I know my posts my get up the noses of some people here, but I really think Quim should step up to the plate and discuss or resolve this warranty situation - it's a great price but totally unfair to potentially lumber community members with a useless device after the first week.

The purpose of this programme is to seed positive support for the platform either through word of mouth, blogs or application development. All there will be is negative vibe when devices (and there will be several out of the 200-300 on offer) begin to fail after the first week and the owners are left high & dry by Nokia.

Offering these devices without a warranty to the very people whose support you most need is, frankly, mental.

Yeah, I'm not entirely happy with the non-warranty situation myself. I'll probably go through with it anyway, as the fault rate of these devices are probably low (from my experience with other Nokia devices, including the N800. There seemed to be more problems with the 770 though.)

The reason I'm getting myself the N900 through the DDP program is so that I can actually do some development on Maemo 5, as a minimum get those few packages I've ported or built before (e.g. lprng, rdate, remind, and a couple more) rebuilt and tested. I want to develop a new one that I would need myself. I don't want to spend 500 euro + VAT for this though, so I go with the DDP program. A warranty would have been nice, obviously.

I'm out. I wasn't planning to buy the N900 because

** I really want a minimum 4" screen
** I am happy with what my N800 can do
** I've spent a ton of time tweaking it to make it that way, none of which would easily transfer over to Maemo 5
** etc.

but the DDP program tempted me, and I was close to buying one. (Part of the motivation was just the pleasure of participating in this forum and the development of the platform.) (And, of course, all that tweaking was often fun.)

However, the lack of warranty just kills it for me.

** It makes it just not worth the money
** It leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

So I'm not getting one.

Frankly, if the forum and the software development continue to be as Maemo 5/N900-centric as it has become, as a mere N800-owner, I likely won't be around much anymore.

As I PM'd to bunanson a while ago, I'm tempted to start a new thread:

"Old Members Say Goodbye!"

Indeed. I'd like to run a poll when the DDP expires and ask everybody who received an offer whether or not they decided to order a device and if not, why not. Personally, I'm leaning towards not taking "advantage" of it myself, and I know several other people who have decided not to as well or had it decided for them.

A program like this should not be generating negative feelings in those it's offered to, nor should a large percentage of people be turning it down due to both the flawed handling and the ridiculous terms of the discount.

I've been talking to several friends and people I work with over the past few weeks/months, and they're eagerly waiting to see what my N900 will be like but I really don't think I can afford to take a punt on a €250 device with no warranty so they may end up disappointed (just like me, in fact).

I'm awaiting clarification from DDP in terms of what we are supposed to do with those devices that develop a fault AFTER the initial 1 week period but the person I'm communicating with doesn't seem to be grasping my point and has so far repeated that "DDP will replace a faulty device" which could just mean "faulty within the first week (and then you're on your own)". Then again it could mean they will replace them at any time (though this seems unlikely) but it's ambiguous and requires clarification.

@TA-t3: The N810 seemed to be well put together however there has been the infamous WSOD on 770, not to mention the faulty rotating camera on early N800s (problem confirmed as a manufacturing fault AFTER well after the first week on sale!) and also faulty touchscreens on N800 (I had to have mine replaced under warranty). Given that there have been serious faults on 2 out of the 3 previous devices, what chance of a problem on the N900 (either in the design or manufacture)? Too likely that there will be a problem for me to risk throwing €250 down the toilet.

It's just a mess - I hate to say it, but that's what it has been, there's no getting away from it. I'm not complaining about the delays, just the lack of communication throughout the entire process - you can't even check the status of your order online. And now this warranty farce.

And I'm not even sure a 1 week warranty is actually legal in the UK - I'm pretty sure it isn't, although there may be an exception where a discount is applied.

I'd still like a N900, but will probably have to pick one up at full price (with a warranty) sometime next year unless something else catches my eye, and this will also shoot a hole in my plan to buy a successor device to the N900 in 2010. C'est la vie.

This statement is incorrect. The correct statement is "Given that I am aware of some 770 and N800 units having problems...".

Indeed, and it should also be noted that the N810 hasn't been fault-free. Many units are inclined to have their touchscreen cables come lose, leading to inaccurate and unreliable touchscreen input and sometimes apparently "dead" LCDs.

I wasn't eligible for the DDP. I would have taken up the offer, even with the warranty issue. I just want to develop my apps for the N900. Unfortunately, I can't quite afford the full price so it looks like I won't be getting one. (Are there any restrictions on those with DDP eligibility reselling those devices?)

Ignoring all the other "issues" that have been raised since this thread was created, if Nokia had mentioned right from the start in bold lettering that the warranty was limited, I don't think we'd be having this discussion.

Well yes of course it's SOME but if we are being pedantic then we are in fact both incorrect.

I'm pretty sure that ALL 770s have the design defect that can lead to a WSOD, although only SOME 770s have fallen victim to the fault (mine could at any time in the future).

Some N800s suffered from a camera fault during manufacture (fortunately not mine).

Some N800s suffered from lack of touchscreen sensitivity (unfortunately this included mine).

I'm not aware of any significant issues that affected the N810, but the General has pointed out some issues for me so the entire range of tablets has had one flaw or another that has affected devices to a larger or lesser extent.

The point is, however, that these are complicated devices and the N900 is possibly the most complicated device yet made by the mobile phone division of Nokia. Is it likely that the N900 will have faults just like any other phone/tablet? Absolutely, yes. Is it likely that all those faults will become apparent to the owner within the first week? Absolutely NOT!