Pretty Much All I Need
Written: Sep 12 '03
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
| Clarity: |
|
|
| Portability: |
|
|
| Battery Life: |
|
|
|
Pros: Voice Recognition, Vibrating ring, IR connectivity w/ PDA, Ring Profiles
Cons: Can't replace faceplate on your own or you void warranty; must pay Nokia $35
The Bottom Line: Cellphones today are going color, and attaching peripherals like digital cameras and PDA's. But if you want a simple phone with alot of nice features, this is perfect!
|
|
|
| ewilliam's Full Review: Nokia 6360 |
This is my second cell, the first one being the base Nokia 5160. After haggling with my Suncom rep, and sitting in the waiting area for an hour, he ended up giving it to me free of charge, which was a definite added bonus. I was told, at the time, that this was thier "business-geared" model, and I have been impressed so far.
The Features & Upgrades: Since the 5160 was the base model, it didn't have a large amount of features. The 6360 was a big improvement. The best upgrades were voice recognition, the vibrate feature, being able to "beam" my address book from my Palm M100, and ring profiles.
Voice Recognition: This is an especially nice feature upgrade! I used to use speed-dialing, or "one-touch" dialing, which meant that I just programmed people into numbers 2-8. However, this was very problematic, because I had trouble remembering more than 2 or 3 speed-dial assignments. The voice-recognition technology solves this problem by allowing up to 25 voice assignments. It works like this: you select a person's phone number (or a ring profile, which I will explain later), then speak a sample recording (such as "Mom's Cell"). Then, from the main screen, you hold down the "names" button, the phone will give you a prompt tone, and you speak the same recording. It matches this to your sample, and calls that number. It was easy, using the instructions, to figure out how to program them. The one thing to remember, however, is that the sample you provide be as neutral as possible. The less background noise, the better; make sure you say it how you would normally say it. Otherwise, the feature has a tendency to either not recognize the input, or it will mistake it for another. A number of times, I have said "Mom: Cell" and it will call my brother. This feature could surely be improved upon, but it does work 95% of the time.
Voice recog has helped immensely in saving time and cutting back on scrolling through names. The big drawback, however, is that it's slightly embarrassing to be sitting in the middle of a quiet room or office, and all of a sudden, you break the silence with "MOM, CELL". But, that's something that comes with the territory, I suppose.
Vibrate Feature: Too often, I wanted to turn the ringtone off on my 5160, but still wanted to receive calls and be notified of them. The vibrate feature on the 6360 solved this. I positively hate all the annoying ringtones I hear everywhere I go, from theme songs to polkas to holiday jingles. And it seems like everyone turns their ring up as loud as possible, so as to one-up everyone else. I have programmed a "discrete" ring profile, which I use 99% of the time. It consists of vibration, and a single beep. This is all I need, unless I'm at a loud concert or club. The vibrate feature has been a huge plus!
"Beam" from Palm PDA: Anyone who has a cellphone knows the frustration of having to enter your entire address book by hand using the keypad. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised when I got home and realized that the 6360 had an infrared receiver on the top. On a whim, I lined my palm m100 up with the phone, and beamed my address book. You can imagine my joy when I realized that it accepted it! No more entering my address book by hand! Without a doubt, an invaluable feature.
Ring Profiles: My 5160, as I said, was feature-barren. The 6360 is much different, and one of the best features is the ring profiles. While the 5160 had "loud, regular, and silent" ring settings (with volume control), the 6360 lets you set up a number of ring profiles, which you name. Each one has a number of options, such as which ringtone to use, how loud it is, how many times it rings, whether it rings for everyone or only for family members, whether it vibrates, etc. The added bonus is that it also utilizes the voice recognition technology. So, once you assign a voice tag to a profile, all it takes is the previously explained voice-recog actions (press the names button, and at the prompt, say, for example, "LOUD", or "NORMAL", and it switches your profile without having to scroll through menus. This has been a fantastic feature; I love being able to switch my profiles on the fly. Another great subset of this feature, while I have had no reason to use it, is the automatic time-switch setting. For example, you can set it so that your phone automatically switches to your silent profile when you get to your office in the morning, then switch back to normal when you go home at night.
Other Miscellaneous Features:
Voice Record: Allows you to record a brief audible memo, up to 1:30. A nice feature, especially for little things you think of in the car but can't find a post-it. Also allows you to attach a voice-recog tag, allowing you to just say "record this", or whatever tag you choose, and it will start recording automatically.
Organizer: Allows you to have a calendar and to-do list. I haven't personally used it much, mainly because I already have a Palm PDA and MS Outlook, and this one is a very basic "organizer". It is, however, handy if you don't have your Palm and need to set an appointment alarm or make a quick to-do note.
Exterior Volume Control: Located on the left side of the phone, the volume control is easy to use, though, sometimes it gets pressed accidentally.
Calculator & Stopwatch: Self-explanatory. Useful in certain situations, I suppose, but I rarely make use of them.
The phone, as a phone: The sound quality is pretty standard, and I haven't had many problems with it. The recharger and hands-free device, both standard issue with most Nokia phones, are adequate. The display is larger than the one on the 5160, and is easier to read. The charge lasts for a good amount of time, I'd say it is average for phones I've used. The signal is better than the 5160, though, it could be improved. This is probably a pitfall of the internal antenna vs the external one. The improved number list is nice as well. The 5160 had one number per name, and that was it. This allows you to enter several phone numbers for each person, and assign them labels (such as mobile, home, office, etc); then, you can assign each number its own voice-recog tag. You can also create categories with which to group people. For example, you can put all your family members in one category. Then, when their call rings normally, they'll have a little "heart" icon next to their name. The real plus of this is that you can setup your ring profiles to only ring for certain groups. Thus, if you're busy, and only want to hear from family members, you can group them and set your ring profile to match.
The Cons: Well, there aren't many. I'll refrain from including future features, such as color screens and digital cameras, since that isn't really a "con". That would be like saying that the 1957 Chevy was poorly design because it didn't have electronic fuel injection. Anyhow, the only big con that this phone has is that the faceplate is not easily replaced. On most other Nokia phones, the faceplate snaps right on and off, making to very easy to replace. Now, it's not that I really want to put day-glo crazy faceplates on this phone, but the fact that my faceplate is all scratched up, and Nokia doesn't offer factory replacements. Instead, I have to send it in to them, and let them replace it for a rather large fee. My other option was to get it from a non-OEM dealer. I tried this, but when it arrived, I had to send it back, because it was cheaply made and had little tacky sparkles in the paint. Not my cup o' tea! And in addition, to get the faceplate off, you need a Torx screwdriver, which you have to buy seperately. Nokia also told me that if I attempted to replace the faceplate myself, I would void any warranty. This is very frustrating, because I would like a new faceplate, but I'm not going to pay upwards of $35 for it!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 0.00
Recommended for: Stylish Trendsetters - Hip and Trendy
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
ewilliam
|
|
Reviews written: 17
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.