Nokia India offers SMS duff battery check

WHEN NOKIA recently announced the recall of its BL-5C batteries manufactured by Matsushita, the INQ was told that owners could only check their battery serial number via the Net or a helpline (voice call).

So it was a particular surprise to discover that there was indeed a method of checking the battery number via SMS. Bizarrely this service only appears to have been offered by Nokia India.

So for any of our India readers who want to try it out, this is what you do: Type the letters 'BT' and leave a space. Next type in the 26 digit serial number on the back of the battery.

Send the message to '5555'. Within a few seconds you should get a reply informing you of whether or not the battery has indeed been made by Matsushita (better known as Panasonic). And needs replacement.

The INQ originally thought that the letters 'M1TS' would appear in the serial number but INQ readers have told us that this is not always the case.

In Blighty if you call the standard Nokia helpline - 0845 0455555 - the recorded message simply redirects you back to the Nokia advisory on the Internet.

It's curious that Nokia assumes everyone in Europe has access to the Internet. µ

See Also
Nokia issues advisory on millions of handset batteries