Nokia comments on Nokia Lumia 800 battery life concerns [Updated: Nokia India Statement]

Featured

by Clinton Jeff | on December 19th, 2011 | 3 comments

Nokia has responded to battery life concerns faced by Lumia 800 owners. This comes after their previous statement last month, about the same issue.

Apparently there’s a software bug that’s limiting the Windows Phone to use the full available battery capacity. The official statement goes:

On Monday 12th December some of our customers started to comment in various social media that the preloaded diagnostics tool in some of the Nokia Lumia 800 phones was showing lower battery capacity than expected. We immediately started to investigate these reports and can now confirm that while the battery itself is fine, a software problem on certain variants is limiting the phone’s ability to access the full battery capacity. We want to stress that this issue has not been found to affect the recently introduced Nokia Lumia 710.

The good news is that as this is a software problem it can be easily resolved. The planned software update in early 2012, as well as including many performance enhancements, will also include a fix that will enable the affected phones to access the total battery capacity. For anyone who does not want to wait for the software update, Nokia can arrange for a replacement phone. Anyone who requires any further clarification should contact Nokia Care (Care contact details and locations can be found at www.Nokia.com/support).

Anyone who wants to know if their phone is affected can run the battery status test from the diagnostics tool already installed on their phone. (The tool is designed for service use and only displays approximate values.) Dialling ##634# opens the diagnostics tool. By accepting the disclaimer and then selecting ‘Battery Status’ from the list of options, anyone will be able to see their available battery charge capacity. If your full charge capacity reads less than 1000 mAh then your phone is affected with this specific issue and you may find it is necessary to charge your phone more frequently than normal. Once the software update has been applied, you should experience much better battery life. In the meantime here are some tips on how to increase your battery performance and you should also make sure you are using the charger that came with the phone, as older chargers may not be as effective at charging the new Nokia Lumia 800.

I’ve been facing the same problems myself, so it’s good to hear that Nokia knows about the issue. Unfortch ‘early 2012′ might be too far way for many potential customers. Then again, it’s Nokia’s first Windows Phone and it’s not like anyone didnt expect there to be some sort of early adopter problems, right?

[via Nokia Support Discussions]

Update: Nokia India just got in touch with us to let us know that the impact in India has been minimal since the Lumia 800 only went on sale here over the past weekend.

The Nokia India statement is:

India impact will be minimal since we just started shipping Nokia Lumia. However, incase any consumers in India are impacted, we will do are best to delight the consumers to bring out the Nokia Lumia experience.
• Following GLOBAL reports of examples where the preloaded Diagnostics tool in the Nokia Lumia 800 was showing lower than expected levels of full battery charge capacity we immediately conducted extensive testing on the devices at a global level.
• Following the tests, we can now confirm that while the battery in the devices is fine, in some variants a software problem is preventing the phone from accessing the full battery capacity.
• The good news is that as it is a software problem it can be easily resolved and the planned early 2012 software update, as well as including some performance enhancements, will also include a fix that will enable the affected phones to access the total battery capacity. Once this update is applied customers should experience much better battery life.
• Anyone customer who needs further clarification is being asked to contact Nokia Care (Care contact details and locations can be found at www.Nokia.com/support)

You can also contact @NokiaIndia on twitter or on their Facebook Page for help if you have any questions.

Follow us on Facebook:

Author Description

Clinton Jeff

Clinton is currently based in New Delhi, India and is executive editor for UnleashThePhones. He is responsible for all editorial decisions, and covers all forms of Mobile and mobile-related accessories. Cj is addicted to caffeine, social media, and technology. Always up for a good conversation, you can reach him through the contact form, his website, on Google Plus or on Facebook or Twitter: Follow @clintonjeff