Nokia has already released a software update for its Lumia 800 smartphone that is supposed to fix a problem with the battery going out too early. While Nokia has already announced plans for a second software update for the phone it will not be released until early 2012. In the meantime the company has issued an official statement on the Nokia support forums that sheds some light on the Lumia 800 battery issue.
According to the statement, Nokia "can now confirm that while the battery itself is fine, a software problem on certain variants is limiting the phone’s ability to access the full battery capacity." The problem does not affect the Lumia 710 which was released earlier this month.
So how do you know if you have picked up one of the Lumia 800 units that has the battery problem? Nokia says the easy way is to launch the phone"s diagnostic tool. It states:
Dialling ##634# opens the diagnostics tool. By accepting the disclaimer and then selecting ‘Battery Status’ from the list of options, anyone will be able to see their available battery charge capacity. If your full charge capacity reads less than 1000 mAh then your phone is affected with this specific issue and you may find it is necessary to charge your phone more frequently than normal.
Nokia says that the second software update should fix this problem. In the meantime, it offers up a list of things that users can do to extend the battery life as much as possible.