Why I chose the N810 Wifi Tablet over OQO and Sony UX UMPCs
I finally decided to get the Nokia N810 after waiting a few years now for the OQO or Sony UX series UMPC prices to drop, but they still haven’t yet and are still over $1,400 for the latest models. So when Nokia upgraded the N800 with the built-in keyboard, I finally decided on Nokia instead, since I concluded that the only reason why I would want the the OQO or Sony UX UMPCs was that it had Windows XP/Vista, and MS Office, so I could have the flexibility to do work outside the office, but I knew that I would primarily use it for surfing. The OQO/Sony UMPCs act as secondary mobile PCs, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to work for too long with that 4-5″ screen size (my eyes are bad enough with too much time on the computer…and being Asian). So at this size, it would really only be realistic to do light surfing and not real work, and I could only justify buying the OQO/Sony UMPCs if the price came down by 50%, since you can get the Nokia N810 for only $370, which has Wifi and a built-in keyboard to meet my surfing needs. I would rather buy the 11″ ultra-portable laptops than the OQO/SONY UMPCs to give me the flexibility to do work on the go.
N810 vs. iPod Touch
Others may compare the Nokia N810 to the iPod Touch. However, the N810 is by far more superior for only the $60 extra cost at this time, since the N810 has these advantages:
Can play Flash and videos directly from websites, such as YouTube, while the iPod Touch cannot. In the iPod Touch, Youtube videos can only be played via the separate built-in YouTube application.
Has a bigger screen size, which is easier on the eyes for surfing the web and watching downloaded movies.
Has the flexibility of a built-in keyboard for typing those long emails, yet it is also touchscreen.
Has Skype for free calls (while connected to the Net)
Has built-in speakers (and it’s quite loud as shown from my dog in the video above).
Has Bluetooth so you can connect to your Mobile with a data plan to surf when you’re not in a Wifi zone, and make hands-free calls.
Has a 3 MP Camera.
Has integrated GPS receiver so can act as a GPS Navigation device (but need to pay for the software), and is on par with standalone devices.
Has a large and growing developer community base that continues to build more applications and improve upon the OS and features, making this an evolving and better product over time. Apple only recently launched their SDK Developer program to build applications for iPhone or iPod Touch, but it has contractual restrictions, making it very limited for developers.
Ok, it may be a bit more fun surfing with the animated touchscreen navigation on the iPod Touch though, but I can live with that…
After researching numerous blogs and reviews to decide on which new mobile to buy for a while now, I finally chose the LG Viewty KU990. The name “Viewty” links to it’s tagline on the product packaging: “View the Next Technology”. First, this is not the mobile for everyone though, and others could debate that there are others in the market that are better, so it depends on what features you’re looking for - I was looking for more of a fun “camera phone”, which could take photos comparable to a standalone camera, so I wouldn’t have to carry a camera around as well for taking that spontaneous photo. The video feature and the ability to upload videos directly to Internet, was also an added bonus, so this was the phone for me.
My key deciding factors for choosing the LG Viewty:
1. It’s sleek (14.8mm thick, so not too bulky for all the features it has) and unique (not officially available in Canada)
2. It’s touchscreen (which is the new trend of mobiles and is so much easier to use) with cool haptic vibration feedback when you touch the screen options, which the iPhone doesn’t have.
3. Advanced Multimedia Features - It has a 5 MP Camera, and a high speed 120 fps video recorder, with image stabilization, DivX player, and a Schneider-Kreuznach lens. I can write on the photos or videos with the stylus and it will appear on playback; it has various advanced photo/video editing options that are not even found on stand-alone cameras, such as adding sepia or b&w colour portions or entire photo, as well as mosaic blur, softening, morphing, blurbs, built-in icons and adding picture frames, and much more! Muvee Studio feature also allows you to create an image slide show combined with music, as it also comes with the standard MP3 player feature. (The iphone only has a 2MP camera)
3. Internet Features - Browser with bookmark creation, landscape and portrait view, and ability to scroll with finger, like the iphone. (However, the iPhone wins in this area though as their browser seems alot more fun to use with its interactive user interface features, but the LG Viewty does the job for surfing)
4. Convenient pre-loaded features allowing you to connect directly to them with a click of their icon:
- YouTube - There’s also an option to upload my videos created on the phone directly to YouTube
- Google - Search, Mail, Maps
- Blogger: Create your Blog feature
Features I wish the LG Viewty had:
1. WiFi (just so i can surf freely at home, since it’s unlikely that I can find a free WiFi hotspot living in Toronto)
2. Windows Mobile 6 (So I can use it for work too and won’t need to carry around my Moto Q9h to retrieve my Outlook emails (although for a PDA, the Moto Q9h is quite nice looking)
