No not another Bl**dy Nokia!!! (Nokia 3330)

Member Name: fairypancakes

Product:	Nokia 3330
Date:	03/08/01 (625 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: WAP Cabapility, Animated Screensavers

Disadvantages: Not much of a change tot he the NOKIA 3310

Not another bl**dy Nokia! That was my imediate reaction, to Nokia's latest release. But to be honest I soon changed my mind. So first of all , what is this I am on about? Well to follow suit of the ever succesfull Nokia 3210 , and then the 3310, theres this new thing called the 3330. Now just why have Nokia made yet another fone?

To be honest with this fone, there is really not any point in it at first. But as you soon realise the main step foward in the mobile as usual , is the technology. Its the first Nokia WAP phone, to be developed in the home user environment. Sure weve had Nokia Mobiles around for some time that support WAP, but mainly they have been for expensive business users, and this is the first time it has bene done along with all the other benefits of a new Nokia Mobile. For those of you who arent educated in this area. WAP stands for Wireless Aplication Protocol. In idiot free terms that means yet another pointless gizmo that is absoulutely, well pointless! The theory was that some smart mobile designer, thought we could have a whole new world of information availible to mobile phone users. Imediately, everyone thought, wow this sounds great! But to be honest with you, its exactly the same as the internet. Good at first with loads to do, then you get very bored of it. However I do find the service quite usefull myself. I eman youc an check emails, and get the footy scores with not too much hassle, so I suppose that's ok isnt it?

The Nokia 3330, is effectively Identical to it's small sister , the 3310 in looks. Its the same size, same weight, and takes exactly the same covers.

- in case you want to know - it wieghs in at 133 g and is the exact size of
The only thing you'll notice when you look at it, is possibly that the rim around the screen, maybee a different colour tot hat of the 3310's standard silver, however if you go and buy a new cover anyway, it may no be so. So the phone looks the same, an
d to be honest its pretty much the same inside as the 3310. But heres a generalise dlist of all the features.
- PHONE BOOK -
The 3330 can handle up to 100 Name and Numbers, although this can be affected by your networks SIM Card anyway, usually a total of 99. Names can be 12 letters long, which is just about ample, it could beneift though of having a longer support here. The number can easily be as long as you need it to be, and the screen will always fit it in easily. Then you can access all these numbers from the phone book under Menu Option 1. Its all in A_Z order and very simple to call who you want by just oressing the main button.
As well as a simple phone book, you can also add one of the 42 total ring tones, to each person, so you know who's calling straight away, before you look at the screen. There is also space for 8 voice tags, menaing you can call someone from the simplicity of saying their voice. However due to the realibilty of this, you usually find yourself SHOUTING their name instead!, to ensue it hears you . I find it very usefull for insulting your ex girlfriend etc.. I mean you can say woteva insult you want and it will phone her! There is also support for speed dialing, by simply holding down a number and it phones that person straight away.

- MESSAGING -

This is the standard start , to the world of text messaging. just like with email, you have an Inbox, Outbox, and a Write Message Box.

Any message you receive are stored int he Inbox untill you delete them. New messages are marked with and arrow, and read messages wiv an envelope. I am told the phone can hold unlimited messages itself, but unfortunetly they are stored on your SIM card. Of course this will vary, but wiv Orange Just Talk, I can take 10 messages. Which is very good indeed, compared to Bt's 8. When you get a new message, the phone will actually beep one of a few different tones, and also display 1 Message Received on the Standard Sta
ndby Screen. If oyu then click the main Nokia Nav Button, it will directly take you to the inbox. If you use up all 10 message spaces, the phone will alert you with a flashing envelope near the top left. This lets you delete some , ready for more new incoming messages.

The write message box, simply does that. You can write a message . The great thing about this Nokia , is that a message can be nearly 400 characters long, much better than the standard 120 something, that SMS text Messaging can actually support. I don't know how they do it, but it sure is good. You use the standard annoying way of pressin a key repeatedly to get to the letter you want. But I best reccomend that you use the Predicitve Text Input method. For example if you want to write the word cat (not that you probably would! ) , you press the key with c , a , and t, on it without having to scroll through each letter. It uses many dictionaries, but I reccomend the English one! Then if the word you want doesnt come up, you can press the star * key , to scroll through a list of matches. And even then if it doesnt appear you may spell the word yourself.

This feature is very usefull and really speeds up texting! Now that you have written the message. You can send it to someone. This is done by clicking on, well send! Then youc an either enter the full phone number, or search for it in your phone book. When your sure that it is the correct person, the message will send, and you should get a message sent screen. If you happen to be with Orange, you will also get a text back telling you confirmation of the message being read by the other person.

Outbox, is bassicaly where you can SAVE messages, to send later, kinda handy if you dont have enough time for whatever reason.

There are many other features here too, but too be honest it could take all year to explain them. I mean what the hell is the point of smilies!? Well anyway you can alsos end pictire messages to certa
in other Nokia's and even animated ones o other 3330's prehaps being one of the kay differences in this new Nokia.

