Nokia 9300

Nokia may be considered a founder of communicators as a special class of devices. Today many devices are called this way but first a phone equipped with a QWERTY-keypad and having handheld computer functionality was meant when saying this word. None of the smartphones come under this description and the absence of a fully functional keyboard makes them form another class. When saying "another class" we do not mean any on the decline functionality but the fact the device belongs to another form-factor, judge yourself, that's hard to integrate a QWERTY-keypad into a body of a usual mobile phone. Today we see some attempts to integrate a QWERTY-keypad into a number of smartphones without increasing their size but a final result is too doubtful and is obviously inferior to full-size solutions.

So, Nokia 9300 is a younger model of the two communicators by the company. Nokia 9500 has a more capacious battery, an integrated camera and a support for Wi-Fi. Thus the manufacturers achieved a smaller size as a result of these changes. The device weights 167 grams (against 222 for Nokia 9500) and what is the main the dimensions have also been changed - 132x51x21 mm (against 148x57x24 mm). The communicator is possible to carry in a pocket of a shirt but you won't look the best. The device is better to carry in a special case on your waist but that's not comfortable sometimes and thus in a bag it will be the best. I'd like to add a device of this size is not comfortable for everyday use if you speak on it very often. The problem was unsolvable earlier and now the way out is to use a bluetooth headset equipped with a display. That means Nokia 9300 is in a bag and a headset is fixed on a lapel thus you can see the number of a caller and accept or reject the call, or you may take the communicator of the bag and make a conversation. There are no original headsets with these parameters and finally you may use a product by Sony Ericsson in a bond. Only having such a bond you don't think about the dimensions. In the nearest future the majority of communicators will be equipped with such mobile modules for connection, the concept is known for more than a year and was represented at exhibitions not once. That's hard to say who will be the first but obviously Motorola will offer the solution in autumn 2006.

Before considering the functions the thing I'd also like to mention that makes the difference from all the smartphones in the ideology of work. Here the phone and communicator's functions are separated almost physically. The computer part is always on and may not be turned off in principle (only by taking the battery off but it is a reset already). The device is turned on by a separate button and works as a separate module (contacts, messages, call lists are common for the whole device). You look at the device and see a phone just a big one. But you need only to turn it horizontally, open and you'll get a small handheld.

The opening process makes no problems. The fact that the centre of gravity is a bit disposed is a real shortcoming thus if the opening angle is more than 45 degrees the upper part will outweigh the lower one. The fact leads to the necessity to hold the device with fingers when entering data and you wont' manage to type like on a computer keyboard. But let's speakl about each part in order and we'll start with a phone one.

Nokia 9300 in a phone mode

Having a brief look you'll certainly understand the phone part is a typical 40th platform with all its minuses and pluses. The external 65K TFT screen has the resolution of 128x128 pixels. The display is similar to the one used in Nokia 6230 and a number of other products. The screen fades in the sun and this is mainly connected with its small size. The information may be read still.

The keypad is made of plastic, the keys are sunk deeply into the body and this seems a sensible solution trying to decrease the thickness of the device. That's easy to work with the keys due to their space and in the majority of cases you'll only have to type in numbers from this keypad (entering messages seems a blasphemy when having a QWETRY-keypad for the device). In several weeks of using the device discovered the keys got own motion and began "playing" in slots. The explanation is the manufacturer made the upper part interchangeable and I won't judge how reasonable it is for a business product. This is either homage to fashion or implementing one's wish. The navi joystick is quite comfortable and is easy to work with. The backlighting is white, not very bright but the characters are seen clearly.

There is an On/Off button above the screen and a standard Pop-Port connector and a charger slot on the bottom. An IrDA gap may be seen on the right-side surface.

The back panel is equipped with rubber projections because the device will be put on even surfaces mostly. The cover is fixed with a single catch and a backlash appears in time. There is no a connector for a memory card outside and unfortunately the card is traditionally inside the device (but hot change is also possible).

The battery is 970 mAh Li-Ion and according to the manufacturer is capable of working for 200 hours in the standby mode and up to 4.5 hours in the talk mode. In Moscow the device worked for about 2 days in case of 30 minutes of talks and up to 10 minutes of using other functions (communicator possibilities were not used at all). That's natural that using Nokia 9300 this way is impossible and when used properly and also spending 30 minutes on talks the device will work for about a day. So, in general you should expect the device will need recharging every evening. Full recharging takes about 2 hours.

You can use a phone book from the phone mode. It's standard for the device by Nokia and the only difference is in the absence of any limits put on the number of the entries.

