Ok, so I got o2 customer service to tell me...

[Arterion]

...what they 'think' the n95 will sell for subsidised. I'll say now that he maintained that they wouldn't get any 'official' pricing info 'til a day or two before it lands (which has been confirmed now as April 2nd), but the guy told me 'there's talk around here that we're looking at it being free on £35+ tariffs'.

Now, I was expecting it to be more expensive than that, so i'm definitely not holding my breath for this one, but thought it was worth a mention anyway.

[pseudofinn]

That's outstanding. Very little chance that should a device this powerful make it to the US, we would find it as a free device. I had to pay $250 USD for a 6682 last year from Cingular, who branded and I'm sure crippled it in some fashion I'm not aware of, and had to sign up for a two year contract. Since it's the best network in the US that Nokia hasn't forgotten (Sadly, not too many Nokia handsets are made for Verizon's frequencies in the US anymore) I wasn't too concerned about being locked in another contract.

At any rate, if that turns out to be the deal... pretty good pricing- and it makes me a little more sad that the N95 isn't going to be picked up by any US operators, thus no subsidizing. That does of course mean Cingular isn't going to kill the wifi and whatever else they desire on the N95 that I will be using on their network. 8)

[mariokarter]

but if they did pick up the n95, you could get it with the subsidy and then debrand, reflash, refirmware it to get full functionality.

[Arterion]

Originally Posted by mariokarter

but if they did pick up the n95, you could get it with the subsidy and then debrand, reflash, refirmware it to get full functionality.

You could do I guess, but wouldn't this send your warranty straight to hell?

[pseudofinn]

Originally Posted by Arterion

You could do I guess, but wouldn't this send your warranty straight to hell?

HA! Good one.

You guys know anyone that debrands N95s, anyhow?

[Arterion]

You guys know anyone that debrands N95s, anyhow?

Not yet, but it usually happens before long, particularly on phones which aren't running on a generic firmware; 'proper' OS's like WM or Symbian exist before the phone and the branding, so the original will always be out there to be found...I think at least.

[pseudofinn]

Eh... no use for me anyway. The N95 in it's apparent current form won't support cingular's HSDPA network in the US. Based on that and the fact that Nokia can't figure out how to market high-end devices in the States means I have better chances finding a Cingular Nokir M95 to debrand anytime this year...

This device is completely worth the price tag for me anyway- just as long as I can find it from a source that isn't ready to take advantage of me on the price... which probably means the golden scenario of purchasing it at a Nokia store. If they jack the price up, I'm likely to freak out pretty bad.

[mikecouk]

I'll just add that vodafone UK also said exactly the same thing, that it would be free with my 35 pound a month contract. Didn't quite believe it at first, but I'm feeling more confident now that you've said that O2 have said the same !

Mike

[Arterion]

Originally Posted by mikecouk

I'll just add that vodafone UK also said exactly the same thing, that it would be free with my 35 pound a month contract. Didn't quite believe it at first, but I'm feeling more confident now that you've said that O2 have said the same !

Mike

Hmm, maybe this will be the case then. Man, half the country is gonna have one of these things!

[pseudofinn]

You lucky *******s. Half of this country isn't even going to know what an N95 is!!