vB Easy Archive - Nokia 9300 Review

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Nokia 9300 Review
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Posted by: Eric5273

I'm going to do this in parts, so here is Part 1: Web Browsing

After using this phone for a few hours, I am definately impressed!!

I did not do a speed test as I forgot the web address to the dslreports.com mobile test page, but I can tell you it is loading pages very quickly. Cingular must have tweaked the software quite a bit, because I notice none of that slugishness that many reviewers complained about on the European Nokia 9300.

My test page was my company website:

http://www.trfmusic.com

I have tried loading this site in the past on a Sidekick II, Blackberry 7100g, Ipaq 6315, T-Mobile SDA, and Treo 700 (with EVDO), and none of those browsers were able to make this site look proper.

Most of them would get hung up on the different frames of the interior pages, and would just load one of the frames. The Sidekick would actually give you a menu allowing you to choose which single frame you wanted to load. All of these browsers would lose the formatting of the 12-logo grid on the home page, and instead would break it up into the individual logos and put them one under the other.

But the 9300 loads that page the same as my desktop. It even loads the flash part. If you don't know what I mean, try moving your pointer over one of the 12 logos on the home page, and you will see what happens. The same exact thing happens on my 9300. It's really impressive!!

In full screen mode, the entire web page fits on the screen with no need for left/right scrolling. The browser handles the multiple frames of the interior pages perfectly. It even allows you to resize the frames just by moving your mouse over the border between 2 frames -- the same as you would do on your desktop.

The entire home page loaded in less than 25 seconds. And once it was in cache, I closed the browser, and a little while later opened up that site again and it loaded the next time in less than 15 seconds -- flash, javascript, and all.

One of the excellent things about Cingular is that they allow you to use the MediaNet wap portal on their PDA phones. Verizon does not give access to its "Mobile Web" portal on Smartphones or PDA phones, which means you must find all that content on other websites, which can be a pain. While I like the ability to load HTML pages, there is no arguing that MediaNet is surely the quickest way to access information such as news, sports scores, weather, movie times, etc.

What is apparent is that a special version of MediaNet was customized for the 9300's wide screen, because it spreads itself out across the screen instead of only taking up a small part on the left side as you would expect it to do. And with the EDGE speeds I was getting, these wap pages (some with small amounts of graphics and pictures) were each loading in about 5 seconds.

And here is the best thing.... I spent about 90 minutes browsing the web and just playing around with the phone -- all 90 minutes with the flip open and the screen on. I did this shortly after charging the phone. And after the 90 minutes, I noticed that I was still showing a full 7 bars of battery life. Unbelievable!! My old Samsung i600 Windows Smartphone would have been almost dead after 90 minutes of browsing, and this phone is still showing full battery life.

More to come over the next few days.....

Posted by: mobilehavoc

Posted by: liquidbw

I would be getting 9300 if it had wifi (9300i) now my only option is the 8125. dont understand why it takes cingular so long to get this phone

Posted by: WirelessAndy

The first thing I noticed about the 9300b was how unresponsive the keys felt.

On the front (the cover phone) the 5-way d-pad has a nice feel to it. Yes, the keys are backlit, but they have almost no tactile feedback whatsoever. For the first time in a very long time, I held a Nokia in my hand with hit-and-miss tactile feedback on the keys. The (*) key was complete mush. I had no idea I was pressing it. It might as well have been a square sticker with a (*) painted on it.

The QWERTY keyboard inside was equally un-clicky-like. Almost no tactile feedback.

On the plus side, the hinge felt extremely sturdy. No wobbles, creaks or squeaks anywhere.

Those of you coming from the Blackberry 7290's near-perfect balance of spacing and tactile feedback may be in for a downer.

But of course, my opinions are my own, and not often shared by anyone else. The 9300b I played with in the store is not representative of all 9300b's out there, and you just might be 100% happy with what you get.

Posted by: pikapp168

Quote:

Originally Posted by WirelessAndy

The first thing I noticed about the 9300b was how unresponsive the keys felt.

On the front (the cover phone) the 5-way d-pad has a nice feel to it. Yes, the keys are backlit, but they have almost no tactile feedback whatsoever. For the first time in a very long time, I held a Nokia in my hand with hit-and-miss tactile feedback on the keys. The (*) key was complete mush. I had no idea I was pressing it. It might as well have been a square sticker with a (*) painted on it.