Nokia 6310i

Functions of 6310i are almost identical to 6310. So, in this article we’ll describe only the main changes of these two phones. If you are interested in detail description of all features, read, please, review of Nokia 6310.

A renewed version of the phone supports a third band GSM1900. It allows to characterize this handset as a real business-phone, which can be used not only in Europe, but also in America. This function should be realized earlier and the problem of its postponing is not obvious. The second change of 6310i is a pastel blue display backlighting (others screen parameters remained the same). The information is highly visible in this case and the phone looks more attractive. Color of keypad backlighting was also changed to pastel blue and all the characters became more visible on keys. If to say about keys shape, phone dimensions and color, Nokia 6310i is absolutely analogues to its predecessor - 6310.

The main change is menu concerned. Two pre-installed Java-applications can be found in Application now. They demonstrate Java possibilities.

Nokia E65

Eseries-branded devices have always been dubbed as enterprise solutions aimed at least at the audience of business-users, which has allowed the company not to sweat over the design too much, or beat its head about positioning. At the beginning, Eseries was consistently and aggressively suggesting to us that a camera module embedded in a handset for this particular audience is “evil” and, among other things, in some places taking snaps is prohibited. The arguments, were, to say the least, pretty weak, but being spread by Nokia’s representatives they actually affected the market, thus in some areas where handsets got placed outside the law, however people were paying a little attention to those restrictions. I truly loved the story that happened a year ago in the head quarters of Lukoil – they placed special lockers for phones of the staff over there. The idea actually had seemed to have worked out, at least for the first few days, but by the end of the week the security, which had been supporting the whole thing, went crazy because of the ring tones coming from the lockers. Basically, that order was illogical in the first place and got cancelled shortly after, as leaking information with the help of other portable storage devices is much easier than snapping it with a handset’s camera.

Having infected consumers’ minds with the idea of “maleficence” of camera, over at Enterprise Solutions they had a clear understanding of the fact that doing so allows only postponing the moment when blurred positioning of many Eseries devices would have become evident to many. Undoubtedly, communicators and QWERTY-armed solutions will always walk a different path, however they occupy a tiny share in sales and can be seamlessly overlooked.

For conventional candy-bars in Eseries, the main highlight could be the software, specifically support for Microsoft Office documents editing via native suite of applications. And we were surprised to a great extent, when we found out that the software kit embedded in Eseries performs notably better than Microsoft’s very own apps for Windows Mobile. You can learn more about this and some more features of Eseries software in a dedicated article.

In current generation of Eseries they have forgone the native application in favor of the current default, as many see it, Quick Office (pre-installed application). The cutting- dge of VoIP has gone as well, since many new smartphones coming from Nseries and the S60 camp in general have acquired this feature. Initially claimed support for certain enterprise VoIP-applications in Eseries has died on the vine. For example, Cisco CallManager, which you can learn more about here, still doesn’t work properly. Over at Nokia they assure us that with some voodoo, precise setup of applications and loads of time, one could make this combination work (not for all firmware versions and “dated” devices). Since late October, 2006 such solution has been around, even though it leaves much to be desired, but this is something we’ve come to expect from all new technologies.

So what do we have left from the highlights of Eseries that could be heavily hyped and then grasped by consumers? Hmm… Maybe names, or, better to say, indexes of the devices? All in all, we can rightfully state that the positioning of Nokia-branded devices are suffering positioning catastrophe, and all this started at the moment when stand-alone divisions took this process in their own hands. The goal of a specific unit is not to make the entire company happy – on the contrary it sets out to succeed on its own front. Getting one and the same raw material (S60 platform) different divisions come up with own products, each with unique positioning. And every solution is ought to secure certain level of sales, otherwise it is rated as not-particularly-successfully and the work of a division will be valued accordingly.

Now let us portray a typical consumer who wants to buy a handset. It is a man who has got a basic need in making calls, enjoying good battery life, display, extended capabilities of the phonebook etc. The suite of secondary features, for example camera, music department, may vary. But the fundamentals are always constituted by those basic characteristics. So, it turns out that all three of Nokia’s divisions, in various ways, aim at the same audience and compete against each other for their attention. Rivalry in this very case gets to be not a very “healthy” effect. For example, over at Nokia Multimedia they are not really into Nokia Mobile Phones products, considering them as second to their own “multimedia computers”.

