When a smartphone is not very smart
Written: Dec 28 '03 (Updated Dec 28 '03)
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Pros: Bluetooth, reception, expandability, decent camera
Cons: Size rivals remote controls, no touch screen and weird dial pad.
The Bottom Line: Too high of a price to pay for poorly implemented feature sets. There are much better alternatives.
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| jackyche's Full Review: Nokia 3650 |
The Nokia 3650 is supposed to be one of the new generation of Smart Phones to hit the market. It uses a Symbian Operating System. Never heard of it? That's okay, just know that its designed to compete with Palm, Windows Mobile (Pocket PC) and Linux.
Let's get to the details shall we? The first thing you'll notice is the size. Its a bit larger than the newer wireless phones you might be used to seeing. Some have compared it to a remote control. Believe it or not, not everyone is a fan of the ever miniturization of phones. Women tend to complain that the small/tiny little guys tend to get lost in their purse. But know this, although large, its not ridiculously large. Its size will probably not be a deal killer for you.
The next thing that's real obvious is the unorthodox keypad. It takes a little getting used to when dialing out but nothing out of the ordinary. There are those who swears its absolutely annoying but I wouldn't go that far. HOWEVER, if you want to do some major alpha-numeric stuff, then oh yeah, its really really annoying. One is simply not used to swivel one's thumb like that to type a sentence. Once again, probably won't be a deal breaker.
The pictures from the camera is of poor quality by ANY digital camera standard. But, since we're talking about phones here, its probably one of the best ones out there. So is it a positive to be the best of mediocore? You decide. Feels like an episode of Average Joes doesn't it?
One good feature on this phone is the Speaker Phone capability. By no means its a new feature but it is something that is extremely useful when waiting on hold when talking to Customer Care Representatives for hours. The speaker is loud and microphone is great so that you literally can be surfin' on the net and talking at the same time without having to switch back to "handset" mode.
What differentiates this baby from a vast majority of other phones is the fact that it includes a slot for MMC card. Yes, the memory is expandible! Why would you need to expand the memory of a phone? I'll give you two reasons but probably only one makes sense. The obvious is for taking more pictures. But the camera is of such low resolution and low quality, why would one want a major collection of that is beyond me. The second is for music. No, it doesn't play MP3's. But, it does play mp4's. It won't do that right out of the box, it takes some tweaking. But that's why you're buying a "SmartPhone". It has an operating system for you to expand its capabilities!
Symbian OS - Perhaps not at the fault of the operating system but as a PDA, it sucks! To use it as a PDA, one would assume it can handle contacts and calendar with ease. But it doesn't. The screen is not touch sensitive, that means you have to use the little dial pad thing to navigate. You can't write on the screen so you'll have to type in all the information via the poorly laid out number pad. If you want to load programs, hopefully your PC is bluetooth ready or else you'll have to spend some more bucks on a cable.
Bluetooth operations can be improved but its not BAD. I connected to the Internet with my Ipaq via bluetooth just fine. Took minimal effort.
RF - Reception - Perhaps the best one out there on the market. I live in an area with bad reception for every carrier and I get an above average signal through this phone. Its not all the other phones suck, its because the 3650 truely is above the rest.
Conclusion:
As a straight up wireless phone - its too big, too expensive, weird dial pad but bundles quite a bit and one hell of a reception.
As a PDA/Phone/Smartphone - size is okay, lacks in processing power, no touch screen. Get yourself a pocket pc phone edition.
Given that it failed both aspects of its design, I must conclude that this phone is not worth the money. Unless you desperately need the RF reception.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 150
Recommended for: Stylish Trendsetters - Hip and Trendy
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Epinions.com ID:
jackyche
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Location: Seattle, Washington
Reviews written: 19
Trusted by: 2 members
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