3. Built-in GPS - At a usable speed and without extra carrier fees.
4. A lens cover for the 5MP Camera
Other Contenders:
iPhone HTC Touch LG KS20 Nokia N95
Before I decided on the LG Viewty, I was also considering these other contenders in the market, but didn’t end up choosing them for the following reasons:
1. iPhone - Since I’m in Canada, where it’s not officially available yet, I didn’t want to deal with paying the fees to unlock the US Cingular version, and not be able to update the phone with the Apple patches to add new features and fix bugs without turning the phone into a brick..Yes, hackers will be able to crack the code again to unbrick the phone, but didn’t want to deal with the headache for searching for the crack and go through the never-ending cycle with the next Apple patch. The camera is still an average 2MP found on every phone these days, and cannot take videos, while I was looking for more advanced camera/video features, so I can upload videos of Buddy to his YouTube Channel (BuddytheSamoyed).
2. HTC Touch - The black and grey models soon became available through the Canadian mobile carriers at cheap prices with contract, so it would soon become another ubiquitous phone, and it was borderline sleek looking, resembling too much like a business PDA, and not enough of the “fun-factor” that I was looking for in the $300+ price tag that I would be paying for in an unlocked version (as I didn’t want to get the contract). So I was then considering the white model sold in Asia, and the HTC Dual which was also announced with enhanced TouchFLo Navigation, but the LG Viewty just looked better with cooler features.
3. LG KS20 “Dominator” - This is the new version of the LG Viewty that was announced last September, and not launched yet. So I would still have to wait a while before I could buy an unlocked version anywhere online. This model follows the similar design concept as the LG Viewty, and answers my “Wish” feature for Windows Mobile 6, yet only has a 2MP camera and does not come with the same advanced camera features as the Viewty. So this is the “business version” of the LG Viewty, but I still prefer a physical keyboard for business use, for texting lengthy emails, and I already had my business PDA.
4. Nokia N95 - Every phone that I have bought up until now has been Nokia, as I’m a Nokia brand advocate, and have always thought the ‘N95′ was the “king of all mobiles”, but ever since trying out touchscreen mobiles and how much easier and fun it is to navigate with, I couldn’t go back to this boring traditional keypad/button navigation type (for “personal” and not “business” use). The newer black version has a bigger screen and 8GB internal memory over the original silver version. Both models also have built-in GPS, but I thought it was really slow when testing it out on the silver version and find that I would hardly use it at that speed, and I find the size too bulky (21mm vs vs. 14.8mm thick for LG Viewty). Plus, the hefty price of approx. US$700 would be more than what I would pay for a phone, knowing that I would soon want to buy the next sleek phone out on the market with newer tech features…So I’ll be keeping an eye out for the next Nokia touchscreen mobile, as the touchscreen trend continues to rise.
I bought the Sony VGN-U50 UMPC (ultra-mobile PC) in 2004 because it was the smallest and sleekest PC handheld with touch screen back then. The U50 runs on Windows XP Home Edition, has a 900MHz Celeron processor and 256 megs of RAM. The U70 model was also released shortly after and looks the same as the U50, but runs on Windows XP Pro, has a 1GHz Pentium M Centrino processor and 512 megs of RAM.
