Finally after so much hue and cry about Nokia N8 and even talking to few of local dealers, I decided to visit the nearest Nokia Priority center to know the real situation in hands and visited the nearest Nokia Priority Center in New Delhi.
Let me summarize all the info that I got today …
Nokia N8 Pre-Order, Availability and Price in India:
Not in the whole world, but there are huge confusions about the availability of Nokia N8 in India as well. Some saying 15 October, some saying 8 October and some even calling that it will come by November.
Let me make it a full stop here.
1. Nokia N8 is expected to be available on all Nokia Priority dealers by October 15, 2010.
2. Pre-order customers will receive the device by October 8, 2010 or October 10, 2010 max.
3. It wont be available over other stores than NPD’s before November due to huge demands.
4. Pre-orders have began by September 29, some asking 1000 INR, some 2000 INR as deposit.
5. Final price is not clear as of now, but max is 26k or if believe @gauravh1 then 25k.
6. Pre-order customers will receive call about availability and could purchase within 2 months.
Take a look over Nokia N8 dummies at S.D. Enterprises, Gita Colony, New Delhi, which I seen…
Nokia N8 Black (my personal favorite)
Nokia N8 Orange (second favorite of many, I guess its a little darker than the expectations)
Nokia N8 Green (Not one of my favorite, but I seen many loving it as well)
The NPD I visited had no dummies of Silver or Blue and though same might raise the doubt that if they are launching with all the five colors or not, but there are official words from @NokiaIndia that they are actually launching it with all five possible colors. Obviously, they don’t want to be like Apple.
As of now, there is no word over additional accessories or bundled offers. But following are on offer …
1. Free navigation is coming for all with latest version of Ovi Maps that will be 3.06
2. Nokia Push mail will be available for lifetime free that too with default HTML support.
3. Nokia Music Services as of now, not coming for free, though some will be preloaded there.
4. There will many great apps pre-installed like Joikuspot and Gravity trial (free versions)
5. As Vox has been closed, Nokia as of now has opted out from Share Online feature. Disappointing.
6. No big game coming with the package, not even free ones.
7. As of now, no news if they will bundle Bluetooth Headset for even pre-order customers.
8. Nokia isn’t giving the stylus with Nokia N8, makes you think which countries then?
Well!! take it my personal opinion or something, but I found Nokia N8 a little smaller in shape than I was expecting it to be. I mean, I have spend full 15 days with Nokia N900 and that screen always looked huge. May be it the compact exteriors or something but pics always looked big. Should say, its completely pocket-able and Sorry folks, to whom I always said that 4” or 5” devices would be insane. Yes! we wont mind a 4” or 5”, if that keeps the same level of compactness as SGS or iPhone or Nokia N8 have.
Nokia E5 Availability and Price in India
Yes!! very much anticipated Nokia E5 already on Nokia Priority stores on a price 11, 800 INR. Though its disappointing to see that prices on NPDs are always much higher than the market price, but at the same time, its obvious too. Market works that way. but still.. As per info from other dealers, you can make a deal on 11, 200 INR minimum for Nokia E5.
There was no dummy of the same thing there, so I asked them for the box itself. Of course, I wasn’t allowed to open up the same. The green area on the front is highlighting the social integration here, like once Nokia was highlighting free lifetime navigation.
Definitely having a hard to hold my urge to buy one, though disappointing that like Nokia E72, this one also not coming with default HTML support.
Nokia E5 Availability and Price in India
While touch has gotten another name now days; Symbian^3, Nokia has also putting devices like Nokia C6-00 on offer. I wonder what effect this one would have caused, if would have arrived a little earlier. While there are still many reasons to discuss on paper about Nokia E5, for convincing someone to buy Nokia C6-00, you will be needed to focus on price point mostly.
While @NokiaIndia mentioning the price as 15,600 INR, I found that its actually selling on 13, 800 INR from NPDs and even lower from the other dealers, probably 13, 400 INR minimum. Not a bad buy for newly smart phone users interested in touch and type.
The dummy I got to see was of the color white, though I would have liked to see Black one specially, but still what I see from the dummy only, at such a price point and build, its sure ready to take on over Nokia 5800.
Two more new handset spotted there were Nokia C3-00 and Nokia C1-00. Last time, I seen a light colored C3-00 and this time, it was my favorite black one here. Must say, that is the best thing you could gift someone, who don’t care about high end things like Maps or Internet and for later on.. it got wi-fi on it.
Nokia C1-00 was the phone, the NPD guy was actually selling to someone right then, when I reached. I didn’t asked the price, though took the dummy of same in hands once to take a feel of it. Felt something like Nokia 2600 from past.
By the way, the journey to that Nokia Priority dealer was completely guided by Ovi Maps.
Though at a moment, I was completely frustrated by the fact that why Nokia India chosen to provide dealership to such an interiorly location shop than the earlier bigger shop that was located in Laxmi Nagar Main Market.
I must say, even if you are in around 50 meters away from the place, it might happen that stupid people out there will say that they never heard of the address I am talking about. You need maps in your phone, take your preference, go Nokia, go Ovi or go Android and go Google…. but have a GPS enabled phone for sure.
So, this was the story of my visit to a Nokia Priority dealer today. Hope it will solve many of the queries from you people and will save a visit on your behalf. Have a nice time waiting for Nokia N8. Keep tuned in.
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