The QWERTY keyboard inside was equally un-clicky-like. Almost no tactile feedback.

On the plus side, the hinge felt extremely sturdy. No wobbles, creaks or squeaks anywhere.

Those of you coming from the Blackberry 7290's near-perfect balance of spacing and tactile feedback may be in for a downer.

But of course, my opinions are my own, and not often shared by anyone else. The 9300b I played with in the store is not representative of all 9300b's out there, and you just might be 100% happy with what you get.

I agree. This phone should have been out a year ago, not now. There is far to much competition. The 8125 is far superior to the nokia in my opinion. I am using the 8125 and love. I am a huge fan of Nokia, so its kinda hard for me to say that but I am not impressed with the 9300.

Posted by: WirelessAndy

Sad, really. On paper, the 9300 is pretty much what I need: Gorgeous inside screen, QWERTY for texting fanatics, EDGE, 850 MHz, Blackberry Connect for email junkies, and a novel form factor (it's a candybar phone! It's a micro-laptop!) that's got none of the wibble-wobbleness of the Samsung D307.

It's almost everything I want, and it has nothing I don't need (camera comes to mind). I was even willing to forego the vibration feature...

I also noticed the cover phone's interface is a bit pokey. Going through the menus was familiar enough, but once you make a selection... it seems to hesitate before executing the request. I believe there was a review a while back that mentions the cover phone is really not much more than a simulated S40 interface on the 9300's S80 OS.

Well, that's picking at nits. In the end, those mushy keys really did it for me. Otherwise, darn near perfect for me.

Posted by: Eric5273

Ok....here is Part 2: Ergonomics

Just to add my 2 cents to what Andy is saying, I agree. But do keep in mind that the outer numberpad is not important on this phone. I'm not sure about others, but 99% of my calls are made from my address book, and then I will be using the 5-way directional pad and not the number keys.

Where number keys are usually important, are for phones where you will be doing your messaging using T9. But since this phone does not support T9 on the outside, I doubt I will be doing much of that. So the only time I'll be using the number keys is when I'm dialing a new phone number for the first time, which is not often at all. And also if you set up speed dials, but then you are only pressing and holding a single button, so feedback is not very important.

As far as the QWERTY keyboard, it's definatley not as comfortable as a Blackberry or a Sidekick keyboard. Those devices offer much better button feedback. But the layout of the 9300 keyboard is actually as good as you could ask for. Except for the period and comma keys being to the left of the space bar, I cannot find a single button that is out of place compared to the keyboard on my laptop. Everything is the same as a regular computer keyboard, including where the various symbols are. While the Blackberry does not have a seperate number row along the top, the 9300 does. And there are 2 shift keys (one on each side) and a caps lock key, just like a computer keyboard.

And along the top, where the F1-F8 keys normally are on a PC keyboard, you have your "quick-launch" buttons that launch various applications. The first one brings you to the desktop, 6 of the next 7 are assigned to your more common applications, and the last one is user assignable -- I will probably assign this one to the IM application. So multi-tasking is a breeze. Pressing these buttons switches you back and forth between apps the same way clicking on the taskbar of your Windows computer switches you between open apps.

As far as navagation goes, you can use the arrow keys if you wish, but I find the easiest way is to use the mouse pointer in the lower right hand corner. Anyone who has used an IBM Thinkpad laptop will feel right at home with this navagation control. It is very similar. You just push it slightly in the direction you want to move, and then when you find what you want, you just push down to click. If you haven't used a pointer control like this before, it is going to feel very awkward at first. But I can assure you that you will get used to it over time. I had 2 laptops in the past with a similar control, and I actually prefer that type of control to the more common "touch pad" that is on my current laptop. Likewise, I prefer this mouse pointer to the touch screen that is on most Windows Mobile and Palm devices.

Posted by: xbox360gamer

Quote:

Originally Posted by WirelessAndy

Well, that's picking at nits. In the end, those mushy keys really did it for me. Otherwise, darn near perfect for me.

lol - thats what you say about every phone that you get your hands on.

Posted by: Eric5273

Well, I decided tonight to start entering some of my Address Book into the phone. What became apparent very quickly is that this is strictly a business phone. There is no option for "Home Telephone", only "Mobile", "Telephone (Work)", and "Telephone (Private)".

