Nokia 7500 Prism review Daring difference

It's been a long time since we last held such an unusual phone in our hands. Nokia 7500 Prism is so much different from all other mobile devices in terms of design. With its dazzling geometric patterns and distinctive triangular keys, the Prism is one of the most striking phones announced recently. Keeping a low profile is one thing this device can't do. Anyway, stay with us for the good and bad of it.
Nokia 7500 official photos
Key features:One of a kind design Typical s40 quick interface More than decent music performance with good equalizers Richer than usual preloaded content Keypad is comfortable, despite its unusual look Exchangeable accents to freshen up the phone's looks Main disadvantages:Mediocre camera No hot-swap capability for the memory card The display lacks brightness Inadequate battery life Price tag too high for the offered functionality Joystick needs time getting used to Fingerprint magnet Nokia 7500 - two distinctive edge go through the front panel from end to end
Nokia 7500 has been in the limelight since the very day it appeared on the Chinese website of the Finnish company. With the angular design and a price tag befitting far greater functionality, there is no doubt that this is a love-it-or-hate-it phone. A mere glance at the specification sheets is enough to convince us that Nokia 6300 offers almost the same set of features at a significantly lower price. Shiny plastic and diamond-like shapes on the outside, we are yet to see if its performance is diamond-hard.
Out-of-the-box The contents of the package are downright mid level. Alongside a 512 MB microSD memory card, there's a wired stereo handsfree. The earphones aren't as good as the ones found in Nokia 5700, but still produce decent quality sound. Sadly, we found no adapter for the microSD card (making it compatible with standard SD card-readers), nor a USB cable. The DC charger was there but we were disappointed to find out that this phone was using the Nokia AC-3X charger, instead of the AC-5 we found in the Nokia 5700 box. The typical retail package also includes an artificial leather wrist strap, a pouch and two exchangeable color accents. The color accents are very easy to replace and make a surprisingly big difference refreshing the phone's looks. A manual and a booklet highlighting the Nokia 7500 most important features complete the box contents. We should once again make a note here that part of the content of the retail package is market dependant and will probably vary by country or vendor.
Box is in the golden mean in terms of content
Triangular plasticNokia 7500 Prism is dressed in black and has a body made of plastic with only a few metal details. Except for parts of the back and the sides, where matt plastic was used, most of the handset's body is shiny, which sadly makes fingerprints an inevitable burden. The device stands at 109 x 44 x 14 mm with a volume of 70 cc and weight of mere 83 g. Overall the construction quality is good and there were no creaks or other disturbing sounds during our test. It does feel good in hand but cleaning your Nokia 7500 is a fulltime job, as every touch on the shiny plastic results in a fingerprint.
Starting to inspect the phone exterior, you will find the speaker positioned right above the display. A tiny metal ornament is placed right above it serving a purely decorative purpose. The 2.0" display itself is basically what you would expect in a phone in this price range.
The speaker execls with sound quality
Topside you'll find the on/off key, which is slightly sunk to prevent accidental presses. It is enclosed in a thin metal circle and is the only control on this part of Nokia 7500. The top, like the sides, is made of matt black plastic except for the metal framing that goes around the phone and the exchangeable accent. The accents themselves are plastic framework elements of different color, which are inserted under the phone's back panel.
The on/off key is surrounded by a thin metal ring
The left side is probably the easiest to describe, as it holds no functional elements at all. The bottom side is much more crowded. It houses the eyelet for a attaching a neck or a wrist strap. Right next to it is the charger plug. Further on to the right you will find the 2.5mm audio jack and the USB slot. Nokia 7500 supports microSD cards, which is nice as those are quite well-spread. So are USB cables by the way, and Nokia must have figured that users are quite likely to have one. As we already mentioned, there's no USB cable in the retail package.
The left side has no functional elements • a whole bunch of apertures is to be found at the bottom of Nokia 7500 - USB slot, 2.5mm audio jack, DC charger plug and the wrist strap eyelet
The right side of the phone is where the dedicated camera key is placed. Above it, is the dual volume control key and that is all there is to notice regarding the functionality of this part of Nokia 7500. A great flaw of Nokia 7500 is the lack of hot swap memory card slot. To us it's rather outdated to have to turn off the phone every time you take out or insert the memory card, but apparently not to the phone's designers.
Right side is where the dedicated camera key and the volume rocker is placed
The back of the phone is covered with asymmetrical patterns of shiny plastic while the rest of it, as already mentioned, is finished in matt plastic, which may not be as nice looking but deals with fingerprints a whole lot better. The Nokia logo is engraved on the lower half and the camera and the LED flash are located in the upper half. The flash window is also triangular to match the shape, which dominates the phone's design.
Most of the stylish back panel is covered by asymmetrical patterns • The camera and the flash also exercise angular forms • Next to them is the speakerphone
To get to the battery, the back cover is removed by lifting, starting from the top until you reach the bottom where a triangular button ought to be pushed to fully release the panel. Under the cover is the BL-4B battery and of course the currently chosen color accent goes around the rim. The BL-4B battery is one our greatest disappointments with this phone. Under heavy-duty usage, it was able to last roughly about a day. Our guess is that if you use the phone mostly for talking and do not make too many calls, you will have to charge it every 36 or 48 hours at the most. We could have probably lived with that one if the phone was really feature-packed or at least the display was large enough and of superior quality, but unfortunately neither of those excuses works with this handset.
The phone thorn to pieces • The BL-4B battery is inadequate
Taking the battery away you will notice the SIM card slot and the microSD card slot. The latter has the lock system, which Nokia usually uses for the SIM cards. We do find it a very nice idea but it's not nearly enough to removing the bad impression from not having a hot-swap slot.
No hot swap memory card for Nokia 7500 • At least there is a 512 MB card included in the retail package.(Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/)