Sony VGN-U50
But of course the U50 was not available in North America yet, like all the cool Japanese gadgets, so I bought the Japanese version imported from Japan, and I installed the English Windows XP, but it had some bugs in it and now only the Japanese version works. So unless someone can convert my Japanese version to English, I may be tempted to buy a new UMPC soon, since now there are alot more options to choose from, and the most popular ones that I’m eyeing are:
Sony VGN-UX50
This is one of Sony’s latest UMPCs, and it’s smaller than the previous U50/U70 models, and has the same Wifi and Windows XP OS features, yet is also still limited to just the Sony memory cards and not SD cards. But it has these cool new specs:
-Intel Core Solo Ultra Low Voltage 1.0GHz CPU
-30 Gig HDD
-SVGA screen with XBRITE technology for enhance image clarity
-Built-in slide-away blue backlit keyboard,
-Two built-in cameras - one in front for VoIP/video conferencing and one on the back to take pics like a camera.
-optional Bluetooth GPS receiver
-and last but not least - a biometric fingerprint sensor! Very James Bondish!
The Sony VGN-UX50 UMPC is selling for US$1500 and has been out for a while now (so long that a Canadian version, VGN UX380, was also finally released with the same features except for 40 Gig and 1.33 GHz vs. 30Gig HDD and 1.0 GHz of the UX50). But the UX380 costs CDN$2500! The full specs of the UX380 are at the Sony site
But Sony also released upgraded models, the Sony VGN-UX90PS and VGN-UX90S, which have 16 Gig flash-based memory instead of the internal 30Gig HDD of the UX50. Although the Flash versions have less memory, these newer models result in better performance and smoother operation, and can perform some actions 6x faster in Windows applications. Plus, it also the U90 also has built-in mobile TV support. The UX90 launched July 2006 in Japan at US$1800, but there’s no official release in the US yet.
Sony VGN-UX50
Samsung Q1
The US version launched in May 2006, and is the first UMPC developed as part of Microsoft’s Origami Project. It’s selling for around US$900 now, and a few specs are:
-Mobile TV expansion modules
-30 Gig hard drive
-Special software for thumb-typing
-Optional GPS
Samsung though has just announced the Q2, and a preview can already be shown at Engadget
Plus, now that Windows Vista has launched, I’m hoping to test it out on my UMPC first. So I also joined the Microsoft Origami Project community to check out the latest on the improvements being made to the UMPCs, and saw that the Microsoft Origami Experience™ package (a more functional version of the Program Launcher, Vista touch settings, and Sudoku) is now available for a free download (when you upgrade to Vista) for a better UMPC user experience.
Nokia 770 Internet Tablet
I wouldn’t really call this a UMPC, since it doesn’t run on a computer OS such as Windows, but it’s more like a PMP (portable media player), where you can play audio/video files, surf the Net with Wifi, and listen to Internet Radio. So it’s also much cheaper at only US$300 compared to the rest of the UMPCs selling at over US$1000. But i wanted to highlight the Nokia 770 here, since it’s featured as a UMPC on other sites. Plus, Nokia just updated the 770 with the release of the Nokia 800 priced at US$400 with new features like a built-in web camera, microphone for VOIP/video conf. calls, dual memory card slots, stand, and speakers, making for one sleek gadget at US$400, so is worth considering if you don’t need the extra Windows applications on UMPCs.
Nokia 770
(Check out the full specs at the Nokia site)
Nokia 800
I’ll provide a review of the new UMPC or PMP that I may end up getting soon, but since the price tag may ultimately dictate my decison, and that the Samsung Q1 reviews have not been spectacular so far and doesn’t have a built-in keyboard which I prefer for using any Windows applications, I’ll probably be deciding between the Nokia 800 and Sony UX50.
The Nokia N80 released early last year was one of the first phones I ever saw with Wifi, and it also had a 3 MP camera! With all its powerful features, it was still relatively compact in size (about the size of a credit card) and it had a slider form factor, which I preferred over the clam shells. This was the only phone last year that I was really interested in buying (after my brief infatuation with the LG Chocolate which quickly subsided when it launched here in Canada and became so mainstream), but the price was just too much (close to US$800 at launch and now down to around $CDN600 for a parallel import version here in Toronto), knowing that a better model would be released shortly…and soon enough Nokia has done that with the new N95. “It’s what computers have become”, is the slogan that Nokia uses for this model and it looks to be a higher-end version of the N80. It’s slated to be released mid-March 2007 in the UK with a $US700 price tag. No gadget this sleek will ever be officially released here in Canada, but I’ll be looking out for the parallel import version that should come out soon in the Asian stores.