I assume they meant "Telephone (Private)" to be for home phone numbers. Likewise, there are two address options: "Address (Work)" and "Address (Private)". Again, I'm guessing that "Private" means home, and that is the way I'm going to use it.

Is that what others have done??

It also allows you to change the name of the labels, but it doesn't allow a global change. So it would become very tiresome to change "Private" to "Home" in each and every contact. For me, I don't use my phone much for business except to check my work email, so I don't put many of my business contacts on my phone, only a couple. 90% of my address book are friends and family.

Posted by: Eric5273

More on Battery Life...

The battery life on this phone is absolutely the best of any Smartphone I have ever owned. It is even better than most non-smartphones I have owned. The only phone I can think of that had a better battery life was the Nokia 6820.

Believe it or not, I am still on my first charge. I brought the phone home on Friday evening and charged it up. Since then, the phone has stayed on in standby mode 24/7. In addition, I have talked on the phone about 45 minutes total, and have browsed the web for about 90 minutes. I have also spent an additional 2 hours or so just browsing through the various features and setting of the phone -- inside screen open of course. The screen is on 50% brightness.

So today, 3 full days later, I still have 5 bars of battery life remaining (out of a total of 7). Simply outstanding!!

Posted by: jettie1767

I agree with your assessment, Eric, except for the outer keypad. For me, the outer keypad is great. Tactile feedback is just right and the keys/buttons are big and spread apart. And yes, the battery life is amazing. On my T650, if I surf for about an hour on the bus/train, it drains my battery fairly quickly. By end of the day, I will be at 75% on my T650. However, the 9300 stays at full charge for a few days with the same amount of browsing.

The only thing I don't like about it is the fact that it doesn't have vibrate.

Posted by: albertwesker

Eric, thanks for your thoughts and information. I have been following the thread since you initially created it and perhaps had some questions to ask.

1. Blackberry service? Any thoughts?

2. Email reading altogether? Pleasurable?

3. Text input via keyboard? Positives? Negatives?

Once again thank you for your input, my 9300 should arrive tomorrow or Friday. I am very excited!

Posted by: craig1974

I'll take a stab after heavy work use on the 9300 for a few weeks now:

1. Awesome...connects to 5 accounts including my Corp work email, two private POP3's and two Gmail accounts. Stellar.

2. Just like reading in a mail manager...view files, ect.

3. I can almost type as fast on the 9300 as I can on a desktop keyboard. It flies once you get a few days with it. I'm a huge IM nerd and have blasted off a few hundred since buying the unit on the 5th of April. People talk about the lack of backlit keys on the keyboard...well it saves power for one, and secondly the screen is so sharp and bright that you dont need them backlit. They're lit up by the screen itself.

The only issue I had was roaming out of a Blackberry coverage area. The phone did not recognize immediately when I got back into "B" coverage. I ended up calling Cingular tech support (they have a specific group for blackberry assistance and they really know their stuff) and they showed me how to simply make a few key strokes and have it back on if I leave a coverage area again and loose the service when I come back into a coverage area.

The phone is awesome...I'm sure there are other great PDA/Phones out there but for the first time ever I've been able to leave my laptop at home when I travel. That's amazing for a PHONE that fits in your pocket!

Posted by: WirelessAndy

I will further elaborate on my 9300 thoughts:

Today I poked at a 9300 in a different store, and the front phone keys were indeed much better than the first one. They all had equal levels of "click". Much better. The previous one I saw must have been an isolated case. Yay!

Posted by: kal311

Quote:

Originally Posted by craig1974

I'll take a stab after heavy work use on the 9300 for a few weeks now:

1. Awesome...connects to 5 accounts including my Corp work email, two private POP3's and two Gmail accounts. Stellar.

2. Just like reading in a mail manager...view files, ect.

3. I can almost type as fast on the 9300 as I can on a desktop keyboard. It flies once you get a few days with it. I'm a huge IM nerd and have blasted off a few hundred since buying the unit on the 5th of April. People talk about the lack of backlit keys on the keyboard...well it saves power for one, and secondly the screen is so sharp and bright that you dont need them backlit. They're lit up by the screen itself.

