ferdia on 14 July 2009:

Mine has loads of vertical scratches on it :

I cant say its affecting the image quality though. As near as I can tell its not the cover, its bits of grit and stuff get stuck under the cover, and get dragged back and forth by it.

Andrew Stanley-Jones on 14 July 2009:

Tons of scratches here

Greg Berger on 14 July 2009:

Mine is scratched as well to the point where I have sent it back to Nokia for Repair. I notice that when the flash is used, the bottom left corner of the pictures has light bleeding into it or hazing out the colors of the picture. I have a picture linked to my twitter account.

Jose_r on 14 July 2009:

not so much scratches (yet) – but did have a clog of dust one time that stopped it sliding properly. Needed to get a toothpick to sort it out.

vinuthomas on 14 July 2009:

Unforunately I've got a scratch on my lens glass, which comes over the lense, so when I take a photo with the flash on, i get a vertical yellow line where the line comes – Quite bad – asked the Nokia care ppl about it, they said they'll get back to me with a resolution for the problem. still waiting

opabloo on 16 July 2009:

Hi yes I check my n97 camera glass got some scratches…
I thing is after some sand betwen camera cover and lens…. nokia must do it with something ))))

Micky Aldridge on 16 July 2009:

Thanks for the mention Mark.! Yes, mine is scratched also.

What I think……One has to wonder why anti-scratch glass was not used here, but I have a horrible feeling it is, but only on one side, thus the N97's out there scratching easily, may have had this glass fitted upside-down during the manufacture of this part.

I have formed a poll on Nokia users about this, so if you too have scratches, get a photo showing them, and post them in the poll thread, also please state where your N97 was made too. Here is the Poll..(please keep to just photos, and where your N97 was made here)

http://www.nokiausers.net/forum/nokia-n97/28878...

We also have discussions thread regarding your thoughts, suggestions, and ideas etc about this issue.

Here is the discussion thread,,.,,

http://www.nokiausers.net/forum/nokia-n97/28816...

cesar on 16 July 2009:

1 deep scratch just right of aperture. small one just left of aperture. Scratches are causing light floods on images.

Mike Macias on 20 July 2009:

Mine is all scratched too Mark. I actually sent my N97 to Nokia care because I wanted to see how they will react to the problem. I'll keep you guys updated here and cover this over at n97fanatics.com as well.

LessThanDoug on 20 July 2009:

Yep, got scratches on mine too. The worst ones are on the part opposite the lens; the part you see when the lens is covered. I sent mine in today to the Nokia Repair Center in Alabama. I hate doing that. Haven't had to send a phone in since my N75 (cracked the screen). I'm worried to death about losing my phone in the mail or it getting destroyed. I should've put the double bubble wrapped envelopes inside of a box…

fishermanalex on 21 July 2009:

it is the same with me …it looks like this is caused by the sliding cover it self

cesar on 22 July 2009:

i just sent my phone in for repair of this issue and a few others. I was told it looks like I scratched it and it wouldn't be warranted. We will see!

MisterPost on 23 July 2009:

Multiple scratches on my first one… Sent it back for exchange, now 2 scratches on my 2nd one. I don't know if it's due to the scratches or the way the lens is put together but the flash floods the left side of every photo I take with the flash on (on both my 1st and 2nd unit). Every Nokia rep I've spoken with (6 so far) tell me “This is the first I've heard of this issue.” I'll keep sending them back until there is a resolution to the issue.

poohkie on 30 July 2009:

Yea/ My 97 had a noticeable scratch superior to where it would affect pic taking. Subsequently, however, two other scratches developed, one right across the center of the lens. All of the cratches are horizontal and linear. The lens cover must have collected something underneath, and with each closure of the lens to prevent scratches, it has actually caused scratches.

DanH on 1 August 2009:

After having camera issues since I got the phone – still there after the firmware upgrade I got mine replaced today (01/08/2009). Basically the camera would not activate and show a black screen. Big issue for me as this was the main reason I purchased the N97 over say an IPhone or HTC etc.

Anyway, it just so happens I inspected the back camera on the phone I had replaced and sure enough it had scratches on the lense cover which are being generated by dust etc being caught the lense cover and scraped across when opened and closed. This is clearly a design fault and I cannot believe Nokia did not know about this.

I suspect the same will happen to my replacement phone at which point I imagine a fight between me, the retailer and Nokia will break out!lol

Nokia used to be such a good company and now release rubbish in order to try and keep up with the apple.

It's funny, I have an old 6680 which still works and does exactly what it was designed to do, no problems with the camera and/or lense cover on that old thing!

I hate to say it, but I wish I had got the IPhone now, rubbish camera but the rest of it is in a different league. So the next version of the IPhone in a years time will be mine, no more Nokia….!

DanH (United Kingdom)

Foo Bar on 4 August 2009:

Same problem here with this Made-in-China-POS. I am so upset about this – I payed 550 Euros and I thought I'd get a high-quality phone. Instead I get this self-destructing crap!

Very bad of Nokia!

rickyycc on 12 September 2009:

i got scratches on the camera lens too and it affected the picture taking when using flash (shading appears)as the scratches just above the camera lens

Eric on 23 October 2009:

Yes me too. Scratches on my n97's lense. Pictures, at night with flash, have a blue glare on their left side. Really embarrassing for Nokia. I am so frustrated with them committing such a simple but amazingly decisive blow, to this phone's quality. This phone cost me $756.40 and I only wish that I never gave Nokia my hard earned money. I called the customer support and they had me send the phone to Huntsville, Alabama.
I will see what they do to fix this problem. Depending on how they handle this problem I may or may not be a customer of theirs again.

Oh and Nokia if you are reading this: Replacing my phone with another, used phone, that will only be scratched again by the same process – will not suffice.

peterroberts on 31 October 2009:

Yes, my camera puts a shadow across the screen when the flash is used and I gues it must the very fine scratches in the lens cover causing it.

What are Nokia going to do about this? I have never had so many problems with a phone as with this N97. It really os not fit for purpose and should never have been released into the market.

Eric on 3 November 2009:

Well this is my second post. I sent my phone in to Nokia so that they could fix the camera. They paid the shipping via UPS by 2 day air (both ways) and kept me updated on the status of the repair.
They surprised me with the length of time it took to repair my phone. 8 days all and all, including none business days (weekend), to get my phone back. It is repaired and I know it is the same phone I sent them. I think they they replaced the entire back portion of the phone, including camera with NO scratches.
Repairing a faulty product is the most fundamentally basic thing companies need to do in order to keep customers. I am happy to report that the repair process has kept me as a Nokia customer. I give them strong ovation for standing by their customers and repairing the damage. Thank you Nokia. You have kept me on your side.
I found this site that described what is repaired, etc. http://www.nokiausers.net/N-Series/Nokia-N97-Ma...

neels on 30 January 2010:

Had mine for 2 days before lense scratched. pics fine without flash, but flash blurs half the pic. Nokia should replace lense for sure and keep on doing it everytime it scratches…

ex peeved n97 user on 16 April 2010:

i removed the scratched glass on my N97, result……perfect pictures again, i think i scratched mine when snapping photos at the beach where airborne particles get everywhere. One thing thats very important to note is that the underside of the slider has a spring loader with a sharp end sticking out. Place the sharp end of the spring in the hole on the phone so that your slider will function as it did before – i.e. opening the camera app when the slider is slid back to expose the lense.
I took out that scratched glass piece ( which also cracked upon peeling it off ), and replaced it with a chopped up smooth credit card plastic painted black in permanent marker ink. OK it doesnt look as good as it was but now i'm a happy N97 slider dude. awesome !!!