- WAP -

As I explained earlier, WAP allows you to access the mobile internet. Your network usually has its own WAP service, and the phone is allready set up. If not you can do a lot of complexed setting up, which for obvious reasons I wont explain. You bassicaly select a conenct option, and there you are, WAPPED into another world, or not as it maybe. You can set bookmarks like in your Desktop PC, and there are usualy many things allreayd programmed in, such as your WAP services email account. You may also though, and most probably want to, enter in a WAP address, or use a traditional search engine. There is a lot to do, and places like wap.yahoo.com. will find you bank accounts, football scores, news, email accounts and so on. Id ont really know about costs, some networks make it free but I know with Orange it is 10p peak , and 5p offpeak.

At least it's something to be explored!

- TONES -

OKay. There are all kinds of tones here, you get ringing tones, message tones, error tones...... and so on. but the main focus of a nokia , is the ringing tones. There 35 pre loaded ones , which is quite a good variety and there a few catchy ones you may like. Along with this there are no more than 7 spaces for your own tones. These can be composed by yourself in the composer, which unledd your a musicion , ends up to be total garbage. Something along the lines of DA ADA BE DUM DE DA, you get the picture. If you are lucky, you;ll find somewhere on the World Wide Web, where they will send tones for free to your mobile, unfourtunetly many of these now charge for the use of their service. incedentally you can do the same for operator logos etc.. Another way is to find a list of the notes, and you can enter them in with the composer. Or you can use your 3330's pointless WAP feature, and download some here, but b
e warned it may take a while!

That pretty much covers the actual tones themselves. But from this menu you can also set up different message alerts, they range from one beep, to about and hour and a halfs worth of continous beeping. If you have a Nokia, you know how annoying it is!!!!

You can also for somes tupid reason, set up the screen saver from this menu. Quite what it has to do with a TONE, I don't know! But more the same you can choose from many pictures or animations to set up as your screen, as well as how long it takes to activate. The actual meaning of the word screen saver, is used to top your PC's monitor from burning the same stationary image onto the display. However to be honest , this is irelevant with a mobile , and just acts as a nice to look at pointless gizmo yet again.

Thats bassically it, oh and you can change volume settings, keypad tones, set up annoying little vibrations (hey they have their uses!) , and also turn off all audio alerts completely.

- PROFILES -

You can set up your phone with many different ring tones, screensavers, ringing volumes etc.. as you allready know. But profiles is a way to store all of these settings. it's hard to explain the best way to benefit from it yourself, but this is how I arange my "profiles". Bassically, at the click of the on off buttona long the top of the 3330, I can select one of my own 5 profiles. Mine are , General - Vibrate - No Vibrate - Muted - Mat - and Loud.

- General - is just a standard everything on setting. I have a fairly interesting screen saver, and a groovy ring tone. The volume settings are set to normal, not too loud and not too quiet. The phone will also vibrate along with keypad tones.

- Vibrate - Completely Silences my fone, so I cant hear anything. The only way I know it needs me, is form the Vibrate Alert.

- No Vibrate - is the same as general, literally, it does everything as normal bu
t just doesnt vibrate.

- Muted - Gives me nothing at all, I know it kind of pointless, but hand when your using the phone and dont want it to vibrate or make and beep at all.

- Mat- is jsut something I used to fill the space up, and is bassically an alternative to general.

-Loud - As it suggests sets up the phone to full volume. Unless you want to do a trigger happy impression this is no the best way to use your fone. It is VERY annoying!

Bassically, you have a simple one touch setting for changing the mood, and volume of your fone. Ideal to adjust from being at home, to in libary etc.. where you dont want it to ring but still know someone wants you. You get the idea by now I hope.

- CHAT -

I have used this only once, and probably never again. It simply lets you chat to a friend, by simply keeping track of a text message conversation. It works just like a chat view on the web really, but to be honest theres no need. SO I wont explain.

- CALL REGISTER -

This lets you view the last 10 or so of everything you have done . Who you foned, who you missed, who foned you. You can also see how long you;ve used the mobile etc..It's bassically a call log.

- GAMES -

This is probably my favourite part of a Nokia, and thats the games. You can be keep slightly amused by games such as Snake 2, Space Impact etc.. Snake 2 is the traditonal Nokia Game, in where you guide a snake around the screen in order to eat up food to gain points.

Space Impact, isa gimmick of Space Invaders, and yes you get pointsby killing the baddies etc..


Bantumi is some form of card game and pairs 2 is like a memory test game.

The newest game is Bumper , this is bassically a pinball game.

Youc an register with the Club Nokia for free and upload your scored via WAP or the internet in order to compete against other Nokia users around the globe. You can also download different g
ame packs via WP, but guess what, this costs!

- SETTINGS -

In here you can set all kinds of things, from the fones welcome note, to about 5 different security codes. You may also with-hold your number from other callers. There are many comprehensive settings, wich you can adjust to your own needs, but be carefull in the security menu as you may lock yourself out from the SIM card!

- OTHER FEATURES -

The phone is also jam packed of other features, there is a clock, stopwatch and a handy calculator to name but a few.

The Nokia 3330, is a great triquil to that of the Nokia 3210, and then the sequel to the Nokia 3310. The phone still has the usual very easy to use Nokia NavMenu system, and set up is a breeze. If you are specifcally looking for its WAP capability, then this fone sure fits the bill, and very greatly supports this technology. However if you dont need the WAP and to be honest none of us do, then this fone really has no great benifits over the 3310. The choice is really yours.

But undoubtedly, this is a truly superb Nokia Mobile Phone.

-mat

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