 12996 17-Apr-2007 16:56

I have a couple of questions about the N95. Firstly does anyone know if this will be released in New Zealand in vodafone stores or just through parallel importers? Secondly if you purchase through a parallel importer what risks do you run? Are there features on the phone that will not work and if so are you able to find out what these are before purchasing then? Does the buyer received any kind of warranty? Does buying from a parallel imported phone mean that you have no protection at all?

Many thanks

Lilly

grant_k

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Reply # 67384 17-Apr-2007 17:16

I don't know anything specific about the Nokia N95, but I can tell you this...

Lilly: Secondly if you purchase through a parallel importer what risks do you run? Are there features on the phone that will not work and if so are you able to find out what these are before purchasing then?

For my last phone I bought from Parallel Imported Ltd around 2 years ago.

I have been very pleased with the phone as it has turned out, but at the beginning I had to spend a lot of time figuring out how to get the GPRS connection working because nobody at Parallel Imported was any help at all.

Lilly: Does the buyer received any kind of warranty? Does buying from a parallel imported phone mean that you have no protection at all?

I decided to take the Extended Warranty (2 years I think) because otherwise I would have had only a 90-day warranty. As it turns out, I haven't needed the warranty, but it was good insurance I think.

So, my advice to you would be:

1) If you want to buy a fancy phone with lots of cool features, SURE, you will save some money by going to Parallel Imported Ltd.

BUT:

2) I hope you are happy to spend a lot of time fiddling with the phone trying to get all those cool features working because that will be sure to happen

As every year goes past, phones get more and more complicated so you will spend more and more time trying to figure it out...

If you enjoy this kind of a challenge (I have to say that I do

), then by all means, get your new phone at Parallel Imported or from some other place like that.

But if you just want it to work...

Buy from an authorised Vodafone dealer.

I hope that helps,

Cheers,
Grant.

NZtechfreak

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Reply # 67385 17-Apr-2007 17:18

Lilly: I have a couple of questions about the N95.

OK, will try to help

Firstly does anyone know if this will be released in New Zealand in vodafone stores or just through parallel importers?

Yes, it will be released by Vodafone, according to the Herald release price will be at least $1600

Are there features on the phone that will not work and if so are you able to find out what these are before purchasing then?

If you get the phone from a parallel importer before Vodafone is supporting it you will not be able to access all of Vodafone live features (if that matters even remotely to you), once Vodafone is supporting the phone then you will be able to have them 'upgrade' the firmware to theirs for full use of Vodafone live. However, Vodafone will probably disable VOiP calling on the N95, so you will be likely be losing features whichever way you purchase the phone. In addition to disabling VOiP the firmwares that Vodafone have released overseas also make the phone more prone to crashing, have more problems with WiFi in general, and also have a number of other problems that do not appear to afflict non-branded N95's.

Secondly if you purchase through a parallel importer what risks do you run? Does the buyer received any kind of warranty? Does buying from a parallel imported phone mean that you have no protection at all?

Parallel Imported offers a 12 month warranty, with the option of paying more to have it extended. Their obligations are the same as any other New Zealand retailer under the consumers garantees act as far as I'm aware. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

If you mean joe bloggs who is parallel importing the phone and selling at Trademe etc, then you effectively have very little protection, although you should still have the one year manufacturers warranty (you will need to send the handset to the manufacturer overseas to utilise this warranty however).

Many thanks

Lilly

No problem Lilly, hope this was of some help.

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

Aloha

676 posts

Ultimate Geek

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Reply # 67387 17-Apr-2007 17:22

Lilly: I have a couple of questions about the N95. Firstly does anyone know if this will be released in New Zealand in vodafone stores or just through parallel importers? Secondly if you purchase through a parallel importer what risks do you run? Are there features on the phone that will not work and if so are you able to find out what these are before purchasing then? Does the buyer received any kind of warranty? Does buying from a parallel imported phone mean that you have no protection at all?

Many thanks

Lilly

N95 will be released in NZ at Vodafone sooner or later. Rather later. So if you want to go for sure just wait.

I is a kollege stoodent. Bee nice.

Lilly

202 posts

Master Geek
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Reply # 67392 17-Apr-2007 18:02

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your help with this. I would really like to buy one but since I would be paying so much for it, even the parallel imported ones, I just don't know if I am brave enough to do with apart from through Vodafone or one of their sellers. It would be silly to buy it for the features and then lots of them don't work. Is that likely or am I just being paranoid?

Thanks for this part Grant: If you enjoy this kind of a challenge (I have to say that I do ), then by all means, get your new phone at Parallel Imported or from some other place like that.

That is very much me so I think I would quite like that!

Thanks again Lilly

alasta

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Reply # 67397 17-Apr-2007 18:26

NZtechfreak: Parallel Imported offers a 12 month warranty, with the option of paying more to have it extended. Their obligations are the same as any other New Zealand retailer under the consumers garantees act as far as I'm aware. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

You are correct on this point, but it's worth noting that buying a parallel imported product exposes you to the risk of being left without a warranty if the retailer goes bust or fails to honour their warranty obligations. With a legitimate import, on the other hand, you always have the local manufacturer or distributor to fall back onto.

NZtechfreak

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Reply # 67398 17-Apr-2007 18:35

Well, you could wait until Friday/Monday or so and I will tell you if everything works Lilly! Thats when I'll have mine from OZ.

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

Lilly

202 posts

Master Geek
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Reply # 67402 17-Apr-2007 18:54

That sounds fab since I am real interested in getting one but would like to hear about how the parallel imported ones work. I would only be looking at buying from the Parallel Imported Ltd or Cool Mobile. Does anyone have any experience of the latter?

Cheers Lilly

Americancars

223 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 67572 18-Apr-2007 17:32

Lilly: Does anyone know if this will be released in New Zealand in vodafone stores or just through parallel importers?

Many thanks

Lilly

In the NZ Herald, there was a quote from someone working at Nokia talking about how users can expect to pay $1600 for the N95. I am assuming that this is the price that it will be selling from Vodafone. So to answer your question, yes, I think that it will be released in Vodafone stores.

Can't beat the burble of that American V8. Ohh yea!

DarkVader

67 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 67885 20-Apr-2007 15:59

I bought my N95 off trade me. SIngapore version. No problems so far. Downloaded the US and Australian Maps. The NZ maps for the GPS are pretty skimpy at this stage but I am hoping the maploader 5MB info will increase quite a bit soon. Wi Fi is great and browsing works well. Can see main streets in CHCH as I walk around with it but not the smaller ones.Camera is wicked.Best phone I've seen so far or used!
I hear the branded phones in the UK have had all sorts of problems with unstable firmware, ie orange,vodafone. Hope that they sort it b4 it launches here which is about 1-2 months away.
I have a manufacturers warranty card for 12 months.
ANyone else heard about NZ mapping detail increasing in Nokia Maploader??

inquisitor

135 posts

Master Geek

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Reply # 68390 25-Apr-2007 02:34

Last week the (UK) Register reported about Vodafone's VoIP-removal from the N95 and their ridiculous explanation.
See a video showing the differences between the original and the branded at http://www.truphone.com/blog/blog.tru?entry=video_showing_internet_telephony_removed.

Beyond that, afaik Nokia recently allowed customers to download and install firmware updates themselves. So you don't need to find an authorized service partner to update your phone.
But if you have a branded phone, you won't be able to install those updates, unless it's a modified and branded version from Vodafone, which will be released months later (if at all) and will lack functions like VoIP, WiFi, file exchange through BT etc.
So better get an unbranded device.

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