Not a bad little phone.
Written: Mar 17 '03 (Updated May 02 '03)
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Pros: Light, Full-color screen, Feature-rich, Great design
Cons: Some voice distortion (read below), Over-priced accessories, No voice commands
The Bottom Line: Buy it for looks, buy it for features, buy it for battery power...oh, and buy it for the radio.
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| vartian's Full Review: Nokia 7210 GSM / EGSM Cellular Phone |
After finally giving up on my hopelessly flawed Sony Ericsson T60 phone (read my other reviews), I decided to make the leap to GSM network device, and AT&T's vaunted Mlife service. Overall, I am very pleased with the phone and would recommend it to anyone needing a professional device.
BODY
The size of the phone is small, but not too small that it can get lost easily in your jacket/pants pocket, as is the case with the absurdly tiny Nokia 8260. It is also extremely light.
SCREEN
The screen dominates the phone, taking up about a third of its face. It is very bright, color-rich, and has excellent battery/signal meters. The navigation is a little tricky (it took me about half-an hour to really get it down) but once understood, is easy to zip arround in. The only real problem I have found lies in the auto-dimmer; sometimes, it does not brighten when you would expect it too (like when you get an incoming call after the screen has darkened but before the screen-saver kicks in).
FEATURES
I will be the first to admit that the radio feature weighed heavily on my decision to purchase this phone. I live in Washington DC, and I walk everywhere (work, bars, the Metro) and having a radio combined with my phone meant I had one less thing to lug around, and the sound quality and the reception are both excellent.
The other features, such as the ability to use Java applets, the calendar, the extensive phone book...all of them work great. The only feature that I miss in my old Ericsson is my voice commands. I don't see why Nokia couldn't add those in, and I refuse to use the clumsy AT&T voice activation service.
SPEAKERPHONE
This has turned out to be the best feature on the phone. I can sit at my desk, or lay on my couch, and just speak into the sir without a clumsy ear piece clamped to my head. It also works great for meetings, when friends want to talk along with me, etc.
BATTERY
Just great...the phone charge lasts at least two hours more than my old phone, even with running the radio and playing Java games on the Metro.
DATA PORT
Hmmm...okay, so all the audio/data accessories attach to the phone through one port, with one universal connector. Great! But does it have to be on the bottom of the phone?
EVERYTHING ELSE
Okay, here we go...
Web Access: Text only, but there are applets you can download to view pages as they are (on a very, very tiny screen, of course).
SMS/MMS: Haven't really used it yet, so no comment.
Accessories: $50 for a data cable?? Nokia is getting a little greedy. Also, not a lot of accessories are available on the US market (right now, anyway). I tried the camera headset in the store, and the images were pitiful, so don't waste your money.
Bluetooth: There is no bluetooth. Seeing as I don't know exactly what this is, I don't care, but you might.
UPDATE: Okay, I have been told what Bluetooth is now and now, naturally, I really want it. I have found a good option to it though. There is a company in the UK that sells an IR port that basiclly is a little knob that plugs into one of your USB ports and allows you to use the Infrared features on your phone (NOTE: If you are using a laptop, you probably already have an IR). The device can be found here:
http://www.logomanager.co.uk/cat/details.php?product=124
Distortion: Very infrequently, and only with a woman's voice (and then usually only with a recorded woman's voice), there is an odd level of distortion which makes words illegible.
RINGTONES: Yes, the Polyphonic ringtones are great fun BUT...you can't add personal ring tones to individual numbers. You can add them to groups, which you can then assign a list of numbers to (like "friends" for instance), but the phone is limited to 5 groups. You can change the group names, but you cannot add more.
UPDATE: I returned the phone. I loved it, but when the Nokia 3650 hit the market, my geek factor went into overdrive and I had to have it. Also, AT&T has dropped the 7210 from its website, and my local dealer said that the complaints about the phone out-weighed the compliments by 10 to 1. Take that into consideration before picking this one up.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 149
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Epinions.com ID:
vartian
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Member: Aram Vartian
Location: Washington, DC
Reviews written: 29
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
Freelance Graphic Designer with too much time on his hands
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