brain_scientist
Joined: Oct 14, 2003
Posts: 5
From: Oregon, USA
PM |
Hi, All. My first post here 
Now this post/mini review may only help people in the US wavering between the three choices, but what the hell...I would like to just write about how we started out traditionally going for the Nokia (having only used those before), and ended up with not one or two, but THREE SE T616's!!!
I just moved to ATT, a GSM network, from a CDMA carrier. First, the quality of phones, with features, battery life, and utility just blew me away.
Anyway, the when looking for a phone with a decent address book, some calendar function, and some date features, I tried the T616 (the 850/1800/1900 version of the T610), and the three nokias. Liked the functionality of the 3650, but would need to have a backpack to carry it around in...
The 3595 is a good little phone, with great RF, but lousy functionality, and a terrible earpiece. So that was easy to get rid of, too.
So here is my take:
Though it may surprise everyone outside the US, RF reception is a big issue here. After all, look at the area it has to cover...
I live in the hills, in a very marginal reception area. Luckily, AT&T gives us thirty days to try out the phones, and we were getting two to begin with, and ended up getting three phones. So, I had a good whack at all of 'em. There are only four places in my house where I get any signal: that was true for all three phones. Now, the reception (as shown by the number of bars) is better on the Nokias. However, the Nokias will refuse to dial out (saying :system busy or something like that) about 40% of the time when it has two bars or less. And the sound was not clear: too much static and dropout.
At this point, I have to say that I rejected the 6200 because: (1) too much of a hiss (2) very little memory (740 kB), (3) after moving from a no-reception area to an area where I KNOW there is decent reception, it takes minutes (a couple of times more than 5 minutes) to register the network, unless you restart or force it to search. Also, the biggest selling point for me (the EDGE high speed data link) does not seem to be implemented by ATT in Oregon (is it implemented anywhere?)
However, if the SET616 has even one bar, the rate of failed outgoing calls is much lower. The TE 616 has better outgoing quality than the 6200 and 6800. Clearly, the Nokias were able to hold the signal where the SE failed, but after long experimentation, I can promise you that those are places where the Nokias are unusable for voice communication, outgoing or incoming. However they will still recieve text messages.
In the final analysis, I rejected the 6200 in about a week, while my wife retained the 6800 (what a difference a keyboard makes) for another week.
Summary of the 6200 comparison with the T616 (why not others, like the 3650: I wanted something that would fit in my pocket):
Nokia 6200 advantages:
-Easier menu layout
-Marginally better reception (if you see what works, and forget the bars)
-Better screen visibility in bright light (TFT screen)
-Address book is more comprehensive: keeps street address
-Address book easier to use and access
-however, no notes, and very little memory (740 kB)
Nokia 6800:
-keyboard
-memory available (5MB)
-but the size....
SET616 advantages:
-Lovely screen (6500 colors)
-The desktop is actually functional (almost like a PDA: try it and you will see what I mean).
-Better outgoing and incoming voice quality.
-The reception meter is a better indicator of the usability of the phone.
-Much better looking (the funky gold of the 6200...and what on earth is Nokia doing with its quality control? I swear that my kid has better quality and finished plastic toys than some of the phones I tried)
-Better voice activated dialing: you can store 4 generic entries (home, mobile, work, other), and use them in combination with any phone book entry. So if you record the names of 10 people, you have potentially 40 numbers are your command. On the Nokia, even for the same person, you would have to record individual entries for each phone number of a phonebook entry.
Not to mention the extras:
-customizability
Camera
Bluetooth
I wish there was a little more memory, though...
Anyway, after a week of alternately using the 6800 and the 616, my wife dumped the Nokia, and got the 616. And ATT was kind enough to oblige us with a third: some promo which lets us tag on a third phone with no extra access charge (although no extra minutes either...). And our conversion was complete. Now show me a Nokia, and watch me run...
The bluetooth is the biggest boon; now we just prop the phones on a ledge near a window (and yes, we have a dog, so no one should be able to nick them that way!), and use them with the BT headset. Thus far, I have converted 7 other friends and family to get themselves the T616, and have had only thanks in return.
Curiously, there is a QC problem with the 616; a few batches of phones (03W31 - 03W33) have very dim screens that also have a brown/gray cast. I am still waiting for a 'good' screen replacement for one of my 616's.
Hope this is of some use to someone, or at least, of some entertainment (Look, dear! There's someone from the US (or SU?), who is using GSM phones for the first time! Funny Americans!)...actually, I am an Indian. No, not the feather headdress kind, but the eastern turban headdress kind. Now, if you'll pardon me, I have to go along to the 'general' forum and list the languages I can speak.
And thank you. I have spent a day browsing this forum. After spending weeks reading mails from only American and Canadian cell users (mostly), it is refreshing to be in a much more international place...
"Nothing in biology makes sense except when seen in the light of evolution."
- Theodosius Dobzhansky |
Posted: 2003-10-15 10:26
