Apr 22, 2015 08:33 PM
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After Microsoft bought Nokia, it seems our most favorite and most trusted mobile brand now ceases to exist. Anyway, I am here not to discuss the fate of Nokia in the long run, rather I will be concentrating on Nokia 206, a very good feature fone. As usual this review goes with some factual details with 10 point performance scale.
Build quality: Its nice in one word. It has 2.4" screen with 320x240 resolution. It is a candy bar type fone. On top there is a 3.5 mm audio jack and Charging port. Left has SIM2 tray, right side is completely bare. The Navigation D PAD and other keys of the keypad are very well spaced, comfortable and very easy to use. They all lit up except the D Pad. Back side has a 2 mp camera and Speaker grill under the camera. Surprisingly, I could not find the exact location of Microphone. The box comes with a earphone. The fone has a nice Grip. Back side is easy to open but Memory Card slot is not hot swappable. Fone is strong enough to withstand day to day rough usage. (10/10)
Basic functions: It is a Dual SIm fone and the functionality is different from Samsung. To choose the 2nd sim u have to select from sim 1 or sim 2 every time as there is no dedicated Sim Switch key like Samsung fones and I think the implementation in case of Nokia is better than that of Samsung. Contacts have storage capacity of 1000 or may be more and SMS has unlimited storage with Multiple Selection facility for both. In call voice quality is clear and crisp and there is no Voice Leakage problem like some of Nokia’s horrible low end handsets. Signal catching is strong in most of the places(except some poor coverage areas). Ringtones are actually very loud. Vibrator is strong enough. Memory card supported and I used a 4 gb memory card. (9/10)
Software: It is built with Symbian Series 30/Series 40 platform and comes with 4 pre-installed games like Asphalt 6, Block Breaker, Green Farm etc. There are organizer apps like Calendar, Alarm Clock, Calculator, Converter, Voice Recorder, To Do list, Notes, Countdown Timer, Gallery, Stopwatch etc. Unfortunately there are several useless apps like Gift, Nokia Life, E-buddy, News and Offers etc. Youtube, Whats App etc. are there but with slow connectivity they seldom work properly . Actually, I could not use Whatsapp at all in this fone. (9.5/10)
Connectivity: Bluetooth works smooth. GPRS with 2G is as usual slow. There is no 3G or Wi-Fi. (7/10)
Battery: It has a 1200 mah battery. For a moderate daily use like 25-30 minutes of call, a few texting and listening to songs for 40-45 minutes etc, the battery easily lasted for 3-4 days. May be it is not spectacular but it is reasonably good though not as good as Samsung Metro Duos C3322. (8/10)
Multimedia: Music player has good interface but no in built Equaliser. It supports background playing. Repeat, Shuffle are there and Play via Bluetooth too. Supplied Headset is not in-ear. It is good for voice calling but 3rd party headphone is required(preferably Creative EP 630, my all time favorite) for better music experience. FM radio output is fantastic in well coverage areas. It has Recording feature. U can also set favorite stations with shortcuts by 1-9. (9/10)
Camera: It has 2 mp camera without flash. Daylight pics are up to the mark. However low light pics come noisy. Cam interface is good. Video taken with QVGA resolution and not so good. Overall the camera is ok but could be better. (7.5/10)
Conclusion: It is selling at approx INR 3500/- . Price is a bit high comparing Samsung Metro Duos C3322 with more or less same specs but lower price. However, the overall performance is commendable. Recommended.
