Nokia: Never Say Die

Nokia 3310 - victim of
its own success

I have been a loyal Nokia user for the last 12 years, ever since I starting using mobile phones - with the Nokia 3310 (the first ever product incidentally, which I have heard of being killed by its own manufacturer because it was cannibalizing the sales of other products).

In the beginning, it was the intuitiveness and standardization - of UI, charger and accessories - that won me over. Even though Nokia clearly missed the bus around 2005-2006 - and probably the whole point too - I continued to be an ardent fan of Nokia primarily because of the ruggedness of their phones. After briefly eloping with Sony and HTC for a couple of years, I returned home to Nokia in 2008 even at the peak of doomsday predictions pouring in from all quarters.

Connecting People:
Your Nokia is always returned!

The upside of the scorn heaped upon me for my open and stubborn loyalty for this then-pronounced-dead brand, came in the form of safety: I could leave my phone and bluetooth headset lying around anywhere in the office and at parties without fear of theft or loss: not only was there no one who cared to "keep a Nokia for themselves", but also, everyone knew it was mine so it was always returned to me!


Over and above all the falls my various Nokia handsets have survived, the most startling experience with Nokia's ruggedness came late in 2011 when I accidentally drove the edge of a tyre of my 4,500-lb SUV over my BH-607 bluetooth headset. The collage below tells you the story of what happened to it - viz., almost nothing! Of course, it isn't really usable, but it still works!

Story of a BH-607 run over by a 4,500-lb SUV - it survived!
(note the red light in the last picture indicating that the unit is charging)

Nokia Lumia 920
as featured on http://www.nokia.com

Perhaps their products are a reflection of the company's attitude - ruggedness, perseverance and a never-say-die attitude. Even if sometimes fuelled by oblivion to what just happened in the real word! :)

While the Lumia series - most recently, the 920 - seems to have raised a flicker of hope, doomsday predictions haven't totally disappeared.

And yet, that does not seem to have deterred the spirit of the company in keeping at its goal.



However, what really bowled me over was my E-71 battery's performance in the last 72 hours - I was travelling and forgot to carry my charger. Unlike in the days gone by, Nokia chargers are hard to find and I had to literally reach out through my network to pull strings to get a Nokia charger. While I did get a charger, the morning I was to travel back, at 7AM, the phone began beeping "Low Battery". Given that the phone and battery are almost 3.5+ years old I knew the battery was already on an extended lease of life.

I had my fingers crossed even as I was frantically communicating over SMS, calls and WhatsApp with friends I had to meet that morning.Despite its incessant protests all morning, it was only at 2PM just as I was boarding my flight, that the battery finally gave up.

Nokia is dead! Long Live Nokia! 

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