The only issue I had was roaming out of a Blackberry coverage area. The phone did not recognize immediately when I got back into "B" coverage. I ended up calling Cingular tech support (they have a specific group for blackberry assistance and they really know their stuff) and they showed me how to simply make a few key strokes and have it back on if I leave a coverage area again and loose the service when I come back into a coverage area.

The phone is awesome...I'm sure there are other great PDA/Phones out there but for the first time ever I've been able to leave my laptop at home when I travel. That's amazing for a PHONE that fits in your pocket!

Do you have to manually make adjustments each and every time you roam out of BB coverage or will it kick in given enough time?

Posted by: Eric5273

Quote:

Originally Posted by WirelessAndy

I will further elaborate on my 9300 thoughts:

Today I poked at a 9300 in a different store, and the front phone keys were indeed much better than the first one. They all had equal levels of "click". Much better. The previous one I saw must have been an isolated case. Yay!

Sounds like you're getting tempted...

Posted by: Eric5273

Just so everyone knows, I did not forget about finishing this review. I just had a very busy week. Hopefully next week I will have a chance to play with the phone more and add to my review.

Posted by: liquidbw

Quote:

Originally Posted by WirelessAndy

Yes, the keys are backlit, but they have almost no tactile feedback whatsoever.

how do you make it backlit?

Posted by: WirelessAndy

The front keys (on the "phone") are backlit. The QWERTY keys are not.

Posted by: chivas

spent the long weekend in Montreal and didn't bring a charger though i charged it up the night before the trip. in the 4 days i was there i talked to some friends about where to go, checked my mail, chatted on IM, and surfed a bit here and there. i do have to say that the battery life in incredable.

my only gripe about this phone is the lack of vib and the ringtone is too quite. the selection for alerts are also very limited unless you add your own. many times i would get a call after i checked the phone. that kinda sucked.

i like how compact it feels in my jeans. feels hefty but once it slips in the pocket, you'd never know it was there (unless you wear super tight 70's jeans and i hear they are making a comeback! oh noes!).

speakerphone works well and i do like the series 40 phone on the cover. the finding of names to make calls are truly simplified and logically retrieved.

i fear dropping mine since it's not with cingular. i bought it... well... it's unlocked and doesn't come with any bloatware.

i would, however, like to have some games on this thing. i have some in a disk but they didn't look quite entertaining.

today my objective is to find a wallpaper for it. they stock wallpaper is like what you find in a doctors office; nonoffensive yet not very inspiring.

overall, i like it though i'm still debating if i should go back to the 6682 as a daily and the 9300 as a travel phone.

Posted by: Eric5273

Quote:

Originally Posted by chivas

i do have to say that the battery life in incredable.

I still can't understand why it's so great. The battery in this phone is rather small by smartphone standards. The battery in the new Treo 700 is twice as large. But yet the Nokia 9300 seems to last forever on a charge. Obviously this phone has great power management. I wonder if it's the hardware or the Series 80 software.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chivas

i would, however, like to have some games on this thing. i have some in a disk but they didn't look quite entertaining.

If you like RPG's (role playing games), check out "Legacy". This looks like the best mobile games I have seen on any platform.....similar to the old "Might & Magic" and "Eye of the Beholder" games.

http://www.redshift.hu/indexF.asp?body=/SymbianS80.asp

Posted by: HDTVGuru

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric5273

Don't have mine yet - battery life seems like one thing everyone agrees on - and for me - that's great!!!!

Posted by: kal311

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric5273

Wow, that really does look impressive for a phone. How about the golf game? Any screen shots of that?

Posted by: Eric5273

Golf:

Bounce:

both are free games from Nokia

Posted by: kal311

Ahh very nice. Thanks!

Posted by: chivas

i've actually installed both golf and bounce.

golf: it's fun. not bad. challenging especially getting the timing down which i don't think the phone likes 2 key strokes so close together.

bounce: not bad but again, the two key at once is not welcomed by the phone.

i like how the notes end up on the Desk and makes it easily accessable. moving them around couldn't be easier as well so organziing them works out well.... very well.

BTW: how did you get the screen shots?

Posted by: Eric5273

Quote:

Originally Posted by chivas

BTW: how did you get the screen shots?

Found them at Nokia's website.

