Posted 28/03/2000 3:53pm by Linda Harrison

Dodgy software found in Nokia WAP phones

Vodafone has sent more than 2,000 WAP phones destined for UK users back to Nokia because of a software fault.

Dodgy software in the Nokia 7110 caused Vodafone UK to return 2,500 of the handsets to Nokia HQ in Finland this month. Vodafone said it noticed the problems when the WAP handsets arrived at its testing warehouse.

According to a representative of the network operator, Nokia's first batch of handsets launched late last year had glitches in the software. These were related to how the browser worked: connection to the gateway, page display and navigation were all very slow.

Nokia has now upgraded the software, and solved the problems, Vodafone claimed. But the delivery it returned to Nokia this month contained phones with the original version of the software in it.

"We've had WAP handsets [from Nokia] in store since January  some with one lot of software, and others with another. This batch had outdated software on it," she told The Register<. "The phones weren't recalled. They got to the warehouse, where the software problems were noticed, and we sent them back".

Orange also confirmed hitches with the Nokia WAP phones. "Orange did experience problems with early versions of the software on the Nokia 7110. But we ensured that the product sold to customers reached our own high standards," said one representative.

Orange had returned a number of handsets to Nokia, but was not aware of any recent problems. It said the handsets had not been recalled from customers.

BT Cellnet, the third operator offering this model, wasn't aware of any problems with its own deliveries

http://www.theregister.co.uk/

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), March 29, 2000