Hello everyone. I'm a new member, since I have just bought N9. And I already have my dose of confusion.

The topic I want to start is closely related to this one:
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=82755

While that topic is related to actual damages caused by allegedly poor quality of materials and/or surface finish and concerns the problem only in context of damages, I think the very method of production, which is very mysterious for me at this point, deserves dedicated topic. However, administrators can merge this one with that if think it's more appropriate, but I recommend it stays this way because I think it's very important to be seen by people who would look for some answers, because I see practically no one talking about this on the Internet.

So, the problem is precisely this (image from "chipping" topic):




You see, it appears that this is not merely the problem of damage. It's the two different surface finishes.

My story is somewhat "a special case" so I don't have enough evidence to prove anything, but I suspect that not only Nokia N9 and Lumia 800 models have different finish of their surface materials, but that this difference is among N9 series themesleves, depending maybe on generation or in fact the place of production (Finland or China). It is perhaps also possible that it involves fake N9 cases!

I bought a second hand Nokia N9 in cyan, because I wanted this color particulary. There were no more cyan models on contract in my country (Croatia), so I decided to go second hand, because that was the only way in that moment.

There was only one cyan model on sale, used unit. However I soon found out that previous owner actually had black unit, but replaced the chassis to cyan at official Nokia Service centre because camera flash didn't work. The owner had all the papers and warranty which I have checked at the service centre and they confirmed that they are valid - the new chassis was "original".

The interesting thing was that when they replaced the chassis, they forgot to replace SIM card holder and USB hatch, which were still black. I checked the SIM card holder, and it said: Made in Finland. So, the original black chassis was from Finland, but I don't know for the new cyan chassis.They replaced it eventually for me, making it cyan all the way. But now on SIM holder says: Made in China.

Previously, I was very impressed by the beautiful matte polycarbonate finish that I saw on Lumia models first in stores on displays. They don't have any N9's on displays, probably because Nokia gave directives to promote only Lumias. But I wanted N9, not Windows Phone.

The one thing I clearly remember about Lumia 800 matte finish: it's super-smooth, non-reflective (all light reflection is dispersive), impresive looking material. I observed cyan and black models carefully for a long time in more situations, and remembered my impression.

This Nokia N9 that I bought doesn't have the same impressive looking material. And I think only few people can notice that, because you need to have two phones side by side to compare if you are not familiar with this smooth matte polycarbonate finish.

When put side by side, those two finishes differ exactly as on picture above, except the damage. The "poor" finish looks like hard plastic, with uneven surface, with some shine. The other is perfectly smooth, without shiny effect.

So it figures: my presumption was that Lumia 800 and N9 had, despite some physical differences, same chassis/surface material. But apparently they don't. I asked this question in service centre: they said that Nokia Lumia 800 had special matte coating!

So I once again checked in two mobile stores - one from operator and one independent, and asked them to show me their N9. They had only black ones, but the difference was here also!

In the first store, the N9 had the same "poor" shiny finish like mine, and in the operator store it had "super-smooth" matte finish.

Although, as I look for the high-res images on the Internet, I see only this "poor" shiny finish on N9. If I havent's seen the "smooth" N9 in the store, the case would be closed - Lumias are different in surface finish than N9 with their matte coating. But, it appears that even between N9 series there's a difference.

Now I will go to the first part of my post, where I had those black Finnish-made SIM holder and USB hatch replaced for cyan China-made.

The new parts from china differs substantialy from rest of the chassis - it has perfectly smooth matte finish, unlike previous parts. They either gave me the parts from Lumia 800, or there is actually two different possible surface finish materials for N9, possibly because of country of production, generation of series or even fake channels.

So, I don't actually have anything to prove. I'm just curious. But this question could shed some more light on the problem of damages that many users witness on their phones. For me, it's only an aesthethical problem.

Yes, it's Chinese made then, and you don't need the plastic cower for protection as it won't scratch that easy, i got the same model.
I guess sometime later your phone back cower will crack around camera lens, sorry...one of the phone-shop manager told me it's typical symptom to this model phones, so my phone has got two cracks about cm long, i shall fing the way to make a pic of my back of my phone to show you.

ok, i will share my experience... I bought a N9 since the first week it was release and it came with the "poor" finish, a bit more shiny but prone to chipping...after some time I bought a few other N9s, both on 16 gb and 64 GB in black and cyan...and also bought cases from ebay..all these with matte finish

so I concluded that the N9 came originaly with the poor finish which was leading to chipping and later it was eventually switched to the matte black the Lumias have. The lumias never had the poor black. So dont worry, the matte black and the poor finish are both original casing, just the poor black was switched later in production to prevent chipping.

There are hardware variations. In finish, camera, curvature of glass. My first N9 was kind of dissapointing. Glass is almost flat, protruding a tiny bit from the case (just enough to stop your fingernail) and the finish is shiny. My new one, has this light-absorbing mattr everybody is going crazy about. Glass is still not flush but anyway.

The lumias seem really (as Elop said) more refined. I haven't seen too many but they are more consistent.

(No cracks though here after 1 year of use)

I have contacted Nokia representatives in my country and they gave me an answer via direct phone call.

They said that there is a difference between Lumia 800 and N9 chassis - which is fine - and that there is no difference in N9 models whatsoever! So, regardless of being Finnish or China made, all N9s should be the same.

So that's the official word from Nokia. I don't know what to think of it.

"Everybody lies"

- Gregory Danger House

he is lying, or doesnt know... I dont see a reason to switch the "original" casing to a cheap one while in factory...you could say dishonest workers could sell the original for more, but as far as I know I havent seen them on ebay or outside, and I have bought many of them, cases alone and lots of N9s, so where are the original cases going if not in the black market?

The lumia's material looks like cheap and flexible plastic , like sgs2 but matte , I prefer my rock solid N9 with few cracks , I'm using case anyway .

Mine is Finland made, i think its first batch, i won it from Ideasproject competition, and the rep says he took it from factory right after first shipping.
Always in protection case, same look like left pic, start chipping on the volume and power button...well i think its normal for a year phone use.
I thought it might be the shining effect is because it always inside the protection case, confirm to anyone who not using protection case ever?

I don't use any protection; I believe in the real raw experience

Mines is glossier after using for more than an year but has no chipping i.e. Mine looks like the one on the left but no chipping anywhere...