A Fashion Over Function and Form Phone (Nokia 2630)

Member Name: Nar2

Product:	Nokia 2630
Date:	03/07/09 (145 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very compact, thin and stylish, good features for the price.

Disadvantages: Struggles on speed, some key pad issues, daft SIM card installation design, texting isn't as quick.

When my reconditioned Nokia 2600 recently died on me, it was by no surprise. When purchased I also purchased the same handset brand new for my Dad who adored the design and simplicity. When he passed away last year however, I took on his phone as my ideal replacement because in my busy life style I require two mobile phones. Out with the old 2600 and in with the new. In the meantime, my original back up phone (Nokia 1208) had never really worked properly due to a slight knock to its main screen that caused fuzziness and a keypad that would work intermittently against my best efforts of cleaning it. Despite the set backs Nokia as a brand and I go back a long way and most of their handsets have been utterly reliable and able to take the odd knock without something having to be replaced. Also I've found that in the classroom pupils are more likely to go with Sony Ericsson or LG, meaning that most of those brands are the type that get stolen. Over Nokia and not just for their simplicity and general ease of use, I prefer Nokia for its appeal and low cost. This phone for example cost me £35 new at a Vodafone shop and I was unable to find a 1650 handset of which had been recommended to me by TheChocolateLady.


The new dual band WAP enabled 2630 from Nokia isn't exactly new as it has been in circulation since last year. Against their best efforts in the Vodafone shops to convince me that their own-brand products are better, the Nokia 2630 has only just arrived in the Vodafone PAYT family and will probably be replaced soon given Nokia handset product line-ups are replaced very early on and very frequently. At the time of purchase however I wasn't aware that somewhere else in Scotland my mum was buying the very same handset too!


So when it comes to a mobile phone, what I'm not looking for is additional features on the premise that I may just check them out one day. Its like the worry of a car that has "electric everything," because when the car or the phone comes with all the whistles, the energy drain soon starts to affect the product. Now I know that's perhaps an old fashioned assumption to make but I love form and function over features such as a video, radio or camera function. I already have a compact camera that suits my needs well and I don't really require a radio or downloadable ring tones to supplement what already exists in the polyphonic ring menus. All of these features come with the 2630 as standard although the camera is a VGA type and gives you the option to have colour photos/moving video with sound reproduction and 4 zoom settings. It also has a resolution of 640 by 480 pixels and you can turn it around like a proper camera. If only the single button activation stopped there though because you have to turn it around if you want to use the zoom function and capture a photo or video using the scroll key.


In the box you'll receive the usual such as a charger but you also get a mono earphone and cord for the FM radio. Sadly because of it smaller jack you can't use standard stereo headphones on this phone though, which slightly defeats the purpose both on a mono speaker alone, and the smaller jack for long term use.


With a weight of 66 grams including the wafer thin battery the phone has a total width of only 0.5 cm, making it implicitly compact and very easy to store. It is also very easy to lose too! Around the perimeter of the phone a thin metal frame wraps around this very sleek looking handset; but this is all the protection you get whilst the camera lens itself isn't particularly well protected due to its design and a slight inset into the plastic on the back. I was unable to find a protective case for this phone and instead bought a cloth sock for this phone. I also purchased a set of thin protective filmstrips that have adhered easily to the flat rectangular screen as it minimises scratches to the screen.


Externally the Nokia 2630 has a rather large flat TFT screen that relays around 65,000 colours but it is somewhat pointless for all that you get the option to pick small, medium or large fonts. The clarity is clear when making a call or sending a text, but games for example in terms of their instructions are far too small to view from a distance which makes all the case of this phone having to have some time spent with it. There are six games on this phone, three trial games (which are demo listed and can't be fully played unless you pay online) and three fully installed games.


Texting however isn't as quick as I thought it would be. Nokia have reverted to what the 1208 used to have. Instead of giving you the immediate option to text (unless you assign a quick shortcut option on the main North, East, South, West scroll key) you have to further select a text message over multi media options and then add the contact chosen for the text before the text can actually be written. At least the 2630 can handle putting the name in after the text has been typed in, but it is a bit of a waste of time when texting on the fact that Nokia handsets in my past have always been fast, instant and reliable without choosing any other option other than getting rid of the Predictive text. Despite listing 'favourites,' or "contacts," or "last used," amidst other options when texting I prefer the old fashioned way of just entering the text in and then searching the name through the directory before sending it on. Generally I find the phone can save up to 50 text messages in its Inbox alone and the phone has a total memory of 11MB which may be too small but fits my needs well.


There is however another problem - the quality of the keypad. Although it lights up due to its strong light behind the keys, the keys are so flush fitted to the pad that they have an almost too light tap touch-screen quality to them, and I have found when texting quickly that the 2630 series struggles and by going too fast I often end up putting the texts into the Drafts section by mistake; this has happened since I bought the phone months ago and used every week it seems to be a problem that affects both my mum and I.


Making a call however is easy to do and whilst that is admirable the quality of speech and speakers aren't powerful enough. Thus I find the quality of sound not loud enough, either when talking to someone, listening to the caller or even the ring tones. Out of the myriad of standard ring tones on this phone, you certainly get what you pay for and my mum in particular can't stand the ring tones for all that they are supposed to be Polyphonic. There are a few Nokia standard tones that past Nokia owners will recognise including vibrate alert, a composer for your own and the more up to date dance/disco/clubbing type music that will undoubtedly impress young people if not also the facility to obtain mp3 tracks. However even at the loudest setting (which seems to be have been replaced with an "Outdoors," profile setting) none of the tones I've picked are loud enough for me to hear compared to my 2600. Other extras include things I'm never likely to use such as a Stopwatch, Timer, Calculator and Currency Converter where the default currency set is the US dollar but at least can be changed. The only other feature that is of great use to me is the planner that is similar to the one on my older 2600 handset. For a phone that follows the same starter product derivative number to my 2600, the Nokia 2630 should be better here given that it is a newer phone and my 2600 already has some of these extras anyway.


The battery however is excellent. I can let a week go by if the phone hasn't been used for much service before the battery goes to its half-mast percentage. Generally the phone has a maximum of 6 hours talk time and a massive amount of 312 hours/13 days on standby that gives you a good indication of what this phone can withstand. What a pity however that if you don't have long nails you'll struggle to put or take out the SIM card in at the back which makes me wonder why Nokia stopped putting the rather excellent metallic door to lock the SIM card in.


Because of its light nature I still find getting around the folders a bit of a bother too. The scroll key highlighted by its chrome bezel surround can sometimes function the other way, i.e. you need to go left but the button goes upwards instead. There isn't a happy medium with this phone unless you love the idea of slow, laborious action and in my busy life it's not a phone that I know I can trust to be quick and instantly accessible.


Of course others will I'm sure adore the fact that this phone does look modern. Cased in dark silver, contrasted with black and gunmetal grey, the Nokia 2630 looks hip and tries to pack in features that are already becoming standard fitment on other companies' offerings, with some very handy features designed to make life easier. Or so Nokia would have you believe! In my mind Nokia has tried to pack it all into a handset that turns out to be more time inducing than past products, and if that's a sign of the times where fashion takes over form and function, I'll be sticking to my brick like 2600 for a little bit longer. Thanks for reading. Three stars. ©Nar2 2009

For a full list of specifications check out:
http://www.nokia.co.uk/find-products/all-phones/n okia-2630/specifications

Summary: A good attempt from Nokia but needs more improvement.

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