Nokia 6555 – an elegant 3G clamshell

Nokia is certainly keeping us busy these days. Only a day has passed since the Nokia N95 8GB was approved by the FCC and now a new mobile is announced by the Finnish company. The fresh new addition to its mobile portfolio is the Nokia 6555 - a stylishly looking clamshell. The device is going to be quad-band and 3G-enabled and has an interesting design, which once again confirms that Nokia is trying to drop the conservative image. Quite a few steps in that direction were made, including the Nokia Prism collection and the Nokia Luna.
Nokia 6555 in different color variants
In terms of features Nokia 6555 comes with a 16M color internal TFT display with a QVGA (320 x 240 pixels) resolution. The clamshell also has an eye-pleasing external analog timepiece display. The user memory is 30MB and is expandable through the in-built microSD card slot. Data transfers rely on Bluetooth as well as the already mentioned 3G capabilities. The camera (with yet unknown megapixel count) features some handy features such as fullscreen portrait viewfinder.
The handset is planned to hit the shelves within next month at an estimated retail price of 200 EUR in at least four different color combos. (Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/)

Nokia 6120 classic review Down-to-earth Symbian

The elegant case of the new Nokia 6120 houses a feature rich smartphone, which has all the reasons in the world to become a bestseller
The new Nokia 6120 Classic belongs to neither the multimedia N Series, nor the business E series of the Finnish brand. Good at the essentials, it's set of features can't be clearly linked to a particular target of users. The "Classic" attribute refers to the phone's conservative design. On the other hand, Nokia 6120 features functions far more sophisticated than what you'd expect in this price category. The piece we tested had been delivered to us by Vodafone thus its software is modified according to Vodafone's requirements.