Incidentally, have you ever seen a man, that has nothing to do with this company that would use “multimedia computer”, referring to Nokia Nseries? Personally, having such a wide circle of relations, I couldn’t find any. Wait I moment, I actually lied. I had a chance to sit in a plane next to a good-looking middle-aged man, who, after spotting me staring at his Nseries and looking at my “ordinary phone” (and failing to figure out its brand), told me how great it was to own a “multimedia computer”, like his, surpassing all conventional phones. It might sound surprising, but I managed to impress my neighbor by telling him where he worked and what he was doing for that company. I guessed right in both cases. This story can make a good joke:

- How can you know that someone works for Nokia Multimedia Division?
- Easy – he will call Nseries smartphone a “multimedia computer”.

Artificiality of division of products into various segments, dictation of own titles – all this leads to a mess in positioning. As the number of S60-powered products grows, the competition is getting tougher bother between each other and against the S40. A fine example of this trend is a smartphone going by the name of Nokia E65. The basic concept they initially armed it with was beautiful. It was essential to come up with a device for energetic people, who make loads of calls and communicate with great many of workmates. In course of the product development such positioning lost its ground – there were too many ordinary phones that acted as its counterparts to some extent, coming out in both Nseries range and line-up of ordinary phones. They only thing that were down to do was make an elegant move and change the positioning of the device. So, which segment will be most appropriate for a 400-Euro slider? Apparently, the niche of fashion phones.

This slider belongs to “slim-is-in” category, being one of the company’s smallest slider-styled offerings, measuring up at 105x49x15.5 mm. While Nokia’s range doesn’t feature any counterparts to this solution, Samsung is delivering such device in March - Samsung i520v (S60 3.1, 101.7x50.5x17.9 mm). Overall these devices share some commonality – to make sure of that you just need to put them side by side. The Nokia-branded solutions look much more flashy, thanks to the display edging and patterned surface, good combination of silver and grey colors (the other color scheme is a typical pick for women – red).

Have you ever tried to image a red-coated enterprise device? I find this pretty challenging, but the fact is – for the very first time Eseries sways towards the fashion segment. And these people had enough courage to say something about built-in camera? I don’t understand them at all.

Design-wise, the E65 is quite good – it positively differs from many sliders that Nokia released lately, just look at face-to-face pictures with Nokia N80, Nokia 6288 and Motorola Z6.

The handset weighs in at 115 grams and measures 137 mm long when zipped open, which makes for comfort. At the same time you can accept and make calls without sliding the E65 open.

The phone comes included with a velvety carrying pouch, which is astonishing.

But the trim is not the only thing highlighting unconventional style of the E65 – turning the handset around reveals leather-like surface of the battery cover. The plastic quality is good, in some places the finishing is something between soft touch and standard plastic coating. However the surface proves to be prone to mechanical effects, specifically the area next to the “pencil” key wore off due to the phone being put in one pocket with keys once. At the same time, while not in such extreme conditions, the E65 won’t expose these scratches. The chassis is painted into the same color.

All in all the build quality is not something we can complain about – the halves don’t feel spongy, the device slides open and closed with ease, thanks to the spring-loaded slide mechanism. However, in three days it lost the smoothness of sliding action, it got a tad slower, with the addition of a clang, but we managed to find the explanations outright – the keypad is framed by a metallic inset, whose surface is patterned as well, in order to emphasize the texture of the material used. And the halves will always stick to this surface, and it gets scratched in no time. Well-visible abrasions emerge in four days of usage. Though it is not an issue from the mechanical point of view – the slider will remain good at zipping open and closed for a long while – this doesn’t add points to the E65’s looks. On the other hand, though, scratches can be noted only with the phone open.

The handset utilizes QVGA display (240x320 pixels, 2.2 inches, 34x45 mm), capable of 16 mln. colors (TFT). Much like other Nokia’s offerings, theE65 comes installed with a mirror layer for the display, making its usage in the sun a bit more like a breeze, and keeping the picture perfectly legible, which is especially vital for navigation mode. Also the handset carries ambient light sensor, which adjusts backlighting level basing on current light conditions.

Nokia 8800

The premium segment always lacked the offer from the main manufacturers, since that is not enough just to announce the device as status; it has to prove this name. Due to that plenty of status devices by unknown manufacturers using technological materials were unnoticed practically and the last example is Mobiado Professional. In the absence of a famous brand the device is taken not as a premium solution. Nokia tried to provide unique offers to its users in this segment and keep the price high as long as possible. That is the main Nokia's difference from other manufacturers, a product that may be compared to other devices in functions is launched, but still it has unique features and design. That is how long life and slow price decrease is achieved. This practice was possible till today, since no manufacturer tried acting in this niche, but the market strategy changes and the Nokia 8800 won't be the only product of the class. However at least for 7-8 months the device will dominate in its segment, which will allow fixing its price automatically. That makes the Nokia 8800 interesting for many users, since the phone status will remain the same more than for a year, and price decrease won't touch it unlike the majority of the devices. Besides the price questions technical solutions of the Nokia 8800 are of interest today.