Here are just a few specs to impress:
-5 MP Camera with Carl Zeiss optics
-WiFi, Bluetooth
-GPS Mapping
-DVD quality video playback in the 2.6″ screen
-MP3 player, and FM Radio tuner
Images and videos can also be viewed in landscape mode with the playback buttons revealed at the opposite end of the keypad upon sliding the phone. But with all these features, it may turn out to be a big battery hog that will require recharging quite frequently, similar to the N80. Still, I can’t wait to see it soon in the window displays of the Asian stores with all the other imported sleek gadgets that will never be officially released here.
Okay, who can really replace the iPod? Everyone knows that Apple owns the market on MP3/portable media players with the iPod, and will soon move into the mobile market with the much anticipated iPhone in June. But they still haven’t launched any special features to cater to alot of their customers who listen to their iPods all the time when they’re running…like me! That’s why I bought the Sony NW-S205F (which I like to call my Sony “test tube” because of its unique shape) for only $99 at Best Buy during their 1 day online Boxing Day specials. I bought it even though I already have the shuffle, nano and video iPods because they all don’t do the trick when it comes to running.
In my first post, I wrote that I’d buy the iPod sport kit if it only had a feature to synchronize songs with your movement, so I can hear faster/upbeat songs when I’m speedy and slower songs when I’m winding down because I currently have to do this manually with my iPod, which interrupts my runs…Well the Sony test tube does this song switching automatically with its special “G-Sensor” feature. It switches betwen your fast and slow tracks based on how fast your arm is moving, as it’s attached to the armband that comes with the test tube. Plus, it also comes with a built-in stopwatch, an FM Tuner, wrap around sport earphones, all of which the iPods don’t include, or you would have to pay extra bucks for these add-on accessories. However, I do have some beefs about the test tube - the wrap earphones are not adjustable so they don’t fit well, unless you have long Spock or Buddha ears. So I use my other Altec Lansing adjustable wrap earphones instead. Also, the SonicStage software that you are required to use to transfer songs, is not user-friendly if you’re used to using the easy iTunes and have all your songs stored there, like me. Plus, SonicStage doesn’t come with a Mac version so I would have to use my other Sony Micro PC for it, and then it becomes such a hassle transferring my songs from my Mac to the PC.
So it looks like Sony beat Apple to the market with built-in running features for the MP3 Player, but I bet when the 2nd gen Apple sport kit comes out, it will allow you to do something similar, and I’ll be looking out for that since the Sony SonicStage software requires more effort than the simple synch with iTunes.
The Brando MP4 Watch - This is one of my first Christmas holiday gadget purchases…I love the fun and funky orange colour and the portability of this all-in-one media player. I don’t need to carry my ipod with me everywhere I go now to listen to music or watch some video clips on the go…it can also act as a spy device because I can record conversations without anyone knowing
And don’t be swayed by any negative comments you may find on the Net with converting your MP4 files to NXV format or jpeg files to RAW format in order to play your video clips and photos. The conversion software it comes with makes it easy to convert your photo, music, and video files in order to play them on this watch…I didn’t have any problems with the conversion.
The watch comes in either 1 or 2 GB versions, and in black or orange colours. I bought the funky orange 1GB model for just US$100, which is quite cheap for a watch considering it can do so much more than just tell the time. The 2GB version costs US$140, but I thought the 1 GB was good enough for me, as I’ve loaded a couple of videos and photos on the watch so far and still have plenty of space left for loading more media.
The screen size is too small to watch full movies on, so I don’t know why some people have been complaining that the NXV conversion inflates the file size too much to load a movie. It’s not meant for watching movies, but just for sharing some video clips taken with your digital camera. Get a real PMP for watching movies like an Archos media player (I got the 1st generation model, but just use it as an extra hard drive now), or get the iPhone that just came out, or even wait for the rumored full-screen iPod Video to come out soon.
