Why do you buy the things you buy? What dictates your choices as a consumer?
Do logic and practicality feature in your list of reasons? Great, because sometimes it is a whining child and twisted reasoning, that dictates mine.
I recently bought myself a new cell phone. There was nothing wrong with my trusty Nokia 6600, except that it was more than two years old and my son cringed with embarrassment, and grumbled about it’s poor scarred face, every time I pulled it out of my handbag.
Like water on stone, his whining slowly wore down my resistance to exchanging my old faithful for a Johnny-come-lately. I would have held out a bit longer, but I decided I needed a camera, and because I couldn’t afford one in addition to a new phone, I would get a multi-tasker that did the job of both.
That sealed the fate of my trusty 6600.
The market is flooded with products that multi-task in the most incredible ways to save you time, effort and money, or so the dream-makers say.
So we have floor cleaners which can, in a pinch, be used as a marinade for chicken (no, I don’t want to try it, thank you very much), cars with boots large enough to sleep in (a nifty solution for the homeless yuppie perhaps?) and soft drinks that also double up as enamel dissolvers (did a dentist dream this one up?) - so it wasn’t a stretch to find a camera that made calls too - or is that supposed to be the other way round?
Whatever!
The end result was that I brought home (on the recommendation of a precocious 13 yr old more concerned, I suspect, with his mom’s cool quotient and his chances of stealing it to play games, than with functionality) a Nokia N70.
This phone is being marketed as the next best thing after sliced bread. It is supposed to have the ability to do everything for you other than drive your car and wash your clothes.
Some of the features its manufacturers, and its reviewers go into raptures about are -
The Symbian OS
Active stand-by mode
Humungous memory
Dual cameras, one of which is a 2 MP camera
3G support and video calls
I wouldn’t be able to explain what a Symbian OS was, or what it did, not even if you held a loaded gun to my head, so what you will get in this review is not a hardware analysis but the good, bad, and ugly of this phone as I, a strictly non-technical user, see it.
Design
Pros
-very attractive,
-large display
-camera lens cover
Cons
-plasticky,
-attracts fingerprints and scratches (I use one of those transparent scratch guards, but the metal around the screen still gets ugly)
-tiny fairy-people sized keys,
-a frighteningly flimsy looking memory card slot cover that has to be pried open
-the camera lens cover slides open when you pull the phone up out of your pocket or bag - this unlocks the phone - aarrgghh!
Features
Pros
-active stand by mode offering 6 choices of applications you can get to in a hurry
-good 2 mp camera offering all sorts of editing gimmicks - it even makes movies out of your pics!!
-memory that doesn’t go on strike when you ask it to hold a couple of videos and a few hundred phone numbers, thanks to your access to phone memory, sim memory and the additional memory card option
-nice gallery, calendar, message settings, and ring tones
-the reject call with sms feature is a novelty
-the radio with the preset function is good, as is the sound quality, but you can only listen with headphones, not with the hands-free loudspeaker option you can use for mp3s
-sound, while playing mp3s, is not Bose quality, but is not bad either
-I’d die without the blue tooth function - info transfer is quick, and is the only way I can transfer info to my Mac
-excellent computer interface with a PC - it backs up everything quickly and easily
-the new multi media rhombus key that takes you to any pre-set function in the menu
-a tutorial to help you find your way around the phone
-very good sound quality in both regular and hands-free mode
-brilliant voice dialling
Cons
-the camera in front is practically useless, and is only for narcissists who don’t mind grainy rubbish
-the video quality is very average when viewed on a computer
-video calls? does any service provider even support them??
-sending messages using the tiny keys is a pain - I end up pressing 3 of them at one go!
-those who like infra red will miss it her
-sometimes it seems like the phone functions in slo-mo
Battery and charger
Pros - on a full charge (1.5 - 2 hrs) it lasted me 3 days - for calls and the odd message, not videos. But to be on the safe side, especially since it has a small pin charger, ensuring you can’t borrow just any other Nokia charger to do the job, I suggest you charge it every two days.
Cons - small pin charger - whatever for??? These guys are crazy!
What I use it most for
Yes, I make calls, and I send messages, and I also use it to take short videos and transfer these for viewing, to a PC using the USB cable provided, and to a Mac via bluetooth. Except for messaging which is a pain considering my large fingers and the phone’s small keys, this phone serves my purpose beautifully.
One word of warning here - if you have a Mac, you must know that this phone’s software is not compatible with it. My son says it can be done once the later version of iSync is out, and that it will be out soon.
What I like best
I transferred some word docs. and a 150 slide PPt to the phone, to take out of town - was a seminar-saver. I can read up on work, and transfer info easily when on the move.
What I didn’t try
To connect to the net and to play games. To get info on this, you will need to read ’professional’ reviews, or wait till I discover those joys and then write about them.
What I hate most about the phone
Without a doubt, its inflated price - Rs.25, 500/- boxed and billed, and also knowing this will invariably drop the minute I get the hang of the phone. I bought it only because I got a fairly good exchange deal on my old phone and this does the work of a still/video camera (which I need) and does it well too. (1st feb - the price had already dropped to Rs.22, 000/- B&B, and by the 15th I heard it was available for 20k)
My recommendation
Get this if you can get a good exchange deal, or find some good hearted auditor to approve of it as a legit business expense to write-off, or if you can find someone to buy it for you - and if you can do that, get me a real video camera too.
And a tripod.
Please.
That’s it for now, enjoy!
Want more? Go take driving lessons and buy a washing machine - those are about the only features this phone/camera/whatever thing doesn’t offer you.