The device is designed as a popular today slider, Nokia lacked such devices till recently. The Nokia 8910 may be considered the maximum close to smartphones, but here another mechanism pulling the functional part up from the external one is applied. No significant parts of the device were gathered in the bottom end. The Nokia 8800 is unique for almost all the body except for the top of the back panel is made of stainless steel. A corresponding note may be seen under the back cover near the SIM-connector. The metal is not claimed nominally, there is really much of it. Particularly, you can take the back cover and look at its thickness, it is about 0.5 mm, in other models the thickness of twice less. This lavish use of the metal gives the impression of reliability; the device lies well in a hand and is felt as a pleasant heaviness. The feeling is even nicer considering polished surface.

The surface is easily soiled and fingerprints stay on it. And if they are not much noticeable or at least are taken normally on the metal, then on the glass they are well seen. Some will take fingerprints on the phone as a catastrophe and one won't pay any attention on the contrary. It all depends on your perception; fingerprints on the Nokia 8800 do not make a disadvantage, which is the minus of all the polished surfaces.

The weight of the device follows from the materials used and forms 134 grams. Considering the size of 107x45x16.5 mm the device is felt heavier and looks more aerial. I'd like to stress men are the main audience (up to 80 percent of sales). Women can use the phone but considering the Nokia 8850, 8910 sales, there are few of them. The question concerns not the weight of the device or its design; it refers to the primordial positioning of such products by the manufacturer. Have a look on the original photos life style by Nokia, they tell how the manufacturer sees the Nokia 8800 customer (a successful manager, own chauffeur and a limousine, women only shade the Nokia 8800 owner in).

The protective glass is tempered similarly to some medium segment watches with sapphire glass applied. According to the manufacturer sapphire glass protects the screen from scratches perfectly (much better than in usual devices). First this protection is mainly achieved by a well-taken construction. The loudspeaker gap is lifted up from the surface as well as the rest serving for opening the device. If placing the phone with its screen down it will lie on these two points and scratching it seems practically impossible. For the clear experiment the screen was scratched with various objects, and the most scarring trial used metallic keys. The device was put into a packet with 7 keys and a metallic trinket; all these things were put into the washing machine. A minute after the packet was taken out. There was no scratch as such, two small ones appeared during the experiment are not counted. They are extremely hard to notice. However the polished parts of the device show some not deep scratches. The advantage is the scratches are seen only when peered at attentively, otherwise they are unnoticeable. So, let's think the device passed the test successfully.

There is a metallic rest under the screen resembling a loudspeaker gap scrolled in a tube (such nets are present in many household devices as decor elements). A finger is easy to rest on it, though those ones having big arms will have problems with the dirt on the screen around the rest.

The device comes equipped with an automatic finishing mechanism, thus no special efforts are necessary to open and to close the phone. The motion is smooth and pleasant. Phone edges are rather sharp, which may cause finger damage when opening carelessly especially for the first time. The problem is even not more in the sharp edges but in the closing speed, the parts slide so fast that one may pinch his finger or check if closing with his face. The described problem is temporary, the majority of Nokia 8800 users get used to how to close their phone, and this traumatism finishes.

The keypad is the most arguable part of the device from the ergonomic point of view. The keys are of plastic, placed close to each other and are small in size. Even people with small hands and fingers find it uncomfortable to work with the Nokia 8800. Unfortunately, placing a full-size keypad in such a body was impossible. Another aggravating factor is the bottom key row joins the slider edge too closely, which causes extra problems when pressing. The OK button is miniature and hard to work with. One more disadvantage is the soft-keys are placed on both sides of the rest and are on the level different form the whole keypad. Considering the soft-keys are used in all the actions with the device your will have to move your fingers from one level to another permanently, at the same time the distance is minimal, which causes even higher fatigability.

The backlighting is white and well seen in all the conditions. Localized versions will provide no Latin characters on the keys besides the local one; since there is no room for two character rows (two rows would be practically unreadable and will cross all the value of the approach).

Speaking on the phone is possible in a closed mode; you can accept a cal or switch off the sound. Repeated pressing of the soft-key cancels a call, thus making it in one touch is impossible. A closed Nokia 8800 is a thing in itself; nothing can be done with the phone, only changing the profiles with an On/Off button on the top of the device. Successive pressures of the button scroll the list and holding it for long allows selecting a profile.

