Shiuld I be worried about Nokia's Windows Phones?

[Luisraul924]

We've all come to appreciate and love the high quality phones that Nokia manufactures, right? We're all happy that build quality is coming to windows phone... But are we? I thought the awesome build quality was Nokia manufacturing not Compal's... Did this really fly below everyone's radar? Compal becomes Windows Phone 7 ODM: Will fulfill Nokia and Acer orders | MobileTechWorld

 

[Duvi]

HTC used to do the same where they would put the carriers name and such... Cingular 8525 for example.

 

[HeyCori]

I was under the impression that Nokia already operated much in the same way Apple does; they come up with the design and then pay another company to build it.

 

[Luisraul924]

Yeah this sucks, big time. Instead of having a Windows Phone built with quality by Nokia, were going to have Windows Phones built by an outsource company and slapped with a Nokia sticker. Looks like they have gone the way of the capitalists.

 

[Luisraul924]

I was under the impression that Nokia already operated much in the same way Apple does; they come up with the design and then pay another company to build it.

Perhaps, but I'm not entirely sure it was Compal building their previous products. I took a look at a list of big name companies that outsource their manufacturing to Compal and the build quality of those companies laptops desktops and other computing electronics aren't exactly great, companies like Acer, Dell and HP. My experience with the aforementioned companies' products have always been average at best. Especially Dell laptops, they break too easily, just opening the damn thing makes all kinds of squeaks and noises.

Edit: I just realized, I now know for a fact that Compal was not Nokia's ODM for their Symbian devices, or else the linked articles' title wouldn't have been "Compal now taking Nokia's orders"

 

[Winterfang]

As long as the phones are good.

 

[Luisraul924]

As long as the phones are good.

Well that's the point, now that this has happened I highly doubt the Nokia Windows Phone devices are gonna be any better than HTC or Samsung, which in my opinion, are the best OEMs backing Windows Phone right now but yet I'm still disappointed with the quality of the devices. I'm really really hoping that my theory of "testing the water before taking a dive" is correct, that way, we know mango devices will be solid from these manufacturers.

 

[hardrock1a]

Outsourcing happens like this all the time. If Nokia or any OEM does not stay on top of the QA, there will be problems. If they are proactive, stay on top of the builder, and use quality materials, there should never be a problem.

Apple does this with ALL of their products, maybe not this company, but one just like it.

QA is essential, and holding the builders feet to the fire to maintain that quality is the key. So it depends on the company.

 

[HeyCori]

And to be fair, Dell never cared about quality.

 

[Duvi]

Apple does it as well like hardrock1a said and I believe Nokia is doing it so they can have a presence in the U.S. market with cheaper smartphones. Outsourcing reduces costs a lot and that is the main reason Nokia devices that should have come on AT&T never made it. Rogers got a few of them and all Nokia had to do was tweak it a bit for AT&T and we would have had some of the same handsets (and more).

I will pay good money for a good Nokia with Mango, awesome battery life and great optics, but most consumers won't. They'll quickly buy an HTC device with 8MP over a Nokia that has 5MP and costs more, not even realizing that sh*t lenses and sh*t optics HTC uses.

I'll just want to see how everything plays out. Nokia already said they are making WP their primary focus, so I expect them to be on top of production unlike Symbian where they really gave up on it.

 

[Luisraul924]

Ok it's good to hear these responses... Of course the best thing to do would be to just wait and see the devices for myself. This does raise one question though, with it technically being Compal's hardware and Microsoft's software... Where does Nokia fit in apart from slapping their name on it to make the profits?

 

[HeyCori]

Nokia still has to come up with the design and pay for the parts. Compal just has to build it to specifications.

Kind of like how Samsung is one of Apple's biggest suppliers but the iPhone is still built by a third party.

 

[Duvi]

Nokia makes/designs it. In fact, I think the only thing Compal will do is get the prototype from Nokia and then come up with a plan on mass producing it.

 

[jimski]

Contract manufacturing is not necessarily a bad thing. I worked in contract packaging-manufacturing for 30 years. We were always held to a higher standard than our customers. Actually, we often got the stuff they couldn't do. Nokia still provides the engineering, specs the components and oversees the assembly. Compal provides the infrastructure and human resources. I am not concerned. You would be amazed at how much name brand stuff you own that has never been in a brand owners facility.

Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

 

[jimski]

And in response to some of the Compal produced devices. If Dell, HP, etc., spec out inferior components, then you have garbage in/garbage out. Nothing Compal can do about that. If the components are stellar and the assembly is poor, then you have something to complain about. Outsourcing reduces infrastructure overhead, typically bypasses organized labor, and manufacturers can put more pressure on the outsourced supplier to jump through hoops to work miracles. Lots of advantages.

Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

 

[gsquared]

With so many new models Nokia will be putting out signing up new manufacturing partners should not be a surprise. Will just to site back and see what happens.