Posted by: HDTVGuru

Good new - bad news. I got the phone - and I think that I'll love it. The bad new - at least as of now - I have no reception in my house despite CING saying that there are towers nearby. The suggested that I take it to work, and try and hit a tower, and see if it would hold in the house. Considering I want my wife to switch from Verizon, where using the phone in the house has never been an issue - this is BAD!

Posted by: Eric5273

Sorry to hear that. All carriers have dead zones. It sounds like Cingular just happens to have a dead zone where you live. For me, both Verizon and Cingular have good reception where I live. On my Verizon LG phone, I get 3 out of 4 bars, and on the Nokia 9300, I get 7 out of 7 bars.

Posted by: HDTVGuru

Actually - someone posted on another area of the forum that I should be OK where I am. I REALLY HOPE that the phone is the problem.

Posted by: kal311

Quote:

Originally Posted by HDTVGuru

Good new - bad news. I got the phone - and I think that I'll love it. The bad new - at least as of now - I have no reception in my house despite CING saying that there are towers nearby. The suggested that I take it to work, and try and hit a tower, and see if it would hold in the house. Considering I want my wife to switch from Verizon, where using the phone in the house has never been an issue - this is BAD!

You know it's funny because I have the exact same problem where I live. I can get Verizon and even TMobile reception inside my house, but not Cingular. I've tried multiple Cingular phones always with the same result.

Posted by: HDTVGuru

Well - my other option is to go back to Verizon (nothing that T-mobile offers interests me - except for their price) and get the "V". It's not the 9300 - but if I need to go back - it'll have to do. . .

My wife is taking the phone to the CING store to see if they have any idea - it will be interesting to see if they even talk to her because I got it through their premier site. I told he to tell them that I would go back to Verizon if it came to that!!!

Posted by: HDTVGuru

Everything is OK - the good news - it was a bad sim card - works great now. Bad news (they told my wife that I could NOT get Medianet unlinited - that I needed a PDA plan.

Posted by: Eric5273

Quote:

Originally Posted by HDTVGuru

Everything is OK - the good news - it was a bad sim card - works great now. Bad news (they told my wife that I could NOT get Medianet unlinited - that I needed a PDA plan.

The salespeople in the store will do that. Just call up customer service and have them put MediaNet on your account. Don't even ask questions, don't discuss what phone you have, just put it on your account. While their system does not allow MediaNet to be put on an account with certain phones (such as the 8125), it does allow MediaNet with the 9300.

Posted by: jettie1767

I went thru Cingular customer service and they didn't question the Medianet Unlimited on the 9300.

Posted by: HDTVGuru

I'll give them a call this afternoon when my wife gets back with the phone,

Since I'm a total noobie - any clues/suggestions on setting up medianet and e-mail? This maybe the wrong place for this question - but you all have been so helpful, I figured I would give it a try.

Posted by: Eric5273

Quote:

Originally Posted by HDTVGuru

I'll give them a call this afternoon when my wife gets back with the phone,

Since I'm a total noobie - any clues/suggestions on setting up medianet and e-mail? This maybe the wrong place for this question - but you all have been so helpful, I figured I would give it a try.

There's nothing to set up. Since you have a Cingular branded phone, all the settings will already be in there for MediaNet. You can just open the web browser and start surfing. As far as email, you need to set up your email account, but that is no different than setting up Outlook on a PC.

Posted by: HDTVGuru

that all was easy - called them - got medianet unlimited. I thought medianet had like favorire teams and other personalization???

Posted by: thefourthdoctor

Quote:

Originally Posted by HDTVGuru

that all was easy - called them - got medianet unlimited. I thought medianet had like favorire teams and other personalization???

It does.

For the actual MediaNet homepage, just open your web browser on your 9300, go to bookmarks, and select Cingular MediaNet.

Posted by: HDTVGuru

OK - Medianet is up and running - and so is e-mail. Is there a way to keep e-mail on the server instead of it being deleted?

TIA!

Posted by: Eric5273

I know it's been a month since my last installment of my review, but I've been busy. So I figured I would add some things that I've since learned...

Part 3: Address Book

In an earlier post, I complained about not having a "Home Phone" option and a "Home Address" option. What I discovered since then is that there is a way to change the various default fields for your address book. So since I do not use my phone for business, I got rid of all the business fields, and I changed the "Private" label to "Home".