It's quite a riddle for us why a question if locking the keypad is necessary appears when closing the device. It is on by default. An attempt to leave the keypad unlocked gives no practical effect, since neither viewing SMS nor dialing a number is possible.

The absence of a side volume button is a serious minus. The volume is adjusted with a navi button during the conversation, thus you have to take the device out of your ear. Considering the company hasn't realized the technology for tuning the volume depending on the surrounding noise, which may be considered an omission. Thus the max volume is too much in a quiet room but still is quite comfortable in the street. It's curious the device provides tuning a loudspeaker for the signal conditions, which is some kind of an equalizer improving the speech quality (hiding noises, croaking) in problematic zones. A similar technology by Samsung called Voice Clarity is applied in the majority of the today devices.

The screen is similar to the Nokia 6230i. That is a 208x208 pixels TFT matrix with a physical resolution of 31x31 mm, 262K. The small screen size makes the picture very smooth and pleasant. The screen is perfect for a product with such dimensions and has no copies in this segment. By the way, the screen size didn't allow making the keypad more comfortable. Up to 5 text and 2 service lines are shown on the screen. You can change the font-size, and the number of shown lines decreases to 4 with the biggest font-size, the font readability rises insignificantly, the smallest font allows up to 6 lines. The screen is readable in the sun, though thin fonts are almost invisible. The change of the font-size (its decrease) became a necessity due to the high resolution. The quality of the photos taken with an integrated camera is not bad mainly due to the screen characteristics, though the colours are pale, especially as compared with the preinstalled graphics.

Nokia 7280

For many years Nokia was a trendsetter in a mobile phone world. And having expanded its model line a few years ago it didn't manage to hold the appearance of its many models even series of devices. Their functional and design similarity made the devices look completely alike. No doubts in each product line the similarity was stressed with the same design elements but this all made not the best impression of sameness. The situation started to change rapidly in the middle of 2004 and the external difference with the inner similarity grew more important. That would seem the company found that golden mean in technology and the appearance of the device and learned to produce well-balanced solutions. And the ergonomics is becoming a determining factor again or will become in the nearest future. The changes are gradual and are seldom seen with a naked eye but they exist. We would hardly see a striking keypad with the least comfort in use. The company rather tried to attract attention with other design elements. And the changes of the developers' and designers' opinions do gladden. At the same time Nokia doesn't refuse manufacturing extremely designers' models for a small audience. These devices would certainly cost more than average ones (I just long to say serial but both the lines actually are).

Nokia 6170 may be considered the first system experience in dividing into mass and niche models. This device was intended as a pilot balloon before releasing several models with the same promotion idea. But due to some reasons the device was a bit late and didn't become a trial balloon. The second example is Nokia 6260; this smartphone in a clamshell form-factor is a typical fashion device and the sales proved this fact (the audience is quite glamour). I can't but tell that as far as I noticed that in a month after the sales had started many girls showed off with the model at high society parties. In the 90 percent of cases the girls were not tall blonds (an evident tendency of a separate social group). Discussing the peculiarity with colleagues showed even more interesting results. They all proved that's right and these girls follow the fashion too much to use the model longer than 1-1.5 months. And here is an excellent audience with high speed of changing a model and the only disadvantage is that there are too little of them, the niche is permanent and rather fixed.

Here many of you may start to disagree with me and link acquaintances of them that are men who are not those notorious blonds but still have bought Nokia 6260. And really first the target group was a business audience and those are they who need the functionality of the device. The manufacturers tried to combine both courses - business and fashion. And that is actually the same way that Samsung took but from another end. It released completely fashion devices and only then went towards the business segment keeping all the fashion attributes (Samsung D500 is an excellent example for the idea). Nokia has been dong the same things but with business devices that have always been successful for it.

Note that Nokia 6170 and Nokia 6260 have a 6000 index that usually indicates business models. So, time passes and now here a mixed segment is present also (business + fashion) though such models will better suit the 8000 series.

A project represented with the three models Nokia 7260, Nokia 7270, Nokia 7280 is an experimental one (the 7000 series is always experimental in some kind). The designers used the 20th of the last century with their spangle of clubs, fanciful closes and a usual everyday life as an anchor point. Releasing these three models the company tries to determine how viable the idea of niche models is and what is necessary for their successful promotion.

