Derrick
ლ(ಠ_ಠ )ლ
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2010
- Messages
- 5,085
- Reaction score
- 5
We took an early look at this handset some months ago in our designer phones roundup, and it scored quite well. This time around, we take a closer look at this model from Nokia.
We took an early look at this handset some months ago in our designer phones roundup, and it scored quite well. This time around, we take a closer look at this model from Nokia.
Of course, the very first impression is about the unit’s external aesthetics, and these are truly striking. It features a glossy dark finish, black at the front, and a surprising, and yet also surprisingly subtle, brown rear. The form-factor is ‘slider’, so the unit has more vertical room than a ‘candy-bar’ model, meaning that the screen is quite large. When in its closed position, the phone is enigmatically dark and glossy, with rounded edges and corners, coming to vibrant life when it is slid open. As with the N80 and N95 models, this one can slide in two directions: the screen slides upward in the traditional manner to expose a standard keypad, or in the opposite direction to reveal a narrow set of media playback or game control keys. The numeric keypad looks slick, but I found it a bit awkward to use: it is a single moulded sheet of plastic with the symbols etched in it, and is not very comfortable for fast typing, such as when using an instant messaging client such as MXit. Personally, I far prefer separate buttons.
When the phone comes to life, its aesthetics translate into the user interface. This phone’s themes are rich and well designed, and some of them feature lots of animated effects, such as when transitioning from one screen to another. Another pleasing item is the Task Switcher, which is almost reminiscent of Windows Vista’s 3D Task Switcher. Overall, the operating system is consistent with previous models, and is quite intuitive to use. In terms of functionality, this model offers customary Nokia excellence: connectivity options include Wireless LAN, which is handy more often than one might imagine until having gotten used to it. There is also an integrated GPS, and it works better than most others (if comparing apples with apples, a dedicated GPS device will, of course, outperform this one, which is as it should be). The integrated camera is the typical five-megapixel model with Carl Zeiss optics, which Nokia likes to fit into its high-end phones. It has an unusually bright (for a ‘phonecam’) flash, and performs well even in low-light conditions, though it does have an odd quirk: in low-light conditions, often the first shot will be oversaturated or blurred. This can actually result in some fairly striking artistic effects; but if all you want is an accurate picture, be sure to take another one right after the first.
Lastly, this is a fully N-Gage 2.0-compatible handset, which means that it is designed to play a host of mobile games developed for this flexible platform. Games I tested performed admirably, and sometimes downright blew me away, such as the fighting game One, which interms of animations, physics and graphics, is at least on a level with the like of Tekken III for the PlayStation – and all this in a compact device whose primary functions are communication! Call sound quality and signal reception are both what you would expect from a modern phone.
We took an early look at this handset some months ago in our designer phones roundup, and it scored quite well. This time around, we take a closer look at this model from Nokia.
Of course, the very first impression is about the unit’s external aesthetics, and these are truly striking. It features a glossy dark finish, black at the front, and a surprising, and yet also surprisingly subtle, brown rear. The form-factor is ‘slider’, so the unit has more vertical room than a ‘candy-bar’ model, meaning that the screen is quite large. When in its closed position, the phone is enigmatically dark and glossy, with rounded edges and corners, coming to vibrant life when it is slid open. As with the N80 and N95 models, this one can slide in two directions: the screen slides upward in the traditional manner to expose a standard keypad, or in the opposite direction to reveal a narrow set of media playback or game control keys. The numeric keypad looks slick, but I found it a bit awkward to use: it is a single moulded sheet of plastic with the symbols etched in it, and is not very comfortable for fast typing, such as when using an instant messaging client such as MXit. Personally, I far prefer separate buttons.
When the phone comes to life, its aesthetics translate into the user interface. This phone’s themes are rich and well designed, and some of them feature lots of animated effects, such as when transitioning from one screen to another. Another pleasing item is the Task Switcher, which is almost reminiscent of Windows Vista’s 3D Task Switcher. Overall, the operating system is consistent with previous models, and is quite intuitive to use. In terms of functionality, this model offers customary Nokia excellence: connectivity options include Wireless LAN, which is handy more often than one might imagine until having gotten used to it. There is also an integrated GPS, and it works better than most others (if comparing apples with apples, a dedicated GPS device will, of course, outperform this one, which is as it should be). The integrated camera is the typical five-megapixel model with Carl Zeiss optics, which Nokia likes to fit into its high-end phones. It has an unusually bright (for a ‘phonecam’) flash, and performs well even in low-light conditions, though it does have an odd quirk: in low-light conditions, often the first shot will be oversaturated or blurred. This can actually result in some fairly striking artistic effects; but if all you want is an accurate picture, be sure to take another one right after the first.
Lastly, this is a fully N-Gage 2.0-compatible handset, which means that it is designed to play a host of mobile games developed for this flexible platform. Games I tested performed admirably, and sometimes downright blew me away, such as the fighting game One, which interms of animations, physics and graphics, is at least on a level with the like of Tekken III for the PlayStation – and all this in a compact device whose primary functions are communication! Call sound quality and signal reception are both what you would expect from a modern phone.