Update 08-Nov-2007:- I have edited a few words off the review so as to not hurt the feelings of the reviewer/readers.
Back with another one on cell phones. Ok, now this would be the first mobile which I have owned for the shortest time. Plz read on to find out why.
I was using the Nokia 1112. I wanted to upgrade to a cell with a decent cam, connectivity options & a good music player. I did a lot of research before buying this cell. Of course, mouthshut helped a lot with this. After a long research n wait, I got the phone.
Open the box and the phone sits pretty in the corner n looks awesome too. Now with dimensions of 108.5 x 45.7 x 15.6 mm, it has to look pretty cool. That too only 15.6 mm thick.. really cool. Thats where it stops to impress though.
The front face of the phone is totally glossy including the keypad and screen. So I dont need to tell you all that it is a fingerprint magnet & does not forgive you for touching the keys or screen even by mistake. It gets totally soiled and looks dirty. I dont know about others, but I like my phone to look spotless at all times possible. The back of the phone is totally rubberised and fits very solidly. I was infact afraid I might break it when I wanted to insert the SIM card.
Build quality is quite strong. Phone dint break apart even when it slipped from my hand and fell on the tiled floor once.
The screen is a 256K color screen n not 16.7 million. Ok for the price that you are paying, the screen is quite ok. The designer has given more stress on the keypad which is huge (enormous even) n takes up most of the space of the phone. The only space left for the screen is a meagre 1.6 or 1.7 inches I think.
The keys are very big n for me its a gripe rather than advantage since I am used to fast texting. With keypad like this, I would keep pressing the same key since it is so wide n big. When you are pressing the functional keys, it makes an odd noise like a cheap keypad(probably a prob with only mine... not sure). The tactile feedback is just ok coz when you press the keys, you are not sure if its pressed until you look at the screen. I am the kind who text without even looking at the screen at times.. Phew!! Difficult.
The calling capability of the cell is really good. You can hear the other person speak loud n clear even in heavy traffic at 75% volume. No complaints here. The other person too can hear you well but the mic does not filter the wind n in case you are on the move the person on the other end can only hear the wind n not your voice... Strange for a Nokia!! Signal reception is pretty ok. I am using Hutch(Vodaphone) connection n I seem to get network in basements n the lift in my office at times. No grudges in this department as well.
The ringer volume I would say is just ok n nothing great to brag about. I can say you are likely to miss calls when you are in a noisy surrounding. The vibrating alert though is quite strong n does the job to the T.
Since I have covered the screen clarity in the above section, lets move on to the interface. Well nothing new here as well. The tried n tested S40 OS but one thing about this is its quite fast.. Not blistering as some have said... Yes, compared to older S40’s this is fast. Messaging, Contacts n other general stuff is like in all other S40 fones so I wont go into the details here.
Multimedia!! What’s that?? Oh ya the Cam lens that you see at the back of the cell. Well I can say the cam is a tad above the VGA cam.. Nothing too great about it. The small screen n the 1.3MP cam dont gel with each other. The fotos are really average n not great. Think the 3230 cam is leagues ahead of this one. I dint expect the cam to be such a big let down. And yes I have transferred the pics to the PC as well n they are only so so.
Music player is just that. Does the job of playing music that you would have loaded into the phone. If you play it in the loudspeaker, its loud without any finesse to it. No, dont expect to hear the beats/bass or anything.. Just loud music. Hmph..
Radio is a stereo FM(Thank GOD) which plays really well in the earphones provided in the package. The earphones are of good quality n do the job perfectly. But the only prob with the earphone is that it is painful to wear it for more than 45 minutes at a stretch.
Bluetooth and Infrared both are too good and work at blistering speeds when transfering data between Nokia fones as well as SE or Moto ones. No scope for improvement here.
Did I miss something!!? Ah yes, the battery back up. Well I heard a lot of +ve feedback here on mouthshut n elsewhere regarding the battery back up. But alas! It does not live upto it. I shall give u all statistics of my daily usage below:
2 - 3 hours of calls
1 - 1.5 hours of music/radio
5 - 10 minutes of Bluetooth/IR
1 - 2 hour of texting/SMSing
You may call me a power user or a fone abuser or wat not.. But for the above usage, I am able to last the phone for half a day with 40% charge left at the end of the day. Probably it would die in the morning if left uncharged. On an average you can say it lasts me 15-18 hours. This is with the power saver mode on. And yes I have charged the battery well initially before using the fone.
This is really unacceptable. I dont know how the usage of others is but I expect at least 24 hours of useability with one charging cycle.
Hmmm..Wat did I do? I pass this cell to my dad who does not use the cell as much as I do and he wanted a cell with FM to pass his time which this fone does have n a stereo one at that. I am now on the look out again for a decent cell with good camera capabilities and battery back up. I dont mind spending a few thousands more rather than getting everything at a bare basic level for less.
I can say only one thing about this fone.. It has everything you need but at a very BASIC level. Strong points of the phone are its calling capabilites n connectivity options.
Recommend this fone to others.. I have marked yes in the section below as it does not have the option of MAYBE.
Friends, if you are a heavy user of your phone n text a lot, talk a lot(well thats wat cell fone is for eh!), need a decent cam if not a digi cam, a good music player... THEN, plz look elsewhere.
If you use the fone sparingly, for those few odd calls or just a few messages a day, prefer stereo FM over the music player, can stick with the earphones in your ear for a long time, then you can go for this fone.
A bit long I suppose, but I wanted to list almost everything possible from a user perspective.
Adios all!!