A Well Designed Text Messaging Phone.
Written: Jul 17 '03 (Updated Jul 17 '03)
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Pros: QWERTY keyboard, speakerphone, FM radio, distribution lists, voice dialing.
Cons: Poor battery performance, no Bluetooth.
The Bottom Line: A well designed text messaging phone with a full QWERTY keyboard. However corporate email users should look elsewhere.
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| aashok's Full Review: Nokia 6800 |
Digital Cellular Networks.
I remember the first digital networks made available to the consumers in the NY tristate area. One was a fledgling company called Omnipoint that was slowly rolling out Americas first GSM network. The other was Sprint PCS and their CDMA networks which were adapted from old US military technology. Omnipoint went on to become Voicestream, which was eventually purchased by the German telecom giant Deutche Telecom (DT). It is now called T-Mobile. Since most of the popular 900mhz frequencies were already in use by analog networks, most of these digital networks were based on the 1800-1900mhz band. The biggest problem with these higher frequency networks was a reduced range and poor infrastructure penetration. This problem still persists today, in spite of significant improvements in technology. Comparatively in Europe and Asia, the digital networks are mainly based on the 800-900mhz bands. The advantages of digital networks along with the improved range and reception, make them far superior to what is available in the US. The advent of digital cellular networks in North America, brought with it some substantial advantages to consumers. The sound quality was significantly improved, but most significant was the ability to be able to send and receive wireless data, text messages, e-mails, pictures and browse the wireless web. All the major cell phone manufacturers were only too eager to manufacture and market these new digital phones. Motorola, Nokia and Ericsson were initially the most popular brands. In the last 5 years, these phones have evolved quite a bit. The models available today have organizers, PDAs MP3 players and even digital cameras built-in. However text messaging still remains one of the most popular cell phone activity. Enter the Nokia 6800.
What is it?
The Nokia 6800 is a cell phone designed around one single purpose. Namely text and SMS messaging. Most phones sold today only have a numeric keypad that doubles up for text entry. However typing even a very short text message using only the numeric keypad, is like tying your shoelaces with chopsticks. You could do it, but why? The past attempts to include an alphanumeric keyboard, resulted in large clumsy devices such as the Nokia 9000 series communicators. Yes they also had the PDA functions, but they were huge. The 6800 is among the first compact sized cell phones with a flip open full alphanumeric keyboard. One of my co-workers had recently purchased one. So in the interests of research, I grudgingly exchanged my Sony Ericsson P800 for the 6800. I used it for little over a week.
Design and specifications.
The 6800 is a dual band 850/1900mhz, GSM/GPRS phone. My test phone had been activated on the Cingular network. My first impression was that the phone was quite light, and felt very comfortable in the hand. The external numeric keypad was fairly easy to use. The screen was bright but not as clear as the Samsung SGH-v205. The menus were slightly different from the older Nokia phones, but easy enough to follow. The 4096-color display in the 128x128 pixel LCD, rotates by 90 degrees when the keypad is flipped open. The flip itself is sturdy and feels like it will last. The full size keyboard keys seemed a bit stiff initially. But I got used to them after about 30 minutes. There is a built-in infrared port. The internal antenna worked well. During the week, I did not find an inordinate amount of dead spots in the NYC area. The phone measures approximately 4.5 x 2.25 x 1.0 inches, and weighs about 4.3 oz.
Included in the box.
Nokia 6800 phone, BLC2 battery, HDS3 headset, ACP12 travel charger, user guide, applications CD-ROM and a bunch of other pamphlets you will never look at.
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WHAT’s HOT.
QWERTY keyboard and messaging options.
This is the most notable selling feature of this phone. There are numerous messaging options included. The keyboard makes it extremely easy and convenient to compose e-mails and SMS text messages. It also makes it very convenient to manage your personal data such as contacts in the phonebook, notes and alarms. While browsing the wireless web, it is easier to input URLs, searches, etc. You can also play the included games using the keypad and both hands. Other phones like the Sony Ericsson P800, use graffiti software for text input. While I prefer to use graffiti, I found using the keyboard on the Nokia 6800 was quite refreshing. I did not have to pull out a stylus. I just had to flip it open and start typing. This is a noticeable advantage when you want to send a quick response to an e-mail or an SMS message. The keypad has a familiar layout. The numeric buttons are along the top. Below those are the alphabets, and below those are the shift and space bar buttons. All these buttons have a soft backlight that makes them usable at night.
Speakerphone.
In my personal usage, I find the speakerphone function very necessary and convenient. It enables me to continue working while speaking with a client. It seemed to work fine when I was in a quiet office or inside my car. However I found it lacking in every other situation where there was some background noise. This is the reason I prefer a Bluetooth headset to a speakerphone. It provides the same convenience but better sound quality. For some reason I found the speakerphone quality, better on the Nokia 3650.
Other Notable Features.
FM Radio. This allows you to listen to the radio with the enclosed headset, or thru the speaker. Reception was excellent, but I live near NY City so it was expected. But if you use the radio often, you can expect reduced battery performance. I would have preferred if Nokia had included an MP3 player with an XD memory slot instead.
Distribution lists. The phone allows you to set up 15 lists with up to 50 contacts in each list. This feature is great if you want to send the same message to all your friends, relatives or co-workers.
Voice dialing for up to 10 numbers.
Phonebook capable of storing 500 contacts. I find this more than sufficient for all my contacts.
Polyphonic Ringtones. The phone has 35 polyphonic jingles and 10 regular rings. I’m sure you will find some of them amusing but I hated them all. I must be getting old.
Access to POP3 and IMAP4 email, let’s you access you personal e-mails from a web-based server. You will be able to read the text in your e-mails but not any attachments or animations. It can send SMTP e-mails but it does not support VPN for secure e-mails.
WAP browser seemed to work fine on my yahoo pages. But I usually do not use or need this feature.
Predefined numbers. If you are getting this phone for your kid, you can restrict the phone numbers that can be dialed from it. That should prevent Chucky from wasting all his airtime minutes talking to the nice lady at the nearby 7-11.
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WHAT’s NOT.
Poor battery performance.
The included 1000mAh Li-Ion battery is rated at 4.5 hours of talk time and standby time of 10 hours in digital mode. However in my typical heavy work use, the battery indicator started to balk after 2.5 hours. The standby time gets significantly reduced with the use of speakerphone and FM radio functions. A quick note about battery performance and reception strength. A cell phone has a built-in transmitter that is constantly connected to the network, even when the phone is not being used. When the phone is far away from a cell site or tower, that transmitter increases its signal strength to remain connected to that tower. It slowly powers down as it comes closer to the next tower. However, if you live or work on the peripheral area of a cell site/tower, your phone transmitter will be constantly at a high level thus reducing overall battery performance.
IR Port.
I could not use the IR port to transfer images from my iPaq H5455. It recognized the iPaq but would not transfer any files.
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The BOTTOM LINE.
This phone was designed for text messaging. The flip out keyboard makes it very convenient to type short or long text messages. However if you are a corporate user who needs access to your secure e-mails, you may want to consider the Blackberry 6710. The FM radio feature is nice, but I would have preferred an MP3 player instead.
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Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 0.00
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