Nokia finally added the much needed Camera and the WIFI support to an already good device and that really helped. This was my second Communicator and there was a lot of difference between my earlier 9210 and this one.
The screens were both color and much more brighter and crisper. The keyboard although a tad smaller was equally fast and tactile. The phone retains it’s bulky character like a true communicator. The earpiece is now on the correct side finally.
There is a 5 way button in the fornt used for navigating and clicking the camera, this button is very very cumbersome to use and very delicate too. No matter how much you try to press it ’’In’’ for clicking a photo, it would invariably result in ’’Up Press’’ and the Contacts would open. I have confirmed this with other Nokia 9500 users too and everyone feels the same.
The OS and Applications are much more stable than the 9210 and camera is good. It is a VGA camera but gives amazing clarity and sharpness. The addition of WIFI was welcome and works like a charm.
Lot of 3rd Part applications are available some freely other paid but a lot of variety is definitely there. The phone supports MMC cards like earlier and a 128 MB was supplied alongwith the package.
Now the not so good part. The build quality on my 9500 was pathetic. The phone is delicate and will not survive even a single fall so please be careful. Nokia does not supply a carrying case even with this top end phone and that is a real pain, getting a original Nokia Carrying Case for the 9500 is a big issue as almost nobody stocks it. Secondly it is almost 1500/- Rupees so it is very expensive to buy.
The hinges on my Nokia 9500 decided to give way one fine morning after around 6 months. There was no breakage or fall or external damage, but they just became loose and the cover became loose. The authorised dealers (HCL Bangalore) told me that this was not covered under warranty, but after arguing with them they finally say the light of day and had to change the hinges as there was no external damage. I can only say that the quality is not as good as the older 9210 and that the phone tends to wear out quite easily.
Then came the second incident, the phone part just stopped working one fine day, no signal nothing on the outside screen, . The PDA part was absolutely fine, again the Nokia Dealer (HCL Bangalore) took it for repairing and took almost a month to get it back. Finally I got it back in working condition after complaining in writing to Nokia directly. The phone came back alright, but the condition it came back was pathetic, the entire casing had marks on it as is though someone has pried it open forcefully and the keyboard part was so delicately put together that I feared it would open up if I tried to wirte a small email quickly.
Finally I sold the phone on the same day at a loss of over 10K, I was totally frustrated with Nokia Helpline and their dealers.
Finally a good phone but only if you can care for it like a baby.