As for me, the company used not trivial ideas for the promotion. The experience of the rivals who failed to make the projects mass (some models) or were unsuccessful in general (Xelibri by Siemens, Vertu by Nokia in some way). The first idea is plain. The customer needs not just a product with some characteristics but the one having its own history and emotional response. These are the basic rules of marketing but they make troubles for the majority of the companies in many fields. Have you already guessed the idea of these three models? That is a link to the 20th and the transfer of your attention from the actual models to the last century, its atmosphere and the people who lived then. That is practically an ideal product for a glossy magazine and this fact makes the product very successful combined with the average price of the models. That's natural the company will use standard ad carriers for widening the target group. The second idea comes from the Xelibri experience. The experience of fashion houses was taken as an example and each of the collection contained four models and was released twice a year (autumn/winter, spring/summer). Nokia has also released a collection of three models (though it's not called this way). The reason is that's easier to use the first idea then (that's harder to promote a single device and draw attention to it). And the last stroke is the price policy inside the line. The youngest model Nokia 7260 is the cheapest, Nokia 7270 is more expensive and 7280 has the maximum price. Every woman reading glamour editions (and of course, other categories) will be able to choose the phone according to their funds.

And differently to Xelibri this approach guarantees demand for all the models of the line, gives an idea and an emotional response to a user. A great advantage is that Nokia has not led the series out of a standard model line. First these are the 7000 series devices and only then they have some more elements added. That means the customer deals with Nokia and only then percepts some extra information. The fact Siemens had released the new trade mark was caused by its low popularity among fashion phone users and the brand is "lighter". In short evaluating the whole set of actions for promoting Nokia 7260, Nokia 7270 and Nokia 7280 we can surely say that is the most thoroughly thought over project for niche devices and it will bring maximum profit.

Having cleared up the history of the models let's talk about the elder one that is Nokia 7280. Taking into consideration the fact all the three devices are experimental the developers allowed themselves make Nokia 7280 the maximum different from a standard phone. And that is kitsch in its better sense, an attempt to create something unordinary.

The first sight of the device shows it is completely different from a usual mobile phone. Its rectangular form resembles a dictaphone a bit and the form-factor is very close to it. There is no any innovation from Nokia's side here. The first similar devices were released by Haier (P5 and P6 models). That's curious the width and thickness of the device is completely similar to Haier P5 (28x18 mm P5 and 32x19 in Nokia 7280). The main target group for Haier phones was formed by women and they all explained it plainly - "unordinary design, attracts attention and the device is not widespread". So we all see its fashion element in the model though Haier tried to stress the similarity with digital dictaphones. A company peculiarity is a big value of the dictaphone and control buttons. That seems that creating one product the company made another phone with interesting user characteristics.

Nokia has intended the model for a fashion segment from the beginning and that is the reason of those various materials that are used in the device. First, the screen is mirror-like and it may be used as a real mirror in the standby mode. Second, the loudspeaker gap is protected with a chamois insertion and is firmly integrated into the body. The same chamois insertion is on the right-side surface of the device and here it's necessary for sliding the device into a camera mode. An evident minus of the chamois insertions is they are easily soiled, dust and dirt from a lady's handbag are seen on them. They may be cleaned with a special brush for such surfaces and many of those who wear chamois clothes do surely have this thing. Third, a small tag with the manufacturer's name may be seen on the right surface. That is a complete copy of similar labels of famous clothes brands and that gives some similarity with a fashion accessory to the device.

The only one colour solution represented is black glossy plastic and fingerprints do stay on it. A cloth is not included into a package but a case of soft leather fully replaces it. The case is red inside and if carrying the device in the case the number of grease stains surprisingly decreases. The accessory is really stylish and matches the whole device greatly. There is a white edging on the top end of Nokia 7280 and a red LED is hidden behind it. In the standby mode it turns on smoothly lighting the top end in a circle that looks stylishly. This indication also works to alert various events. The device put in the case is seen anyway and then an edge of the inner part of the case and a top of the device. An interesting hint appears when the red edge of the case calls up with the lighting.

The accessories included into the package are worth telling about separately. And now I'd like to note only there is a strap that is fixed to a staple on the bottom end of the device. The strap is made in the same key like the case and has a silvery insertion besides.

Let's go back to the screen of the device. It has a specific position due to a specific form of the phone. The screen is placed horizontally (top-down). That means to work comfortably you'll need to hold the device not vertically but horizontally. Considering the fact the phone weights 84 grams you'll find no problems using it this way. The total size of the model is 115x32x19 mm and it perfectly fits a lady's handbag or a pocket. Though it seems a sin to hide it from the others' eyes and the device is probably better to hang on your neck.