I came back from a US Thanksgiving shopping marathon last weekend with a new Nikon Coolpix S7c WiFi camera, and it was definitely my best deal of the trip! I’ve been on and off about getting a new camera ever since I came back from my hiatus across Europe last summer because I couldn’t find one that really hit me with both features and sleek appeal…until I discovered the Nikon Coolpix S7c - the latest one in the stylish “S” range of Nikon Coolpix cameras.
At first I thought the Nikon S7C was just the same Nikon S6 WiFi model released last Spring, yet with an update to 7.1MP. And although I was intrigued with the handy WiFi feature of the S6, so I wouldn’t have to pull out the SD card reader every time to transfer pics to my laptop, I thought this feature alone wasn’t enough to make me buy this model. The WiFi feature was limited when it first came out because it only saved me from having to pull out my camera docking cradle or card reader for uploading pics. Yes, it was a convenient feature to have, but “ho hum” if that was all that the WiFi in the S6 allowed you to do. Then they came out with the S7C that had extra WiFi capabilities with its Coolpix Connect feature, where I could email my pictures in-camera, and also post them directly to my blog. A cool feature to have next time you’re on vacation so you can make your friends jealous by sending them pics in real-time of yourself sipping a pina colada by the spa resort
It also came with some great practical functions like:
1) Optical image stabilization with its electronic Vibration Reduction technology so my grandmother can also help take some shots.
2) ISO 1600 capability - to capture better looking pics with greater exposure in low light and clearer pics of fast-moving objects.
3) Playback of your photos and movies synched with your selected music and animated photo transitions with its Pictmotion. Plus, having a nice big 3″ LCD makes watching your customized audiovisual show really sweet!
And of course it also had to look sleek to make me buy this, and luckily the Coolpix S7C doesn’t disappoint on this front with a slim black body and curved-surface design:
Here’s a video clip I took with my new Nikon of my dog ringing the door chimes.
Before deciding on the Nikon S7C, I was also considering these other compact cameras in the $300-$500 price range because of their own special features:
1) Panasonic Lumix FX01 - For the 28mm wide angle lens (and it’s a Leica Lens!)…Panasonic was the first to launch this feature in the compact digital camera lineup, and it’s great for group shots and for those landscape scenic vacation shots. Plus, the FX01 was the only Panasonic model that came in white, which stood out and would match my other Apple-fashioned products. It retails for $400, and I actually bought it at Henry’s Digital Camera Show a few months ago because of a $50 discount offered , but soon returned it cuz was just not satisfied about the “cool factor” and thinking that there could be a better model I could get, since I didn’t need it right away. (the FX07 is the newer version, only updated from 6MP to 7.2MP, but from my research on camera reviews, the FX01 actually had better quality photos..something to do with lens distortion in the FX07)
2) Canon Powershot SD800 IS - Also considered this one because of its 28mm wide angle lens, and it’s the only Powershot model in the SD lineup that follows Panasonic in launching this feature in the compact camera category. Ok, although you’d be safe with the quality of the Canon shots, but I didn’t think it was worth shelling out the $550 while it only had the standard 2.5″ LCD, and only just some of the “practical functions” of the Nikon S7c listed above, plus no WiFi. It was over my budget, considering how quickly new models are always being released.
3) HP PhotoSmart R927 - Considered this one for its Slimming Effect feature of course, which I blogged about in my last post. Although it would have come in handy after my US Thanksgiving pigging-out ‘n shop til you drop weekend, that tiny practical side of me held me back from buying it after reading reviews of poorer photo quality, plus it is more of a gimmicky thing afterall and I could always try to adjust the photos myself with Photoshop (which i plan to buy and learn how to use at some point).
In the end, I stumbled upon the Nikon S7C while doing more research on camera review sites and on the US Black Friday sites before heading down for the shopping bonanza..and the research paid off cuz I got it for US$299 at Ritz Camera, $50 cheaper than the other big name US stores like Circuit City, and Best Buy, while it retailed here in Toronto for CDN$440. I bought the last one too, although I arrived at the store around 8am after coming back from rounds of early morning shopping madness, after heading out the night before to hit the midnight outlet sales. And was laughing to the cash register when surprisingly they piled on 1 free gift after another with my camera purchase. First, they gave me a free Samsonite camera bag, which was cool..then they put an HP Photo printer in front of me and said it’s yours too…bonus! Then they said, “oh, we ran out of the one you get for free. So, we’ve given you an upgrade that has a digital monitor”..woo hoo! And then they said “here are keys to your new car to go along with it!”…wow! Ok, i may have dreamt the last one, but it sure felt like that! I’m just glad I’m not the person going to Best Buy here in Toronto to get the Nikon S7C for $425 after a whopping $15 discount.
