MY MOBILE IS JUST A PHONE (Nokia 2600)

Member Name: Fantasybeliever

Product:	Nokia 2600
Date:	18/02/06 (953 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Logical Nokia Menu System, It's a mobile phone - no more, no less !

Disadvantages: Very few in my opinion!

Unfortunately these days’ mobile phones seem to be one of those necessary evils that have just become part and parcel of life. But how many others of you out there are totally baffled by the mini-communication, multi-media, knowledge management systems that are now passed off as mobile phones? Well – me, for one! I wanted a mobile phone that functioned as a mobile phone, no more and no less. Dial a number and talk to someone, store a number for reference and send the occasional SMS (text) message. I have a contract with Vodafone and explained what I wanted when my latest handset was showing signs of wear and tear (the Nokia 3510i) and was very explicit about the fact that I didn’t want cameras, videos, multi-media messaging, GPRS and that ALL I wanted was a phone.

They told me that they had a phone that fitted the bill perfectly and that was the Nokia 2600, a basic phone with basic functions that I could have free as an upgrade providing I agreed to a further 18 month contract with them on the same tariff. Given that they had agreed to provide the handset for free and that I’ve been a customer for over six years I accepted the deal.

THE PHONE ITSELF

In keeping with all Nokia models, the 2600 uses the logical Nokia menu system that consists of a series of key headings, which are fairly self explanatory.

Messages
Contacts (Phone Book)
Call Register
Settings
Alarm Clock
Reminders
Games
Extras

Under each menu heading there is a series of sub headings which I won’t go into great detail about as these are pretty standard, e.g. add and searching for Contacts, setting ring tones and wallpapers, etc. Hopefully you can see that you are not going to get too lost in a menu structure such as this one and the normal cancel and back buttons on the navigation button take you back to the place that you started …. It’s child’s play and I’m a big child at heart.

Although the Nokia 2600 is a mobile phone, it still contains a couple of nifty little features that I really like, so I’m going to briefly summarise these here.

SMS (Text Messages)

If you do send a lot of text messages and send them regularly to more than one of your Contacts, there is the option to set up “Distribution Lists”. You can define up to six distribution lists with up to ten recipients in each. This is a feature that I initially didn’t think I would use. However, just because I could I set up a distribution list for my team at work, and found that it has been useful on two or three occasions, so it has been of value for me. You should be aware, however, that each message to each individual in your Distribution List will be charged separately.

My favourite SMS feature is the ability to define a time to send a text, so you can prepare a text message and use a feature that allows you to “send later” by selecting a specific time slot. Again, I didn’t think I would use this, but have been surprised at the number of times this has come in handy.

RIGHT NAVIGATION KEY SETTINGS

This feature allows the user to define shortcuts that can be accessed in standby mode by pressing the right arrow on the navigation key. You are then able to select the function(s) that you want as shortcuts by pressing “Mark” and these are displayed in the list in the order they are selected, but these can be moved around by subsequently using an “Organise” feature.

The only feature I have stored in this key is a shortcut to my Contacts (Phone Book) as it was pressing the right arrow key on my previous Nokia that entered that feature and so mirrored the configuration of the phone that I’m used to.

CONVERTER AND CURRENCY CONVERSION

I use this sporadically for assessing temperature in a secure, but poorly ventilated area at work. I was supposedly educated in centigrade but temperature is something that only becomes meaningful to me when converted to Fahrenheit – showing my age now I know!

I work in an area where we also receive reasonably large sums of foreign currency and I find using the currency conversion feature on my mobile is less cumbersome than trying to do it on the PC calculator.

SPREADSHEET

This is a surprisingly useful feature if watching the pennies. It’s a feature which allows you to calculate daily and monthly expenses using the Sheet application and also enables reconciliation between the Daily Account and the Monthly Account. It’s something that I keep meaning to use on a daily basis, but I’m not nearly disciplined enough, but it IS a nice little addition to a mobile phone.

ALARM CLOCK

I work away from home on a semi-regular basis and am a rather deep sleeper. This means that when I am working away I need an alarm clock that is reliable and loud enough to waken the dead. The alarm on this phone fits the bill perfectly and what’s more I have the option of setting it to go off only once as well as the option for it to go off repeatedly and almost guarantee that I’ll end up getting up in a bad mood.

RECEPTION/COVERAGE

I have always found the Vodafone network coverage to be excellent and have rarely found myself unable to get a signal. However, it does appear that the handset does make a difference as I used a Siemens C65 for a while and found the Reception and range of coverage absolutely appalling. I have had no problems with this Nokia model.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION & BATTERY LIFE

Talk time up to 270m
Stand by up to 250 h
94g
Frequencies EGSM 900/1800 (Dual Band)
H 107mm, D 20mm, W 46mm

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

As I said at the beginning of this review, this is a fairly basic, but intelligent and practical mobile phone, but that is exactly what I wanted. I really don’t want to be distracted by a number of features that I won’t use or that get in the way of the basic function it’s there to provide. It does have a few nice features that add value in my personal opinion, and features that have a natural synergy with a mobile rather than being a really hi-tech communications gadget.

Other things to know about this model is that it offers a colour screen with a range of themes and wallpapers that can be applied to personalise your phone, as well as the increasingly popular polyphonic ring tones. I also like the traditional keypad layout and the size is compact but manageable. It also has the traditional X-press on Nokia covers so that the phone can be customised should you so desire.

It also has an integrated hands free mode, but since I’m not a driver I have no need to use this, but I’m sure it could be useful for others.

The games offered on this model are Bounce and a soccer game, neither of which I have played enough to provide a fair assessment of.

However, if you want a mobile that’s a mobile phone and not much more, then this could well be for you. I’m not sure that I would pay the market rate for a pay as you go model – circa £40-50, but I’m quite happy to have received it free of charge.

Overall, this model gets 5 stars out of 5 for me for being a good, practical mobile phone.



© Christina ;-) x

Summary: Good, effective, reliable, long lasting mobile phone ... that is simple to use!

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