The resolution of the 65K TFT screen is 104x208 pixels (16x30 mm). When displaying an SMS the screen shows up to 4 text lines and one service line (a headline). Due to the position of the screen all the tips for soft keys are placed in the right vertical column. The quality of the screen is not bad and the colours are bright and vivid. The preset pictures are not bad and show the screen possibilities well. In the sun it behaves well much better than other Nokia screens similar in characteristics. The reason seems to be in the mirror like cover.

An obvious difference from other models is not only in the screen possibilities but in a complete absence of any keypad. Only two soft keys are seen under the screen a control element resembling a loudspeaker is a bit lower and two buttons to call and end call are under it. Saying a control element we mean a usual Navy Wheel that came to the model from the automodels in particular Nokia 810. The wheel helps to move along the menu, enter text and perform some other operations that are characteristic for a keypad in traditional phones.

The wheel may be turned in the horizontal line in two directions, a black insertion of rubber prevents a finger from slipping. The wheel is comfortable to work with a thumb of any hand you like. The OK button is integrated into the wheel. A white backlighting shines around the wheel and that makes a great visual effect.

On the left-side surface you can see a polyphonic alert gap that is the second loudspeaker. An IrDA gap is a bit lower and it is almost not seen. A silvery piece of the body is seen under and here is a SIM-card holder. A special metallic stick is included into the package. That is necessary to insert into a special gap for opening the module. Also it may be opened with any sharp device like a pin or a paper clip. A standard package contains the second SIM-card holder, evidently the manufacturers considered a user might loose the one preset when the device fell.

The device is impossible to disassemble except for a changeable panel near the camera that is enough to slide the device apart and pull the panel. There is a bar-code sticker on the top and a usual user has nothing interesting to see here (there is nothing to clean here when using an accumulator). And looking on the red LED is also makes no great interest.

There is a microphone gap, a headset and a charger connector on the bottom end. A user has no access to the battery integrated into the phone. The battery is 700 mAh BL-8N. And according to the manufacturer it works for 240 hours in the standby mode and up to 3 hours in the talk mode. In Moscow the device worked for about 2 days in case of 90 minutes of talks and minimum of other functions. Longer working time was achieved when decreasing the talk time to 60 minutes (3 days). Using the bluetooth actively tells upon the working time not greatly, that would be two days without working at night. Comparing the device with standard Nokia phones in the working time I had a felling the battery has less capacity since there are no evident reasons for high energy consumption. Turning the LED off increases the working time for about 3 hours and that is not critical. Full recharging takes about 1 hour 10 minutes.

I'd like to note the charger included into the package is very qualitative and the wire is hidden behind rubber insertions and the charger matches the device in style.

The only thing left to tell about is the device may slide apart (do you remember a chamois side insertion?). A VGA-camera lens is seen on the back panel then unfortunately the device doesn't turn the camera interface automatically on opening (that would be logical and there is something similar in Nokia 6650). The device may be opened with one hand but that will take some effort. When the device is used actively the chamois insertion comes unstuck. Girls will find it easier to open the device with two hands. At the incoming call opening the device means answering on the call and closing it will end the call. In principle the mechanism is like an active flip or a slider in behaviour (and the device is actually a sort of a slider).

Nokia 6290

Generally Nokia 6290 is taken by many as an offering identical to Nokia N75, released exclusively for the American market, but in fact there is a world of difference between these two handsets both in the sense of hardware and marketing, positioning. Artificial division of the range into multimedia computers and smartphones brings the company to the situation when launching Nokia 6290 it poses a threat to Nseries-branded models, specifically those bearing N6x and N7x indexes on them. I shall remind you, that Nseries devices are presented as flagship solutions, especially when it comes to multimedia, with each phone in the range dealing with its own field – for example Nokia N75 is a fold phone for music addicts, whereas Nokia 6290 is practically the same device with nearly wholly overlapping target audience. However in Europe, according to the marketologists’ thoughts, this device had no chances to be noticed, being a US-tailored proposal, which is quite another matter, obviously. But the unyieldingness Nokia is pushing the Nseries forward with has played a mean trick with the company, so that not only the model was noticed, it got demanded, desired for, in Europe, Russian and Asia. Being due-out in December, which is almost three months earlier than Nokia 6290’s release date, has put Nokia N75 in the limelight.

But after all Nokia 6290 is worth all the hype and waiting-for, as it will be the market’s fist device running off S60 3rd edition platform updated to Feature Pack 1 (FP1). The most attentive of our readers will definitely say that Nokia N95, boasting similar software onboard, was announced prior to the 6290, however it will arrive in the market a month too late, which makes Nokia 6290 the pioneer. Generally speaking, these two handsets carry somewhat identical software, but utilizes totally different hardware platform – we will surely talk about this as we go deeper into the review.

