N95 - not suited to Australian or tropical conditi...

Question

I recently got an N95 and while on holidays with my new phone in Cairns in tropical queensland it started to play up a little. it turns out that while talking on the phone in hot conditions any sweat that was on my face ingressed into the keypad. The end result was loss of keypad function and backlight. I returned it to the dealer where I purchased the phone to have it returned to nokia for repair. The turn around in service was pretty quick but the result I believe was unsatifactory. I was told that due to ingress of moisture the warranty is invalid and the phone would be returned to me unrepaired. Now I have a very expensive piece of junk. this phone is clearly not suitable for Normal Australian conditions or any tropical environment for that matter where the user my perspire. I suggest if you are thinking of getting one of these phones and you live in the tropics you should always use the hands free mode or have your sweat glands surgically removed.
Don't get a Nokia - there are many more options out there. I work for One of the largest employers in Australia and will be sharing this story on the forums at my workplace also.

Answer 1

Unfortunately any kind of water damage is not covered by the warranty (same as if you were to get an MP3 player wet with sweat) so I don't really think you should be surprised that it was not going to be fixed for free.
dpnk - My surpirse was that nokia would release a phone that could be damaged through normal use under normal conditions. I am not in the habit of holding an mp3 player to my face. I don't think it's unreasonable to do so with a phone. If a product can't handle certain conditions then it shouldn't be sold or marketed in areas where they are likely to come under those conditions.
A pricey handset as you have put it should be able to withstand someone talking on it in conditions of 32C. It has not been determined whether the damage was made due to perspiration or if it was because of humid/tropical conditions. Either way if a product is made to be held against the face for a period of time, then the design of the product should bring this into consideration. The same if the phone is going to be sold in different climatic conditions. If I purchased the phone in Australia then spent 6 months in antarctica and the phone died due to the extreme cold, I would be more accepting of the situation as it is not what I deem normal in relation to where I made the purchase.
In regards to your last comment -
"If this problem was THAT common, as you speculated, then there would be a lot more known about it and you probably would be able to find an N95 on sale as much as you do in your part of the world, so that comment is redundant really."
I am left bewildered and confused, I never mentioned that it was a common problem anywhere - one of the reasons I started this topic, apart from being angry was to get a little feedback on the issue to see how common the problem was.
In my opinion I never treated the phone in a way that would be determined unreasonable. I never exposed the phone to any environment that is out of the ordinary for where I purchased it. So I am still left bitter and now using an Ericsson which has always served me well in the past under all kinds of conditions, and will no doubt be my phone of choice into the future.