No, it’s not a lipstick…it’s my Nokia 7280!

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!