Stylish, but very functional
Written: Jan 08 '01 (Updated Aug 16 '01)
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Pros: Very stylish, well-made, very small and light, and global (900/1900)
Cons: not tri-band (900/1800/1900); International roaming isn't cheap
The Bottom Line: Excellent phone, full-featured and stylish, convenient for the world traveler.
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| danak6jq's Full Review: Nokia 8890 GSM Cellular Phone |
After lugging a Nokia 6160 around for 18 months, I decided I just had to have a GSM phone. The promise of roaming in Europe simply by taking my SIM card (the little card that plugs into the phone) with me and renting a phone when I got there was pretty cool, since I travel to Europe at least a few times a year on the average.
This review assumes superficial familiarity with GSM features, such as international roaming, SIM card, and bidirectional messaging (SMS).
I signed up for a decent rate plan (with PacBell Wireless) and accepted the 'free' Nokia 5190. Not a bad phone, not by a long shot, but rather pedestrian. It *did* give excellent talk-time with the big BP-4 battery.
However, I'm a tech weenie and I work with even bigger weenies; the pedestrian 5190 wasn't cutting it. That's when I saw the 8890.
A little silver gem, the 8890 really does weigh less than a quarter-pounder hamburger patty (before cooking), and it's awfully pretty. I *still* get positive comments every time someone else sees it for the first time.
With 1900MHz coverage, the 8890 will find GSM service if it is available in your area in the USA; 900MHz buys you coverage in much of the rest of the urban world, certainly throughout Europe and much of Asia. Unfortunately, new GSM deployment tends to be at 1800MHz outside the USA, so it's possible the 8890 won't find service in an area that's 1800MHz-only, or you won't be able to find all the service providers that are available.
The 8890 is solidly built, and the sliding keypad cover seems quite rugged despite my initial suspicion otherwise. The retractable antenna is flexible, and improves signals slightly when extended.
Overall, someone familiar with a 6100-series or 8200-series will immediately feel right at home with the 8890. Despite being very small, the keypad is not difficult to operate with my grown-man sized fingers, once you master the trick of using the edge of your thumb.
Did I mention the keypad buttons are chromed? Very flashy.
The display is backlit by distinctive blue LEDs, very stylish and functional. I think the blue light might be more eye-catching than I give it credit for.
A "universal" rapid battery charger is provided with the phone, and it works on voltages from 110V to 240V, with only a plug-adapter required for non-USA style plugs. The charger is quite rapid, usually recharging the battery in less than one hour. The charger module is quite light, certainly lighter than the 110V-only charger provided with the 6100/5100 phones, and packs easily.
A very stylish desk-stand is provided, which can be used to charge the phone (the charger plugs into the desk-stand and the phone drops into the stand). This is useful for setting the phone on a desk where you can see the caller-ID display on incoming calls.
All of the phone functions work as expected so far; the phone-book is stored in the SIM card and follows the SIM when moved to other phones.
The built-in IrDA port (infrared interface) works very well to 'beam' contact and phone-book information to other IrDA devices such as Palm Pilots and other 8890s. Further, the IrDA port can be used to print contacts though I've never tried this.
If you go to the Nokia home page for the 8890, you can freely download the Nokia PC Data Suite for the 8890, which works via IrDA (and requires no expensive cable or software like the 5100/6100 series). With the 8890 Data Suite, the phone book can be edited, updated, saved to disk and exported easily. Sending and receiving SMS messages via the IrDA port is trivial with the 8890 Data Suite. The 8890 Data Suite also gives most of the GSM modem functionality, such as data calls and SMS management.
In meetings, I'll frequently leave the 8890 laying next to my computer so I can silently send/receive SMS messages ;-)
When composing SMS messages with the keypad, the 8890 seems to have a very good English dictionary, rarely requiring me to manually spell words. Most messages require something like 1.2 keystrokes per character, which is quite good.
The hand-free earphone and microphone kit provided with the 8890 works very well and enables 'voice tagging' of a limited quantity of numbers. The voice tagging works reasonably well, though you might need to pick nick-names for people with similar sounding names when voice-tagging.
Audio quality is very good as provided by GSM; the phone supports the 'Enhanced Full-Rate Codec' as mentioned in many Nokia hacking pages and gives even better audio. When in a quiet room with decent signal strength, many people do not realize I am calling from a wireless phone.
Four custom ringing-tones are supported; I've downloaded a few via the web from http://www.yourmobile.com/. Besides that, the full set of Nokia ring-tones are provided. As a trivia note, the 'long and loud' message tone is 'CONNECTING PEOPLE' sent in Morse Code.
A vibrator is inside the phone and works very well; I often leave the phone in silent mode and just use the vibrator.
Received audio quality is very good, and excellent with the hands-free earphone.
Transmitted audio is excellent with the built-in microphone and very good to excellent with the hands-free kit.
As a short summary, I'd suggest reading the Nokia product page for a full listing of features, and then say that every feature I've tested, most of them, work at least as well as documented and expected. This telephone is well-made, fully-featured, and highly-functional. It is just small enough without being so small as to lose it ;-).
While the battery is internal and not easily swapped in the field, it charges rapidly and gives good battery life, up to 3 hours talk time.
After showing the 8890 around the office, several people immediately went out and got one for themselves! We all tend to travel internationally, and the phone works well, finding service everywhere we go in Europe, as well as in much of urban Asia. It's a little novel to get off a jet in London and get SMS messages from a friend in Israel.
At a non-subsidized price of around US $500 here in the SF Bay Area, and a subsidized price of around US $340, the 8890 is certainly very expensive. It contains a plethora of features that are optional in less expensive models, though, and the styling stands alone.
If you're prone to losing phones, don't buy the 8890. It's small and expensive. If you just want to talk and don't care about a feature-rich phone, never travel internationally, or don't manage a lot of phone-book entries, the 5190 is usually free or very inexpensive with service sign-up.
If you're a power-user, or just need to have the coolest gadget on the block, the 8890 is all that and more.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 500
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Epinions.com ID:
danak6jq
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Location: Cordelia, CA
Reviews written: 20
Trusted by: 6 members
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