Similar solutions by Samsung, namely Samsung i520v, and LG are hitting the market pretty much at the same time, but with other things being equal, the Nokia-branded handset seems to be more preferable, since it makes best use of what FP1 has to offer, while other companies arm their models with software reminding of previous S60-based models, even though they don’t lack real enhancements. Telling you this, I have to make a note that here I dwell on minor things like Bluetooth visibility time span, new menu lay-outs and so on.

In terms of importance, this very handset maybe put up against such device as 6630, meaning that the 6290 opens up a whole new line-up in the company’s range. The phone excelled in having much faster interface and being one of the most fetching devices of its time – all this has given it the title of one of the most popular smartphones in the end of its lifecycle. It may come that Nokia 6290 will be the most widely spread S60-powered device among clamshells, and there are many things speaking in favor of this assumption.

It’s interesting to know that Nokia Mobile Phones division industriously avoids calling this very handset a “smartphone” and in all documents for public use, on the company’s page, Nokia 6290 is presented as a phone. Actually, the same holds true for Nokia 5500, which proves it just one more time - Nokia Multimedia and Nokia Mobile Phones are competing each other by separating generally similar products as much as possible, however this doesn’t bring any considerable benefits. The same intentions stand behind ordinary phones (from Nokia 6290 onwards) having menu layout other than that found on Nseries devices. To me, it woldn’t come as a big surprise if Enterprise Solutions decided to categorize functions in a different way. But at the end of the day, people who go for Nokia 6290 after using any other S60-powered smartphone will have to revise their experiences, in light of the fact all menus, folders and the very layout being not only illogical (as it is a default issue of all Nokia’s phones), but totally different from that embedded in the previous handsets.

To make you catch the sense, I will give a simple example – let us take Nokia N80 IE and check out whether the folder structure is any different.

Nokia N80. Office. Notes, Converter, Calculator, Sound Recorder, QuickOffice, Adobe PDF.

Nokia 6290. Organiser. Calender, Clock.

It will be sufficient to say that in Nokia N80 both Calendar and Clock are singled out in separate menu items, whereas here the manufacturer considers them to be of vital importance (in Nokia 6290 the Clock item is present in the main menu as well!). And while it makes some sense for Calendar, Clock is somewhat out of place here, especially when you figure out that the Alarm Clock triggers off only one time on the 6290.

Now let’s try to track the rest of applications in Nokia 6290 together. Applications item might be the one, but opening it reveals only WorldMate (found in the root), Welcome (initial first-launch setup), 3D Tones (stereo speakers setup). However there are three folders as well, which doesn’t make our hopes to fade – Games, Utilities and My Own (the folder where all custom applications end up in by default). While Games is definitely not the place where we would find QuickOffice, the other two folders are not so easy to pick from. Which folder would you bet on?

The right answer – Utilities. Nevertheless, Calculator and Converter have something of utilities in them, but what is the matter with the applications meant for handling office documents? Even My Own would fit this app better!

The Sound recorder (formerly known as Imaging) is no longer an utility – now it is found in Media main menu item.

The further we go, the funnier it gets – Tools always housed file manager and other useful apps. But every time I’m for finding the file manager, I have lots of fun – just can’t memorize its actual “address”. In the 6290 it resides in «Settings-Data mgr» folder. To tell the truth there is nothing wrong with the logic here, since such layout allows having all utilities for handling applications and memory in one place. On the other hand, users need the file manager much more often than other programs in day-to-day activities, thus by putting it so deep in the folder structure the company deliberately limits its usage

I could keep going on and on with the list of differences and ridiculous location of some menu items, but the fact is: taking uncoordinated steps the company comes up not with high-quality, but with artificial solutions. This results in confusion reigning among unsophisticated users, as they don’t see the way to make browsing and playing around with their S60-based devices a breeze, and prefer calling their menu layouts illogical.

Undoubtedly, the user can attune the menu and thus the handset gets much easier to use, but this will obviously take a whole lot of time – having a well-categorized menu by default is much more welcome. This is why we are offering you to lend Nokia a hand in creating a really good menu layout and participate in our User-Vendor project. Specifically, we will post full description of folder structures found in Nokia 6290 and Nokia N80 in our forum, so that all you will have to do is place functions in folders, come up with new directories, or, maybe, with more informative titles. The outcome of this work will be sent to Nokia and taken account of in the upcoming products.