Nokia Lumia 900 hit by launch bug

12 April 2012

But 'memory management issue' should be sorted ahead of UK launch

Bad news, but ultimately good news about the Nokia Lumia 900. The bad news being a bug in the software, which is a serious problem when you launch a new flagship phone.

The good news? It should be sorted well ahead of the phone hitting the UK. Phew! The problem on the Lumia 900 causes some handsets to occasionally lose their data connection, an issue confirmed by Nokia itself. The Finnish phone maker said a fix for this 'memory management issue' would be issued on 16 April. With the Lumia 900 landing in the UK at the end of this month, that means the UK will have a problem-free smartphone on the shelves. Sometimes getting things later can be a good thing.

Nokia is keen to make things up to buyers of its Windows Phone, offering affected customers $100 (£63) in call credits. The company said the phone had enjoyed a 'positive response' since being unveiled, but a problem had now been spotted.

'After this flagship device began selling, we identified a software issue,' Nokia wrote in a blog post. 'In short, a memory management issue was discovered that could, in some cases, lead to loss of data connectivity. This issue is purely in the phone software, and is not related to either phone hardware or the network itself. As a proactive and prudent measure, we decided to take immediate action.'

Any users now wishing to wait for the update could trade in their handsets for a model already running the software fix. Some gesture, but this is a big deal for Nokia, which has promoted the phone and the Microsoft operating system heavily ahead of that launch.

It needs to sort this too. On Wednesday, Nokia said it expected to post losses in the first and second quarters of this year, which led to a 14% drop in share price. Picking up a reputation for unreliable phones isn't going to help its cause. Nokia will be hoping its swift action has avoided that.

Source: BBC