Dec 23, 2009 01:01 AM
3566 Views
(Updated Dec 25, 2009 08:47 AM)
I have been waiting for this phone for 6 months and bought it within a week of its launch. I owned a Windows Mobile O2, which was good bulky but very low battery life.
I am putting the review in a likes and dislike format.
Nokia phones are long lasting and very good battery backup and performance.
Features I liked.
The voice dialing is quite good, voice independent dialing. You don't have to record a voice to dial number. Though thats a standard in entry level phones.
Torch, Its very handy especially when there is complete dark in the lift or due to power outage, or just before going to bed, turn it on and slip into the bed and it gets switched off automatically:).
The card reader is very handy, the scanner application scans the business card and converts it to a phone book entry pretty accurately. It recognizes fields like, Name, Designation, Address, mobile landline Fax, company name. I pretty much take the card from shop snap it and give it back. Trying to be green, by saving a business card;). But it's really very handy, don't loose the phone numbers now.
The nokia has listened to me and they have put back the timed profile. As usually I hate if someone's mobile rings during the meeting or gathering. So I chose to set a time say if the meeting is for 2 hours, I usually set it for 2.5 hours, after that it automatically comes out of the meeting profile. So that I don't miss the phone calls when I dump the phone back in home.
There is yet another even smarter application which is really very cool. If you sync your phone with outlook calendar then you can make this app to put the phone in the meeting mode during the meetings automatically and turn it back to normal profile after the meeting.
It's ability to print over the network printer over wifi. So I don't need to open my comp for printing the docs.
The native email client handles the emails and attachments pretty well, don't need the comp any more. Handles the htmls also very well.
The GPS receiver with compass is really good. It finds the location pretty quick within 5 seconds. I use the google maps. Didn't try the Nokia maps though and its navigation. I have tried a lot of them on my Windows mobile and finally resorted to the google maps. As it keep updating automatically, and I have an unlimited GPRS plan for Rs. 99/- only.(Neighbours envy, Owner's pride;). Even without the external supply in the map mode worked for over 6 hours.
Auto light sensor, the screen brightness adjusts automatically based on the ambiance light. Saves battery.
The accelerometer is cool, just pick the phone don't want to answer keep it back turned facing down. It's silenced:). Really very cool for the unknown numbers during the weekend after lunch naps. It rings even if its face down, but silence when you turn it down when ringing.
Yes, it has the USB charging facility too, though its bit slow in charging through the USB interface. The AC power Adapter charges in less than 2 hours(didn't profile exactly). The USB takes almost double. The supplied USB cable is of small size so I always carry it in my pocket, I find it very good for office use, as the longer cables is very clumsy to carry around.
It allows you to use any headphone with the handset, even for making calls. It gives you three option whether its a headset/Headphone/Line Out. So if you choose the Headphone option it will use the mobile's native mic, instead of the mic on the headset. There is no button apparently on the stereo headset supplied. So took some time to find out the call pick and disconnect button on the back side, which has small handset made out of line. You cannot imagine that its a button:), to pick and release the call. Headset is quite sleek. Sound quality is average. Since you have a 3.5mm Jack so spend some bucks to buy a Bose headset with Active noise cancellation;).
Single key for silent profile and bluetooth on/off on long press.
I think I have written enough goodies about this. Coming to the negativesnow.
The email client simply stops receiving the mails and after few days it resumes receiving the mails. Though it sends out the email but cant receive. Even if you delete and add the email settings it stucks precisely at the same email. I called up, nokia care but their suggestions didn't yield anything. I did the master reset, factory reset and re-image the phone but that didn't help. I have asked them to raise a case and find the issue. I hope it gets fixed in their upcoming releases.
The optical sensor doesn't work when a call is active. Probably a bug, again reported to Nokia.
The hanged a couple of times when receiving the call. Though didn't see it happening after re-imaging the phone.
It gets sluggish at times when accessing the mail client/browser but it recovers in a minute or so. The other functionality works fine though, you can switch between the applications. I think it shows good multi tasking capabilities.
The optical sensor I am not yet fully comfortable in using it. It doesn't give you the precise control as you get in the BlackBerry's roller. May be it's a software adjustment which can fix it. It works good in the browser, where it has acceleration sensor if you slide your finger quickly over it. But works in limited apps only.
The camera is 5 mega pix but not so clear, the focusing is not so good. The auto-focus works, when you just keep your finger on the optical sensor.
I upgraded to the latest Quick Office then my printing functionality got disabled. So rolled back to the original version. Though the latest Quick office 6.x or something is pretty fast than the natively installed. Same document opened in 1/3 time. Probably wait for a fix or try again.
Probably the flashlight on time using the spacebar should be shorter. You have to press almost 4 seconds to switch it on/off. I think it should be probably 1-1.5 seconds. It works only in the idle mode.
The grip is missing so it tends to slip off from your hand, so hold it tight or your booty may slip off from your hands. Probably the sides should be rubber material/coating like it's in O2 Flame.
Over all I would like to give a 7.5 on scale of 10. I would have rated it 8+ if it didn't had the negatives. Which I think can be mostly eradicated by software upgrade. I hope Nokia listens:)
