Nokia: What a phone!
Written: Jun 11 '04 (Updated Jun 11 '04)
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Pros: small and lightweight. Sturdy and dependable.
Cons: games tend to eat up battery life.
The Bottom Line: It doesn't have all the fancy new bells and whistles, but it will do well for you if you don't need the camera, radio, etc. etc! I love the phone!
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| mom2ericha's Full Review: Nokia 3560 |
NOKIA 3560
I recently upgraded my contract with AT&T and this is the phone they talked me into buying. It cost me about $20 out of pocket, because I have had a contract with them previously,and was just upgrading and adding to my contract to get a better phone. Normally, this is one of the free phones that AT&T gives away to new customers.
I have to say I am much happier with this phone than with my old Nokia 1260 that I have had previously. That phone had absolutely no bells and whistles! I do wish this phone
had a few other features, that I had thought were on it, and found out after I received it that they were not. I hope to clarify this, so someone else doesn't make the same mistakes I did. Now, I'm locked into my contract, and unless I pay outright for a new phone, or find a second hand phone, I'm stuck with this one for at least another year or so.
It's not a bad phone actually, but I did want to get the feature where I could download extra games for my phone and get the games of my choice. I like the games, they pass
the time when I'm out and about, waiting for my daughter to get out of school, or my mom to get out of a doctor appointment, etc. The games really wear down the battery,
but I have a car adapter that I use when I am in the car, and whenever I am driving, I just charge it up. The phone also came with an electric charger that you can charge the phone up inside.
The nice thing that this phone features, and my old one hasn't got, is a color screen. It is much easier to read it. I don't like that the phone charges down really fast, however, and the light goes out if you don't touch the keypad. I like to pull my phone out of my purse, (I have the keys locked in my purse so I don't dial China while its in my purse!) and when I pull it out, it's very hard to see the screen unless I touch the pad to get the light to go on.
The phone comes with a one year warranty. I have found it to be a very sturdy little phone, however, so unless there is a manufacturer's default, I doubt you'll need to use the
warranty. Point to note: with my old Nokia phone, I had a bad problem with the on/off button at the top of the phone. It constantly broke down on me and I think I went through about 3 phones in a year, because I would shut the phone off one day, and it would never turn back on. I was leary of getting another Nokia at first, but I have had no problems with this phone. I guess it was just a quirk of the older phone. I do want to mention though,
that you have to hold the button down on the phone for quite a few seconds, up to about 20 seconds, for the phone to finally turn on. It freaked me out the first time I turned it on, and tried to just push the button and let go of it, and nothing happened. I guess I should have read the directions first!
The keys are quite a bit larger than on my old phone, or at least they feel like they are. I think it is easier to hit the buttons on this phone. If I am busy or have my mind
on something else, however, I still have a problem with hitting the wrong key at times. I guess its the disadvantage of having a small phone, there is just so big the keys can be before the phone becomes big and bulky!
The phone comes pre packed with several pictures that are wall paper, so you don't have to look at a blank screen. Some of the wallpapers make the screen hard to read, however, so beware. The more colorful the paper is, the harder it is to distinguish words, and numbers on your screen.
You can also download extra pictures and phone rings. I have "I love Lucy" on my phone. I got sick of everyone having the same ring tone as I did, and not knowing whose phone it was ringing, so I figured I'd get something really original! Up to this date, I have yet to come across anyone else who has this ring tone on their phone! Now I can tell
when it's my phone ringing, and it's also a big conversation starter when people hear the ring tone and can't figure out what song it is...they know they've heard it before...!
Battery life is pretty good on this phone. The color display and the games do take more juice than my old phone did, however, so you will most likely find you need to charge it about once a week or so. It all depends on how often you use the phone. I use mine on a daily basis, maybe less than an hour a day and more on the weekends, since I have free unlimited weekends and nights after 9. I make use of that time and use it more at those times. If you talk on the phone for 2 hours, you'll find the battery running low, but if you only use it for a few minutes at a time, you won't find it draining very fast at all. If you do like I do, when you are driving to work or school, just plug the thing into your lighter for a half hour, you'll find you never run low on battery power.
It keeps going and going and going....
I have dropped my phone several times, and in fact almost dropped it into the toilet once! It doesn't break easily, I can tell you that. It's really sturdy, and unless you try to
run over the phone with your car or something, it isn't going to break too easily. After dropping it several times, (its small and easily slips out of your hand) I bought a leather case to protect it somewhat if I do drop it. I had problems with my older model phone, I was out in the rain one night and got wet. It was in my pocket, and the phone shorted out. So, I'm leary about that happening again. I think the leather case helps a lot when it rains. I was using my phone just the other day in the rain, and quite thankful for the case that kept it from getting damp.
