Stylish phone for world-wide use, and yes, you can change that operator logo!
Written: Apr 04 '02 (Updated Apr 08 '02)
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Pros: small, stylish, dualband GSM for world-wide use
Cons: price, not triband, GSM network coverage
The Bottom Line: Beautiful phone, but GSM network only. Buy it if you have the extra cash, and need international coverage.
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| dixu's Full Review: Nokia 8890 GSM Cellular Phone |
If looks could kill, the nokia 8890 is undoubtedly the king of all cell phones. It is small, the size of a credit card, light (less than 4oz), and extremely stylish. The slide cover and blue/white back light gives it a futuristic look that is bound to turn heads.
I have been wanting a GSM phone for a long time. Mine Nokia 8890 was purchased for me from Asia, where cell phones are THE status symbol, where people will not hesitate to spend 600 dollars on the coolest phone, and no one carries anything more than half a year old. Only there can one find such a terrific deal on a nokia 8890, for 200 dollars only. Currently 8890 can be purchased in the USA for $450 in a variety of voicestream stores. Other places have slightly better price on the phone, but I have not seen it going for under $350, except maybe ebay. Therefore, the 8890 is still a very expensive phone, even if it's been around for a while.
For me, the most attractive aspect of the 8890 is that it is GSM, and dualband GSM for that matter. Being able to support GSM 900 means that the phone can be used outside of the USA, particularly for me, Europe and Asia. There are two ways to use this phone outside of USA, first is to do international roaming through your provide (either voicestream or cigular, depending on where you are), which is very expensive. The second way, and in my opinion, the only way, is to use pre-paid SIM cards. In Asia and Europe, pre-paid SIM cards are much more popular than they are here, and it is the default way for many people to use their cell phones, instead of signing up for monthly services. All one has to do is to purchase a SIM card in one's destination foreign country, which are available everywhere in places like post offices and cigarette stands. The card comes with a certain amount of pre-paid minutes(counted in units), and once the card is empty, it can be reloaded with cash. Thus, one can have a permanent european number, an asian number, in addition to one's USA number. And because of the difference in the cell phone billing systems, one does not pay for incoming calls in Europe or Asia, which makes it quite cheap talking to home.
The 8890 is in design quite a typical Nokia, with much of the same features as others such as phone book, calendar, voice-dialing, etc. But because it's GSM, it also supports the changing of ring-tones, group pictures, and operator logos. By operator logo I mean the vstream or the name of whichever provider you have, that is being displayed on top of the screen between the reception bar and the battery bar. Although it did take me a while to figure out how to change the operator logo. The problem is that voicestream has 13 different networks now, and one must make sure that the right combination of MCC and MNC is entered. The MCC for voicestream is always 310, but MNC changes depending on which net work one is on. I live in center city Philadelphia, and my MNC is 16. If you find that your phone can receive operator logo and display it, but you are unable to save it, you probably got the wrong MNC.
The battery holds its charge quite well, I'm able to get through 5-6 days of normal use without charging, I normally talk about 20 minutes on the cell phone a day.
Now comes the cons. The 8890 is a GSM phone, that means if you purchase it, you have no choice in your cell phone provider. It has to be voicestream on the east coast and cingular on the west coast. I only have experience with voicestream, so I will talk about that. Voicestream has relative cheap plans with a lot of minutes, plus free weekends and no long distance no roaming. Although the no roaming part is really not much to boast about, because they are the only GSM provider on the east coast and there is no other network for them to roam on. The coverage is excellent in Philadelphia and New Jersey. I am inside a concrete building, where both sprint and AT&T phones have problems. The 8890 constantly displays 3-4 bars for reception! But beware that voicestream only has good coverage around major cities and I am told that the coverage is quite spotty once out of the major North East corridors, that is, north of Boston and South of DC. So this is probably not a road-side emergency phone if you drive across country.
Also, the 8890 is only dual-band GSM, it does NOT support the popular GSM 1800, which is used widely in Europe and also somewhat in Asia. That means one can only use SIM cards made by some providers and not others. As it turns out, they seem to be the more expensive providers. For example, in Germany, the 8890 can only use D1 and D2 cards, and not E-plus or Viag.
Finally, the 8890 is still a very expensive phone, given that it's been released for one and a half year already.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 200
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Epinions.com ID:
dixu
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Location: Philadelphia, PA
Reviews written: 4
Trusted by: 0 members
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