Choosing a Mobile Phone

Having realized that my requirement is for a good mobile phone and not for a camera phone, I decided to switch from the Nokia 6230 to a Nokia 6610 for the following reasons:

1. After using the Nokia 6230 for a period of 4 months I find that though the phone is excellent but the photograph quality is very poor and though you have the advantage of attaching the photograph of a person to the phone book entry – one needs to make sure that the photographs are taken outdoors in sunlight or under extremely bright conditions otherwise the photograph quality is poor.

   
   




2. Also, the phone features between the Nokia 6230 and the Nokia 6610 were almost similar in terms of both offer:

   
   




3. Tri-band Operation

   
   




4. MMS

   
   




5. GPRS

   
   




6. HSCSD (High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data)

   
   




7. WAP Browser

   
   




8. Stereo FM radio

   
   




9. Integrated Handsfree speaker

   
   




10. Automatic key guard

    
    




11. Customizable and timed profiles

    
    




12. Monophonic and Polyphonic ringing tones

    
    




13. Wallpaper: Full-screen color image

    
    




14. Screen saver: Digital clock

    
    




15. Clock, alarm clock

    
    




16. Calculator, currency converter

    
    




17. Stopwatch, countdown timer

    
    




18. Connectivity options: IR and cable

    
    




19. Downloadable personal applications via Java™ technology

    
    




20. SMS (up to 150 text messages or 50 picture/concatenated messages)

    
    




21. Calendar notes (up to 250 entries)

    
    




22. To-do list (up to 30 entries)

    
    




23. Images (10 preset, all removable)

    
    

The difference between the Nokia 6230 and the Nokia 6610 is that the Nokia 6230 has the following additional features:

• Digital VGA Camera

  
  




• MP3 Audio Player

  
  




• E-mail over SMS

  
  




• MMC Card – this allows you a higher memory and one can store upto 1000 contacts whereas in

  
  

the 6610 one can store upto 300 contacts with 5 entries per contact

• Bluetooth Connectivity

  
  




• Voice dialing

  
  




• Voice commands

  
  




• Voice recording up to 3 min

  
  




• Talk Time is marginally better

  
  

However, despite having mentioned some of the additional features of the Nokia 6230 – I must admit that other than the Camera I have not used any of the other features and do not miss the Camera at all as I hardly used it due to the poor photograph quality. Also, the Nokia 6610 is priced at almost less than half the price of a Nokia 6230. Besides, I was lucky a friend was looking for a Bluetooth Nokia phone and I was able to get a good price for my Nokia 6230.

The weight of a Nokia 6610 is 84 grams and the approximate Talk Time that I get is 3 hours with a stand by time of 2 to 3 days.

I would like to request all who are bitten by the Camera Phone Bug to really consider the following:

1. Assess the features that you need and will use in a Mobile Phone.

   
   




2. Consider buying a Digital Camera with mega pixels instead of a Camera Phone

   
   




3. Check the photograph quality in low light not in bright tube light conditions.

   
   




4. If one is still interested in a Camera phone make sure the mega pixels are correct and the Camera Phone has a built in flash.

   
   




5. Keep in mind whether you want a mobile phone or a Camera

   
   

I must mention here that the price for a Nokia 6610 being shown under MS Shopping is Rs. 15, 819.00 whereas the Maximum Retail Price for a Nokia 6610 in India is Rs. 9, 959.00. I had reported this error to Mouth Shut about a week ago but no action has been taken by them till date.