Move over T-Mobile Sidekick 3…here comes the Sony Mylo, which looks like a sleeker version of the Sony PSP (PlayStation Portable). The Mylo aka “My life online”, released last September, is geared towards the youth market, and competes with T-Mobile’s “Hiptop” or “Sidekick”, and Nokia’s 770. The Mylo allows you to get connected online with friends by using the pre-loaded Instant Messaging and VoIP services: Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, and Skype. You can surf the Net with the Opera Browser via its built in Wifi, and also play your music and videos with its MP3 and MP4 Video features with almost 1 gig of storage space. But it lacks the 1.3 MP camera that the latest Sidekick 3 has, and doesn’t operate with a cell phone plan. So the only way you can make calls is through VoIP using the pre-loaded Skype…yet, that’s only when you can find a wifi hotspot. Well, at least the calls will be free! But then will all this be worth its hefty US$350 price tag? Ahh, if only I lived in Frederickton, New Brunswick with free city-wide wifi!
Still, I think the Mylo is one of the coolest looking devices that I’ve seen from Sony in a while, and hoping that its price will drop soon, because unless you’re living in a predominantly wified city, it will just end up being an overpriced MP3/Video player since you won’t be able to use its main communication features wherever you go.
When I first saw the LG KG800 Chocolate cell phone that launched in Korea in November 2005, I thought it was so sleek that it almost made me switch from being a long time loyal Nokia devotee and it first caught my attention, not only because I love chocolate (it’s called chocolate because the version in Korea also had a chocolate scent! Yum!), but also because it’s the first time that a phone had a heat sensitive touchpad that glowed red only at the touch of your finger. Since it has touchpad navigation, you won’t feel any of the buttons that are beneath the shiny and smooth surface, and the screen also looks camouflaged behind the surface (in the black model) when not in use. The only thing really visible on the face was a small silver rectangle surrounding a central OK button. In addition to the OK button were 8 navigation buttons outside of the rectangle, and all of these touchpad buttons were hidden behind the shiny glossy surface and were only revealed with a red glow when touched. The silver rectangle aids your thumb in opening this slider phone to reveal a unique checkerboard-like keypad underneath. With all of these sleek design features, the LG Chocolate won the 2006 IF Design Award in Germany for its innovative design.
Ok, enough about the design…what about the other tech features? Well, it’s nothing spectacular to boast about because it only has the standard specs that’s common in most phones these days, such as:
• 1.3MP camera with LED flash
• 128MB internal memory
• MP3 Player
The Chocolate falls under LG’s line of fashion phones, so it’s not expected to stand out in functionality, but only in its sleek design. Yet, was it worth the hefty $500 price tag when it arrived here in Toronto during the Summer 2006 as a parallel import through unofficial distributors at the Asian stores? I didn’t think so, and stuck by my Nokia.
