vB Easy Archive - Nokia 6800 Initial Review

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Nokia 6800 Initial Review
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Posted by: jonat8

Hi

I'm new here...

I bought a Nokia 6800 on impulse yesterday and it arrived today. The main reason for buying it was the QWERTY-style keyboard as I am a big text/e-mail/IM'er from my phone and it was getting too painful to use the number keys all the time!

I didn't buy it for the radio and to be honest I didn't know it had one until I had ordered it and took a more detailed look at the specs!

On opening the box, first impressions were that it was big. Bigger than my T610, and I thought that was big. But I think the size is justified, because of the keyboard.

The navigation joystick is much like the one on phones that I've had before, except for that you can't press it in to select a menu option etc. I keep trying to press it in and there being no response!

I like the keyboard. A lot. An awful lot. Obviously it's small but I feel that I can type an e-mail on it or use IM on it, I wouldn't even consider typing an e-mail on my T610 unless it was less than the length of a text message! The layout is a bit weird, almost like a QWERTY keyboard but a few letters are jumbled around! Not too hard to get to grips to with. And the number keys on the keyboard need SHIFT to activate.

The keyboard keys seem a bit calculator-style but they're quite easy to "type" on and give a satisfying "click" when pressed.

With the keyboard, setting up my e-mail and GPRS settings was easy and very quick!

Onto the phone's features. Turning on, I like the nice vibrant colour screen, displays pictures very well.

As a Sony Ericsson fan (never had a Nokia before...), the menu system took a bit of getting used to, especially the menus automatically wrapping around back to the beginning when you reach the end of a menu. The interface on my phone seems a bit slow and occasionally key-presses don't seem to be recognised.

What I use the phone mostly for is data - SMS, e-mail, instant messaging, WAP etc. I don't make that many calls!

Hence why I wanted the keyboard. I hated the Nokia e-mail program from the word go, so I bought a program that was on the Nokia software website which is much more customisable and (most importantly) just downloads headers first instead of the whole message! For instant messaging, I downloaded a copy of JustYak and fell in love with it, works perfectly!

The radio is a nice touch, although I normally take a MiniDisc player with me when I go out, it could come in useful. Signal is strong for local radio stations here. My only problem is the propreitary connector for the headset... the earphones they supplied hurt my ears and I can't swap them out for a pair that I use all the time and feel fine.

I also use the phone a lot for connectivity to the Internet and my laptop, so I can surf on my laptop. No Bluetooth is the big thing, and my laptop doesn't have an Infrared port so I will have to continue to take my T610 with me for Internet link via. Bluetooth. The Infrared port seems a bit cripped, when I tried to beam some pictures from my T610 to the 6800, it failed every time. But when I beamed my contacts across it worked perfectly.

Entertainment-wise, the polyphonic ringtones sound okay, I MMS'd a couple across from my T610 but they don't sound as... polyphonic as they did on my T610. Wallpapers are fine, look bright and clear too. I downloaded a game from the O2 Games Arcade called Moto GP which is fun and runs pretty fast on the phone... cool!

And phone calls - well, I don't make many phone calls, most of my monthly phone bill is for GPRS data. But the few I made to try the phone out, I get strong signal strength in my area on O2. Calls seem to be nice and loud and the person on the other end don't have any problems hearing me. I also like the speaker-phone which is a feature I like that my T610 lacks.

So, to summarise - I really like this phone for what I am going to use it for, which is text, e-mail and IM. The only negative thing is there is no Bluetooth link. I'm also having trouble getting to grips with the menu system, but I'm sure that'll come with time. I haven't explored all the features because I only got the phone this morning, but am looking forward to checking everything out.

See ya
Jonathan.