Regular readers of my personal blog will know that - pre-Really Mobile launch – after discovering the N97 was due to be launched on Vodafone UK later this June, I happened upon a rather sumptuous nugget of information regarding another much anticipated device…
Chatting on the phone with Vodafone’s customer services, I thought I’d bring up the subject of the Nokia N86.
The conversation went something a little something like this:
“Do you have the N86?”
“Well it is here, but it has a question mark next to it.â€
“Oh. Is that bad?â€
“Oh no Mr Whatley, it just means we’re still testing it. I can’t confirm that we are going to get the N86 in stock but I can tell you that we have it here internally and we’re testing the software to make sure it works correctly “
Great stuff…
BUT as yet still unconfirmed.
Soon after the above post went live, I heard from a number of sources that I may very well be incorrect, the N86 would not be coming to Vodafone and, that just because Vodafone are doing the testing, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be doing the selling.
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For example, Voda may very well be putting the phone through it’s paces on behalf of Phones4U, who coincidentally were first to market here in the UK with the Nokia N85.
So, who to believe?
Well this morning I get another tick in the ‘Yes they will’ box via a source inside a Vodafone store who said that they’d had a Nokia rep in-store this week who had informed them that yes indeed they would be getting the N86 at some point this Summer.
Another phone call to Vodafone this afternoon and the customer service rep I spoke to could find no longer find any trace of the device on their systems.
The plot thickens…
Why am I so excited about this phone? Well, this 8 megapixel beauty took me completely by surprise at Mobile World Congress three months back and, although originally pitched as the successor to the much-overlooked Nokia N85 (the N86 test model above was in fact labelled ‘N85 8MP’ on its debut in Barcelona), to my mind the N86 is the true replacement for my much-loved N95 8GB.Â
What’s the deal Voda? Are you or aren’t you?
If you are, then sign me up! I’m in… and I bet I wouldn’t be the only one either.
*sigh*
In the meantime, according to our friends at World of Nokia you can now pre-order the N86 from Play.com SIM free, for a paltry £399.99!
Are you getting one?
I know I am.
I’d just like to know where from…