Oh, I forgot to mention that the phone comes with a calendar, a calculator, a stop watch, and the alarm clock is a life saver for me! I use this all the time in the mornings, because a regular alarm clock doesn't wake me up. This alarm is really annoying, it keeps getting louder and louder till you finally wake up and shut it off. There is no ignoring this little bugger!
If you are somewhere and you don't want to alert everyone you have a phone call, you can turn off the ringer and put the phone on vibrate. I find it still makes an annoying sound that tends to turn heads, but its not as loud as the phone chirping out "I love lucy and she loves me..."!
Most of the time, when I'm in class, I just set the phone to silent, so that it won't ring if I get a call, and then I just check it periodically to see if anyone has called. It will show on the screen if someone has called, and it will say you have a missed call, and you can check to see
what the number is this way. In this way, I don't have to leave my seat to see who called. If it's my mom (who is my babysitter) I know to get out of the class and call her to see what is wrong that way and it doesn't disturb the class. My teacher has been known to take a cell phone till the end of class if we leave it on accidentally. (Some people just don't know what rules are and repeatedly ignore the request to turn OFF cell phones during lecture time!)
One of the nicest things I liked about this phone, was the size of it. It fits very nicely in the palm of my hand, and when I'm outdoors at night, walking to my car, I have my keys in my right hand and my phone in my left, so that I can make a quick phone call in an emergency. It's so small you can hardly tell I'm carrying a phone in my hand.
Trying to think if I've forgotten any features....oh, the phone also comes with a phone book built in. You can add numbers and save them. So "Mom" will come up when she calls me instead of her phone number. Of course, when a stranger calls, who is not in your phone book the number still comes up on the screen, so far, the phone isn't equipped with caller id name. (At least mine isn't). I like that I only have to hit the up and down button to locate a phone number that is in my phone book. It also has one touch dial, and you can set it to voice activate. I am not crazy about
this feature however, so I don't use it. I guess it's all a personal choice. I like the one touch dial, and the ability to just scroll for my number I'm dialing. Oh, and also, if you dial a number frequently, a nice feature is that you only have to push the talk button (the green phone icon) and the last called numbers will be listed. If you are dialing the last number you called just push the green
button again to dial it, or scroll down to the one you want to dial and hit the button. It's the lazy person's way to dial! I love it!
The only problem I have found with the phone, was that they told me it was internet ready and I could access the internet with this phone. I don't know if it is my phone
company (AT&T wireless) or if they misinterpreted themselves, but I DO NOT have access to the web on this phone. I have to upgrade to a better phone if I want this feature. I guess it's for the best, as the added internet feature would cost me more money every month!
I also wanted to download extra games, and that wasn't an option either, with this phone. One of these days, I'll go to a pawn shop or something, and upgrade to a better phone. Right now, having added games or internet isn't a good reason to exchange phones. I'll keep this one for a few years till they come out with some new ones and/or my contract is up!
Adding some tidbits, if you have AT&T like I do, I heard from them that they have merged with Cingular Wireless. I am anxiously awaiting the Rollover Minutes feature, so
hopefully we'll have all the same features available to us in the near future! We'll have more phones available to choose from, also. But then, that is a different review!
Overall, this phone is a great little phone. It's sturdy and dependable, and it does what I want it to do. If you are looking for a cheap phone, with a few bells and whistles, but not fancy, this is the phone for you. Below is a little more information I gathered from the
instruction booklet:
TDMA 800/1900 MHz, AMPS 800 MHz
High-resolution color display: 96 x 65 pixels
Ergonomic design with a unique keypad
2-way scroll for easy navigation
Phone book with up to 250 contacts, with up to 5 numbers and 4 text entries per contact
Calendar with up to 250 entries
8 color schemes
Voice dialing for up to 10 numbers
Voice commands for up to 5 available menu items
Xpress-on™ color covers (front and back) sold separately
30 polyphonic (MIDI) ring tones and 5 picture messages1
Memory available for downloadable ring tones and picture messages
Personalize caller ID with graphic icons
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 19
Recommended for: Adventurous Technophiles - Tough and Durable
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Epinions.com ID:
mom2ericha
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Member: Linda Scott
Location: Madison Heights, MI
Reviews written: 136
Trusted by: 22 members
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