Best Cell Phone Yet
Written: Apr 19 '01
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Pros: Small size, durable, long battery life, good reception, built-in vibrator, standard headphone jack
Cons: Small size takes some adaptation, but easy to do
The Bottom Line: The best cellphone I've ever used. Durability much better than the Nokia 5100 or 6100 series. A real keeper.
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| PDX-Dale's Full Review: Nokia 8260 Cell Phone |
I purchased this telephone after my dissatisfaction with the Ericsson R280LX. As stated in that review, I have been a cellphone user since 1991 and routinely purchase one or two new cellphones each year for personal/business use (one at a time for my own use).
The 8260 is as near perfect as I have found to date. It is small, has good reception, easy to use, and high tech looking. I have had this cellphone for nearly 6 months and have no desire to switch to another one.
Specifics:
The internal antenna is much superior to the clunky external antenna of the Ericsson. I was somewhat concerned about this based upon some negative ratings of this telephone regarding reception - until I tested it on my own. The only time reception is limited is if I place my hand on the upper half of the back of the phone (where the internal antenna is hidden).
I've only had difficulty with the key pad size when I become over concerned with pressing the buttons. It's counter-intuitive, but the more I become concerned with their small size, the more likely I seem to be to press two keys at the same time. If, on the other hand, I just "dial" the phone like any other phone there seems to be no problem with hitting the correct key. Now that I am completely familiar with the phone, I don't think I have misdialed in over a month. PS: I wear size 2XL gloves, so it's not dainty fingers I'm using.
The battery is built in (it is easy to replace, but it is not as obviously a tack on as batteries on other phones), and it seems to last forever. I routinely take weekend trips and don't bother to pack the charger - even after 2 or 3 days of intermittent use it retains enough call time for a call of significant length. I routinely make 2 or 3 hours of calls in an evening and have never had the phone "beep" to say it needed charging during a call. It also recharges extremely quickly, in just a few hours.
It has the ability to place and receive short email messages. I don't use this feature a lot, because I have a notebook computer with me almost all the time and access to the internet when I need it. It has come in handy during meetings, or family emergencies. The only problem is that (with ATT anyway) it uses a combination of the cellphone number and a long @ line on the email. To solve that problem, I signed up with a free email forwarding service (email.com) that allows me to give people a short email address to remember. This IS one area where the small keypad is limiting, it is slow and cumberson sending email messages but this is more a function of the keypad layout (telephone rather than typewriter) than keypad size. I have used other (larger) cellphones with phone keypads and had the same difficulty. The 8260 has a sophisticated word guesser that helps speed the input, but it takes some getting used to.
To top it off, it so well designed ergonomically that I CAN talk for hours with it.
All in all, I believe this is the best cellphone I have ever used (coming from a use base of at least 15 or 20 phones dating back to the Motorola "brick"). If you have ever used a Nokia cellphone, there will be no surprises.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 149.00
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Epinions.com ID:
PDX-Dale
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Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
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