One of the main features of Nokia’s recently released multimedia computers, the N95 is VoIP functionality. Apparently, Orange and Vodafone UK, that are offering the phone for their subscribers in the UK have disabled the Internet telephony option inside the handset.
According to the Inquirer, an Orange spokesperson has confirmed that his company has actually requested Nokia would ship the devices without the Internet telephony capabilities. Moreover, he claimed that this isn’t one of the mobile operators’ attempts to stop VoIP calls in general stating that the reason behind this is the lack of time to test the application thoroughly.
“It is not Orange’s policy to remove VoIP functionality from devices. This a handset specific issue and in this particular instance Orange was asked by Nokia whether they wanted the VoIP functionality switched on or off, and Orange selected off.” “We’re always working to ensure the customer has the right experience,” he maintained.
Obviously, this is a major let down for users that get the phone (that by the way has a really high price tag) only to find out that it was stripped of one of the features it was supposed to come with in the first place. It’s even worse if the customer had picked that phone specifically for its VoIP capabilities.
It’s yet unknown whether or not the mobile operators’ customers have been informed about the removal of the capability. However, apparently there is a solution to this. In case the users insist on having a handset with VoIP capabilities, they might be able to achieve this by flashing a different version of the handset’s OS. But this option is really not recommended. [via]
