Nokia issues advisory on millions of handset batteries

So you can now get a free replacement. But it's only the ones manufactured by Matsushita Battery Industrial that are affected.

Nokia is stressing that no instances of serious injuries or property damage have been reported. The fault also only occurs when the battery is being charged.

The company says the warning applies only to 46 million batteries out of the 300 million it has shipped already. Matsushita is just one of its suppliers for this part

Those possessing such an item can request a replacement only if the BL-5C battery has been manufactured by Matsushita between December 2005 and November 2006.

There's a special page on the Nokia web site concerning this bungle here. It outlines which models are affected and advises how to check if Matsushita made the battery or not.

You have to take the battery out to check its serial number. The characters 'M1TS' are what you're looking for. Remember this usually zaps your call log so save any desired telephone numbers beforehand.

You can buy such a battery retail for £8 so Nokia's liability is £368 million at worst. There's no indication if Nokia will help resellers inform their customers of the potential problem. µ