I thought I’d start reviewing all the stuff around me. I’m sorry if this is a little dated, but it might help some poor soul who’s just about to shed his/her “cell-ibacy” (sorry for the terrible pun!, I just meant any new cell phone user)
I bought the Nokia 1100 two years ago, I was upgrading from my trusty 3315, My previous phones were the Nokia 1610, which looked like a brick and weighed half as much! And the venerable 5100, which was “ slim and sleek” for the times and cost almost 10K then!
Why did I buy the N1100? Well, it was cheap, and I wanted to stay with Nokia, after having burnt my fingers once with a Motorola (in between the 5100 and the 3315) and I resolved to stick to the Fins hereafter… It wasn;t really cheap then @ 5000, though it is now available at 2600 ! The main reasons I bought it were two: it looked slim and small, and it had a reputation for good battery back up.
To all the cell-ibates, before you buy that fancy phone with a 65K color screen, GPRS, Camera, MP3, PIM, EDGE and other such incomprehensible acronyms, ask yourself, “Why am I buying this?” A good 21 in TV costs less than 10k, So does a music system… Gold is available for 5K a sovereign.. Do you need a phone, or do you need a jukebox?
If you need a phone, then the paramount features are: 1. Reception and 2. Battery backup
Battery backup used to be 2 days or so, until this came along. I was told it has 400 hours standby, which means it will last more than 14 days, if no calls come/go or no SMSs are sent. I never believed it, but it is true. I could go for 10 days, easily a week, in between charges for more than a year, and I used it quite a bit(Say 5-6 calls and 10 SMSs a day)
My record was 15 days, when I went home for 10 days once ( and got no calls).
What all this means is that your battery will last you, even if the indicator is down to one bar (and the Nokia 1100 has 7! Unlike the older models with 3 or4) This means a lot if you have an urgent call, but a low battery. Even with low battery warning, it still will last thru a 10 min call for me. The battery is a Lithium Ion, BL-5C.. they now replace older Nickel Cadmium and Ni Magnesium Hydride(NiMH) cells that needed periodic discharging for optimum efficiency (See my review on cordless phones for more detail). Sice the the cell is B&W, the BL-5C last a real lot for this one, even when you use the torchlight!
Ah!, the torchlight! SUCH a useful add-on. More useful than a camera, if your wallet has fallen down in a dark bus while you are traveling at night! Or if you have to examine someone’s pupillary reflexes or sore throats (ugh ! I know!). There are so many times a torch comes in handy and this one is fine, especially for finding that keyhole in the dark, when the light in front of your flat is fused!
Voice clarity and range: Very good. Good range also, can hear it in tight enclosed areas. More signal bars than other phones in the same area
Charging time : 30 to 45 mins.. Quite fast compared to some Motorola and Samsung models I’ve used..
Keypad: Either you love it or hate it. Is is different, wide plastic sheet type and supposedly dust proof, but dust does enter around the screen plastic... I find it easy to use..
Ok, now to the routine stuff:
1.Phone book: too small at 50 entries .Get a 32 or 64 k SIM (250/350 numbers) if you need to store more
No separate entries for landline, e mail etc, like in the Samsung C110 (I’ll review that next!). real headache, as if you enter two “Viveks”, it’ll ask “Replace Vivek?” and you have to write Vivek2 or something, also the name is limited to 13 characters including punctuation and spaces.. too little..
SMS: Good. Better than the SGH C110, as the T 9 has an addable dictionary (very irritating in the C110, as you have to switch the T9 off to enter names, or technical stuff not in the T9 dictionary). Can go to 460 characters (unlike 160 in ordinary SMS) but you will be charged extra after 160 by the service provider anyway
Tones: Monophonic; Nothing special, I prefer tring-tring to all those fancy songs..
Reminders: Very useful and easy to program (that’s what special about Nokias, they are so easy to use, with minimum button pushes) After my PDA died, I depend on this feature
Profiles: Useful, if you want instant Silent, or LOUD, or discreet, all you have to do is program the profile to beep, flash, or vibrate. Vibrate is standard nowadays and is great in both discreet and noisy situations
Games: Nothing much, Snake2 has a good campaign mode which takes you thru the mazes and Space impact is lousy, I’ve played much better versions, but Ok
Extras: Calculator, Stop watch, Composer( this is good for composing your own ring tones, and more importantly for forwarding good ring tones..) Picture messages are also a plus, not found in a lot of decent phones, but there here
Band. Two band, will work anywhere in India, but not abroad in some areas
Accessories: Cases : 100 per set (grey market) and boom headset 499 (original Nokia and very good), other standard accessories work fine
In summary, this is a good start out phone. It has good reception, good clarity and great battery life.. It is very rugged and survived the standard 5-year-old child test. Those of you with 5 year olds will comprehend, those without, can test it with any standard 5 year old.. It fell down umpteen times in 2 years and is still around.. The covers are cheap at 100 (grey-but are just like the real thing)
Cons, it isn’t color, the phone book is too small and the name size is small too. Also, it doesn’t have the “WOW” factor anymore.
PS: for a few hundred bucks more, those of you who prefer white back lights can buy the N 1108, or if you are really thrifty, spring 50 bucks for white LEDs (available)