So when I choose to enter a new contact, the default fields are:

First Name
Last Name
Mobile
Telephone (Home)
Telephone (Work)
Email
Address (Home)

If I need to add fields or change the name of fields for a single contact, it is rather easy to do so. For example, one of my friends has 2 email addresses that he sends me emails from -- one is his personal email and the other is his business email. So for him, instead of just using the label "Email", I changed it to be "Email (Personal)" and then added a field "Email (Business)".

This is easily the most flexible address book I have used on any mobile phone. What is really nice is that you can get rid of the fields that you don't typically use. If you have ever used a Windows Mobile device, you must scroll through the 50 or so fields listed whether you use them or not. Here you can eliminate the clutter and only add them back when you need them for a specific contact.

As far as using the address book, it has a certain amount of logic to the way it functions. For example, if you are writing a text message and you go into the address book to find a phone number, it will only list mobile phone numbers and email address since those are the only ones you would send a text message to. Likewise, when you view the address book from the outside screen (flip closed), it will only show phone numbers since it assumes you are placing a call and do not need other contact info.

Overall, the structure of the Address Book is very good.

Posted by: mona13

I just got my phone. How do you make the speakerphone work with the phone closed?

Mona

Posted by: cjmedina

make a call then open the phone

Posted by: mona13

Thank you, I figured that part out, but I want to keep the phone closed. Is there a key or way to select a soft key to keep the phone closed and still use the speakerphone? My other phone is a 6682 and it's a soft key method.

Mona

Posted by: tecboi

right now i'm deciding between this and the 8125

Posted by: flyingfortress

Quote:

Originally Posted by tecboi

right now i'm deciding between this and the 8125

it should be an easy decision, the 9300 simply rocks. The battery life is better than any phone I have owned and its simplicity makes it a good telephone too. I am a banker and we do two things talk on the phone and send emails the 9300 makes both of them a piece of cake.

simply put the 9300 is the best integrated device I have ever seen or owned.

Posted by: tecboi

I just got a 8125 for free basically. I was on the phone with cingular all day trying to straighten it out. They finally cracked and gave me a 8125 as a replacement for my mpx220. After being back and forth with them all day, it was worth it.

so my advice to anybody dealing with cingular is to be persistent and don't take no for an answer because they will throw ******** at you. Don't stop until your get your way, because cell phone companies like to screw people over

Posted by: tecboi

ps. the nokia 9300 is nice. but i need windows mobile.(which nokia doesn't have). There aren't as many programs available nokias OS

Posted by: mona13

I returned mine. It didn't have vibrate and you have to open the phone for the speakerphone to work.

I called Nokia and complained. The tech said they didn't add vibrate to save battery power, but I told him I would rather have the choice of enabling or disabling it rather than missing calls.

As far as the speakerphone, the tech said that you don't need it with bluetooth. Well, when technology works perfectly, your bluetooth stays paired correctly, doesn't die, etc. that's true. But... life happens. The 2nd day I had the phone, the phone didn't pair that morning. Since I leave before daylight, in a hurry, I didn't have time to mess with re-pairing it. I just wanted the speakerphone to work without the phone open. Nope, won't work that way.

The tech said these issues will probably be address in future releases. I hope so, I love Nokia. Reception was awesome, the keyboard was great, screen wonderful, fast internet, everything else was great, but I returned it because of the lack of vibrate & the speakerphone.

I've ordered the 8125 and it's supposed to be delivered tomorrow.

Mona

Posted by: tecboi

damn, it doesn't have vibrate or speaker phone? man, i'm glad i didn't go with that. Plus it doesn't have wifi, and i need it to connect to my router w/ out cingular charging 538737584758 dollars for internet service

Posted by: Eric5273

Quote:

Originally Posted by tecboi

i need it to connect to my router w/ out cingular charging 538737584758 dollars for internet service

My internet only cost $20.

Posted by: tecboi

Yea, I was just messing around. I actually never researched how much a data plan would cost. But why pay when I can use then net for free

Posted by: Eric5273

Quote:

Originally Posted by tecboi

Yea, I was just messing around. I actually never researched how much a data plan would cost. But why pay when I can use then net for free

You shouldn't. If I had wi-fi access at all times, I would not even subscribe to Cingular. I would just get a Wi-Fi PDA and use a VOIP service for my phone calls. VOIP services cost around $15-20/month and that includes unlimited calls. Cingular charges $40/month, and that plan limits you to 450 peak minutes.

