I need your help. Review on Choosing a Mobile Phone

After having used Nokia 3310 for 2 years, and having sold it out recently, I am planning to buy a new mobile phone, within Rs. 8,500 price range. The available models within this price range are Nokia 6610, 6610i, 7250i, Sony Eri. T610 & T630. Of these models, Nokia 6610, & S.E. T610 have been popular world-wide.

Many web-sites, shop owners, & a few of my friends suggest S.E. T610 than any of the above models of Nokia, mainly because ?IT HAS BLUETOOTH, AND IT IS ONE OF THE FEW AVAILABLE MODELS THAT OFFER BLUETOOTH AT THIS PRICE.? Whereas, none of the above three models of Nokia have Bluetooth.

But, after some research through internet, I have found out a few pros and cons of these different models, if we compare Nokia?s (6610,6610i, & 7250i- all the three models are more or less similar, with a few differences here and there, which I will be specifying later in the article) and SE T610 side-by-side:

--> Nokia?s 6610i and 7250i have 4 MB internal memory, whereas S.E. T610 has just 2 MB, without any method to increase it. Besides Nokia?s color screen does not fade out in the sunlight to an extent that you can not even read the text messages, whereas S.E. T610?s color screen does fade out to that extent, when exposed to sunlight.

--> But, on the other hand S.E. T610 has advanced technical specifications i.e. a 32 tone polyphony, as against Nokia?s 4 tone polyphony, & a 65,000K color screen, as against Nokia?s 4096K color screen.

--> Nokia 6610i, 7250i have a built-in FM Radio, & their standard sales package also include stereo head-set, which doubles up as an antennae for the radio. Nokia?s models also have a loud and usable hands-free speaker-phone, which can be used for conversation as well as for listening to radio.

--> On the other hand, SE T610 offers stylish looks & some software features, that offer a better ability to customize the phone according to your mood.

Thus the only visible advantage of SE T610 over Nokia?s three models is that it has a BLUETOOTH.

But, on the other hand Nokia?s three models have an outstanding signal reception, whereas SE T610 has an inferior signal reception.

Also, SE T610?s body panel keeps on attracting finger-print stains, and similar other stains, thus the phone needs to be wiped continuously in order to keep it shining.

We can summarize the pros and cons of the Nokia?s models, and SE T610 as follows:

Nokia 6610, 6610i, 7250i Pros:

1. Outstanding signal reception.

   
   




2. FM radio, built-in hands-free speaker-phone.

   
   




3. At least readable screen information in sun-light.

   
   




4. Large memory pool of 4 MB.

   
   




5. Good re-sale value, & a better after-sale support available. (Nokia Priority dealers, and Nokia Care Centers are located in each and every area of my city.)

   
   

Nokia 6610, 6610i, 7250i Cons:

1. Very outdated technical specifications i.e. 4096K color screen, & 4- tone polyphonic ring tones.

   
   




2. No Bluetooth.

   
   




3. Absence of 5-directional joy-stick.

   
   




4. Nokia brand is extremely common. Almost every hand has Nokia.

   
   

S.E. T610 Pros:

1. Better technical specifications STN 65,000K color screen (though, not TFT, which is still better), and 32-tone polyphonic ring tones.

   
   




2. Extremely stylish and less common design.

   
   




3. Latest in trend 5-directional navigation joy-stick.

   
   




4. Presence of Bluetooth.

   
   




5. Better software features available for customizing the phone according to the user?s mood.

   
   

S.E. T610 Cons:

1. Inferior signal reception by internal antennae.

   
   




2. Absence of FM radio, and built-in hands-free speaker-phone.

   
   




3. Screen fades completely in sun-light, and almost no information readable in sun-light.

   
   




4. Inferior re-sale value, as compared to Nokia, and Sony Eri. Brand is less popular, at least in India, with a very weak marketing.

   
   

If we compare the three models of Nokia?s 6610,6610i, & 7250i, internally, 6610 is available in good body panel colors i.e. white(extremely popular in India), & black, and has a comparatively brighter screen than that of 6610i?s screen, but does not have an integrated camera.

Nokia 6610i?s body panel colors are just navy blue, and grayish light brown, but has an integrated camera, and xHTML feature. Nokia 7250i has a color screen brighter than 6610 or 6610i, has an integrated camera, but the body panel colors fade, and visible scratches appear very fast. Also, looks, and key-pad ergonomics are not as good as 6610&6610i.

So here?s where I need the help of my fellow-members at Mouthshut. Which handset model should I go for, with the pros and cons of the respective models i.e. N 6610,6610i,7250i & Sony Eri. T610 stated as above. It is becoming extremely difficult for me to reach to some decision.

A few points:

--> I do not have a lap-top, neither could I afford to purchase a fancy and costly wireless Bluetooth head-set, compatible with S.E. T610?s in-built Bluetooth, besides, a very few of my friends have a bluetooth hand-set. Thus sharing of data with bluetooth would be very rare.

--> Strong signal reception is a necessity for me, because I had suffered a lot in the past when I was using my friend?s Nokia 2100 for a while, which had a poor signal reception, as compared to my old Nokia 3310.

--> Integrated camera is preferable.

Am I thinking in the right direction? Is there any other model, which is worth buying, within this price range, and is not in my knowledge? If not, which of the four models i.e. 6610,6610i,7250i, & T610 should I go for?

Update 1. Dt. 3rd April, 2005.

Recently, got an opportunity to fiddle with one of my friend?s SE T610, for a few minutes. A few observational points, based on that:

--> The screen?s colors & performance did not seem much impressive (although 65,000K color screen), and seemed to be flickering slightly.

--> The icons on the desktop seemed to be meaningless, as they were hardly able to convey any purpose (e.g. It was tough to make out the icon for messaging, one for settings etc.), and were so small, that their design was not properly visible (overall, the 12-14 icon desktop did not seem very impressive).

--> I was highly impressed by the size of the screen(128 X 160 pixels). Because of a larger screen, the photographs captured by the integrated CIF camera did appear meaningful & conveying to an extent.

-->The 5-directional joy-stick had almost become lifeless, and the four buttons surrounding the joy-stick did not provide much of feedback on pressing (maybe, because the hand-set was 8 months old). But, the overall key-pad ergonomics were excellent, the arrangement of keys is such that no accidental presses occurred.

--> A very few inbuilt ring-tones are shipped with the hand-set, of which, only three or four are loud and clear. Also, the speaker which played the ring-tones started bursting slightly, when the ring tone reached it?s peak volume.

--> According to my personal experience, Nokia?s 4-tone polyphony wins against T610?s 32-tone polyphony, as a few of Nokia?s ring-tones such as Do-Mi-So, and a couple of few others are pretty loud and clear, maybe because Nokia handsets play these ring tones through it?s built-in hands-free speaker, which is absent in T610. What do you think?

Although, my friend who has been using this hand-set since past 8 months, strongly recommends it to me, but overall I am not much impressed with T610.

I feel larger screen dimensions, and presence of Bluetooth are the only two things which go in favor of T610.

I would be obliged, if you could kindly post your suggestions as comments, or by M2M.