Key featuresConservative and elegant design Impeccable construction Symbian 9.2, S60 3rd Edition graphic upgrade and Feature Pack Remarkable size and weight for a smartphone 2-megapixel camera without autofocus Instant response of user interface Brilliant QVGA display with reflexive surface 35 MB of internal memory, microSD card slot GPRS, EDGE, HSCSD, UMTS, HSDPA Document viewer: Quickoffice and PDF Bluetooth with A2DP support Solid and robust body MiniUSB connector Very good keypad Voice recorder with 60-minute limit Main disadvantagesNo Wi-Fi No "pencil" key Susceptible to fingerprints No indication of missed events after certain period of time Navigation and operation keys not ergonomic enough Chromium enclosing black Nokia 6120 impresses with its conservative, adornment-free design. The unobtrusively elegant and compact handset has two color versions: black and pearl white. The chromium trim is an especially attractive highlight on the black one we tested. The Nokia 6120 puts on no shows; it looks like just another basic phone. Market success is staked on precisely this combination of regular looks and spot-on capability. Despite the all but orthodox use of materials, dominated by standard plastic, the Nokia 6120 stands out with its conservative elegance. Durable and solid, the phone is meant for heavy workloads.
Robust and compact, the new Nokia 6120 has a truly classic look
Nokia 6120 is sure to surprise you when you hold it in hand for the first time. It is doubtlessly the smallest and lightest Symbian smartphone on the market. Measuring 105 x 46 x 15 mm and weighing 89 grams, it scores very high in direct comparison to the famous Nokia 6300 (whose dimensions are similar: 106 x 44 x 12 mm).
The most prominent element on Nokia 6120 is the chromium stripe running along the sides of its body. It's wider at the bottom, creating a nice frame for the front to stand out. Round edges dominate the shape and most of the elements of the exterior. The D-pad is chromium-plated too, and so is the framing of the front camera lens and the earpiece. The last silvery bit is the area around the main camera lens on the back. The rest, which is to say most of the surface, is glossy black. Fingerprints are hence an inevitable consequence. They are most likely to appear around the display and on the entire back panel. A good deal of wiping up will be needed every time the phone gets used. Possibly, fingerprints will be less of a problem for the pearl white version of the 6120.
The matt chromium frame along the sides of the casing
A single key is to be found on the top of the handset. The power key has the usual range of powers: it turns the device on and off, switches between profiles (incl. Offline mode), activates phone lock and keypad lock (the standard combination of left soft key + asterisk will do too). The bottom features all connectors - the miniUSB port, 2.5 mm jack, and the charger port. On the left you will find the monospeaker grill and the microSD memory card slot. On the right are the volume rocker and the camera key. The back of the phone nests the main camera lens alongside a pleasingly powerful LED flash.
A monospeaker on the left, alongside the cover of the memory-card slot
The right side houses the camera key and the volume-control key. All connection ports are at the bottom. At the top is the power key: typical of Nokia, it's multifunctional.
The material around both camera lenses looks like chromium.
The rearside edges are slightly beveled, making for a pleasantly comfortable grip. The plate holds firmly and gives out no strange sounds even when pressed strongly. Under the rear plate is the Li-Ion BL-5B battery with 890 mAh capacity. The battery life of Nokia 6120 is impressive. To give you an example, a daily average of 5 minutes of calls and 20 SMS requires charging every four to five days. More demanding jobs, including active internet browsing in UMTS, will surely reduce durability to 2-3 days, but even so the phone does great. Charging takes about 2.5 hours.
SIM card is not fitted in the best possible way.(Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/)

Nokia 6301 hits on UMA

Nokia officially revealed a spanking new handset to feature UMA. Nokia 6301 is a revamped version of the successful thin bar Nokia 6300.
Visually, Nokia 6301 is almost indistinguishable from its predecessor. It has the exact same design with only slightly larger dimensions, the increase in thickness being the most notable. Nokia 6301 stands at 13.1 mm as opposed to the 11.7 mm of Nokia 6300. It has also gained two grams of weight to total 93 grams.
In terms of features, the most important improvement in Nokia 6301 is of course the WLAN support. It seems the-not-so-long-ago exotic WLAN is becoming almost a standard feature. In Nokia 6301 user memory gets a boost to 30MB, topped with microSD memory card support of up to 2GB. A 128MB memory card will ship with the handset. So much for differences with Nokia 6300, Nokia 6301 remains a tri-band GPRS and EDGE enabled device.
Having UMA at your disposal means that whenever there is an accessible Wi-Fi hotspot near you, be it your home, office or university, or simply in the street, the device can connect to it and use the connection for making and accepting calls and sending and receiving data similarly to using wireless VoIP-telephony on your GSM mobile phone. The handset would be able to switch connections between the licensed cellular radio access network and the Wi-Fi network even in the middle of a call without the user ever noticing. The most important difference from the widely known VoIP technology is that UMA is after all tightly linked to the mobile radio network, which is used for routing, authentication and billing. A call initiated using the Wi-Fi interface eventually reaches the 2G core network through the UMA network and, once the signal is transferred, it becomes indistinguishable from the rest of the cellular traffic. Subscribers using UMA can take advantage of improved indoor coverage and higher data rates, when accessing the local WLAN. Do not throw your hopes for free calls out of the window just yet, since the technology allows the UMA-enabled devices to be used as regular VoIP handsets. But it's of course up to the manufacturer to decide whether to block that functionality or not.
Shipping is expected to begin to selected markets in Europe in the forth quarter of 2007. The estimated retail price is EUR 230 before taxes or subsides.(Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/)