But I only have access to wi-fi a very small amount of the time, so I need cellular.

Posted by: flyingfortress

Quote:

Originally Posted by mona13

I've ordered the 8125 and it's supposed to be delivered tomorrow.

Mona

If you have the Umpteen spare hours to make it work I am sure you'll love it.

Posted by: mona13

I have a Dell x50v now, so I'm used to PPC's. I received it Friday and I already love it. I haven't started using it for my PPC yet, but the way the phone is working, I'll probably load it up later today.

The voice recognition that's build in works better than any phone I've had yet. I may break down and buy Voice Command, but that will come after the 30-day return policy is up. The jury's still out.

Not quite sure how I want to use it yet. I bought it mainly for the internet, wifi & gprs. I originally didn't even plan on using it as a phone or a PDA. Now I may replace everything, or use it for a PDA and get a really small phone Nokia without a camera, so I can use the phone and gprs at the same time.

I still love Nokia phones, but gotta have VIBRATE!

Mona

Posted by: J_Smoove

Quote:

Originally Posted by mona13

I have a Dell x50v now, so I'm used to PPC's. I received it Friday and I already love it. I haven't started using it for my PPC yet, but the way the phone is working, I'll probably load it up later today.

The voice recognition that's build in works better than any phone I've had yet. I may break down and buy Voice Command, but that will come after the 30-day return policy is up. The jury's still out.

Not quite sure how I want to use it yet. I bought it mainly for the internet, wifi & gprs. I originally didn't even plan on using it as a phone or a PDA. Now I may replace everything, or use it for a PDA and get a really small phone Nokia without a camera, so I can use the phone and gprs at the same time.

I still love Nokia phones, but gotta have VIBRATE!

Mona

I agree about vibrate. In this day and age where people will be using these phones to manage work/life, vibrate is a must for traveling to meetings and in the workplace. I'd have to say that I would sacrifice a little battery to have the vibrate function.

Posted by: tecboi

Quote:

Originally Posted by flyingfortress

If you have the Umpteen spare hours to make it work I am sure you'll love it.

I didn't spend anytime gettting mine to work right. My 8125 came out of the box working right. So i'm satisfied. It has wi-fi, vibrate, and the speakerphone works right. I upgraded the rom and it works even better now. I can't lie, i have a soft spot for nokia because it was the first cellphone brand I ever had, it's reliable and has history. But for the price I rather something with more functions and without vibrate that shyt better have some pretty loud ringtones

Posted by: Craig10114

hey all, im a complete newb to cingular, im currently a nextel customer and i HATE it. Ive got the i930 *which i also hate* and am looking to cancle, switch to cingular and pick up the 9300. So ive got a few newb questions about the phone that wherent made completly clear by reading though this thread.

Does the phone have aim on it? if not can you put it on?
Any form of wi-fi connection? on my nextel it was just a simple mod to turn it on and definitly a great feature.

Posted by: tecboi

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig10114

hey all, im a complete newb to cingular, im currently a nextel customer and i HATE it. Ive got the i930 *which i also hate* and am looking to cancle, switch to cingular and pick up the 9300. So ive got a few newb questions about the phone that wherent made completly clear by reading though this thread.

Does the phone have aim on it? if not can you put it on?
Any form of wi-fi connection? on my nextel it was just a simple mod to turn it on and definitly a great feature.

of course they have aim for it. But there is no vibrate or wi-fi, which is why I opted for a 8125. Plus there are many other anal features that the 9300 doen't have that the 8125 does. But if you can do without the vibrate and wi-fi, and don't mind opening up you 9300 everytime you want to use the speakerphone than you should be good.

Through my personal experience I find that nokias are very reliable and the most stable phones ever made. But there are just too many key features that are missing from this phone. In a year or so when I get a new phone If nokia is up to par with the rest of the companies then i won't hesitate for a second to go nokia. but rightnow it's 8125.

Just my opinion, but you'll probably still like the 9300

Posted by: Craig10114

yea ive been researching since i made that post and definitly would steer clear of the 9300, im in love with the 9500 but just cant reason to spend that much on a cell.. The 8125 is a strong strong second though