Nokia 1650 - Cheap and cheerful (Nokia 1650)

Member Name: icetsunami

Product:	Nokia 1650
Date:	12/10/09 (24 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, Light and easy to use

Disadvantages: Rubbish build quality, vile keypad

Think of a situation where you need a basic back up phone or one to use with your employers sim card. You want to spend almost nothing and only need the most basic of functionality. Enter the Nokia 1650. A handset of primitive spec with little in the way of style and panache. But wait, I have used phones before which have been so appalingly bad they could conceivably have come from a cereal box, the Motorola C113 springs to mind here if you 've had the misfortune.

First impressions:

Well its basic to be sure and looks like a generic budget mobile but perhaps there is more to it? The phone would be relativley stylish if decent materials had been used and it is certainly very light in the hand. A basic keypad is supported by a standard 4 way rocker button in a central position. Being bargain basement Nokia have used the traditional candy bar design.

Tech spec:

Display: 65,536 colours, 128 x 160 pixels
FM radio
32-voice polyphonic ringtones with MP3 grade sound
Voice recorder
Handsfree speaker
SMS, picture messaging
Phone book (200 entries)
Speaking alarm/clock
3 games (Snake Xenzia, Beach Rally, Soccer League)
Memory: 8 Mb
Dual band (EGSM 900/1800)
Dimensions 104 x 44 x 18 mm
Weight 80g
Talktime 8 hours
Battery standby 420 hours
Integrated torch

In use:

Well this is a reasonable phone considering its cost. Nokia has once again stuck to its familiar interface that doesn't ever seem to have changed. A good or bad thing, you decide. As a result everything is easy to find and use. At what could be described as sub entry level the omission of a camera of any sort is a given. The display is functional and thankfully colour and serves its purpose and no more. The inclusion of a torch is a useful if bizarre addition to the spec and the FM radio is always welcome on a featureless phone. I have to say the build quality is poor but what do you expect? Its not the design but the cheap plastic material. Unfortunately they have also chosen to cover the keypad in a rubber skin which is dreadful and makes texting both fiddly and time consuming. The tactile interactivity of a handset is important to me and with this I feel very disconnected.

Summary:

Well its basic and cheap, and I hate the keypad too but it is still a good phone. It's a workhorse that I imagine could take some abuse and you dont need to worry about the odd scratch either as its no looker. Mine is in use for work purposes and as such it is fine. I do not recommend this as your main handset but if you need a second or even third phone then this would suffice. It's certainly better than being run down by a big truck.

Summary: Good enough, just.

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