When a model becomes very popular, we usually see other colours and variations of that model released shortly after. The LG Chocolate was no exception (over 300,000 units were sold within the first 3 months after launch in Korea), and so the White and Pink Chocolate versions geared towards the gadget girls were soon released. LG also followed with an upgraded Chocolate that was thinner and more feature-rich with its Gold and Silver KE800 Platinum models that boasts: 256 MB internal memory, plus SD slot for external memory expansion; 2MP camera with auto-focus and FM radio, Bluetooth and all other features of the original, yet only 9.9mm thick (35% thinner than the15mm thick original)
The original LG Chocolate and all of the subsequent variations described above are unfortunately only sold here in Toronto as expensive parallel imports, except for the Platinum line, which hasn’t arrived here yet. But LG recently came out with a modified version of the original Chocolate that is officially sold in US through Verizon as LG VX8500, and now in Canada through Telus as LG8500, which is shown everywhere in flyers and commercials now, yet with a redesigned front face that loses much of the sleek and minimalist look found in the original version. Instead of a small silver rectangle, the North American version has a large silver circle, which surrounds 5 buttons, in addition to 4 buttons outside the ring. Although the North American version has the same number of buttons as the original KG800, the ones inside the circle are clearly visible, making it look less sleek and more cluttered. It also doesn’t appear to have the unique checkboard-style keypad. However, it’s definitely a lot more affordable at $130 (when you commit to a 3 year Telus plan in Toronto) or $330 without a plan compared to the KG800 that’s still only available as a parallel import for around $400-$430 now at the unofficial” LG distributors in the Toronto Asian stores here. The North American version only comes in the dark chocolate colour for now, but maybe LG will soon launch the other colours if North Americans end up gobbling up the ‘Chocolate’ like they do with the edible one!
What’s that? Is that your lipstick…your MP3 player? -Is what I often get asked when using my Nokia 7280 phone…one look at it and yeah, you’ll probably say it’s not the most practical phone, but it’s definitely sleek! It’s not made for everyone, and definitely not for texters or mucho macho guys, but I like the art deco retro design using the black-white-red colour scheme, the mirror face, and the sliding action revealing the hidden red part and camera underneath. It’s also fun sliding it up to talk, (although you don’t need to, but it’s more comfortable to hold when the phone lengthens) and then snapping it back when you’re finished. It’s alot more unique and fun than the standard sliders and clam shell phones out there.
Since the Nokia 7280 operates with a discreet keyless entry via a scroll wheel like the iPod instead of the traditional keypad, it’s not made for texters, but it’s pretty easy to operate since it has name recognition for quick dialling, and voice dialling as well. Since I mostly call only the numbers saved on my phone anyways it’s pretty speedy using the quick access button on the front to list dialled numbers. I only wished it had enhanced voice recognition software that would support voice-to-digit-or name-dialling, so I won’t have to record all the names in my Contact List first and could also just voice dial any new numbers. The 7280 was Nokia’s 1st real attempt to step outside the box and create a fashion phone that was not made for the mainstream market. So 1st trials don’t come without it’s bugs, and this phone is certainly no exception. It has been written up in the mobile discussion forums with firmware problems, such as freezing, and shut downs with the original release. But after the firmware is upgraded by Nokia, the problems would be fixed. I still took my chances and bought this phone off ebay since I really liked it’s sleek gadget design, and the only other places that I could get it (the Asian stores with these parallel imports) were selling it for double the price at the time: $500-600 and Holt Renfrew at $700…who would ever buy a phone there?! Well, I ran into the firmware issue myself and after sending it back to Nokia to replace the firmware, I’m happy to say that it’s working fine again.
Nokia 7380: An update to the Nokia 7280
Although most people in Toronto haven’t seen the Nokia 7280 before, since the only official retailer here is Holt Renfrew, the 7280 is relatively old. It launched in Q1 2005 and the 2nd version, the Nokia 7380, was already released in Q1 2006 and is part of the Nokia L’Amour Collection of fashion phones that has a flower-like drawing throughout the collection. I was also considering the 7380 before buying the 7280, but it would have costed me $200 more for the 7380 and I didn’t think that the extra features of the enhanced voice recognition, 2MP camera, and MP3 player was worth it. Based on the size of this phone, I didn’t care for a higher MP camera since the screen was so small, and I carry my iPod everywhere I go anyways, so didn’t need the MP3 feature. So the only really beneficial feature for me would be the enhance voice recognition software, but it wasn’t worth the extra $200. The 7280 is also more fun to use because of the sliding action, whereas the 7380 has no movable part, and despite its cool full mirror face, it unfortunately has a fake leather back and an ugly orange and peuce colour, or what I would describe as “poo”. What was Nokia thinking with this new colour scheme? If only Nokia stuck with the same colour scheme as the 7280, I believe more gadget girls would buy it. So, although the Nokia 7380 has improved functionality, it hasn’t been as popular as the 7280, which shows that more people do value form over function!
Posted by Gadget Girl
