Technical Trickery Revisited... (Nokia 3650)

Member Name: TheDF

Product:	Nokia 3650
Date:	05/08/03 (1304 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Wealth of features, Expandable memory, Downloadable software

Disadvantages: Size and weight, Potential glitches, No video calling ability

Having previously owned a Nokia 7650 (and being left rather disappointed), I had some very strong expectations of this handset, Nokia's latest 'smartphone' offering. I was well aware of the phones' camera capabilities, and the video recorder function from my time with the earlier 7650, but I was equally aware of the numerous glitches on the 7650 - the phones predecessor of sorts.

Whilst the 7650 offered great potential as a phone, my usage entailed continually running out of memory in which to store my photos and videos. Additionally, as the memory on the 7650 was shared for photos/videos and programs, I was left with the continual dilemma of whether to use it solely as a toy, or as a business 'tool', and was greatly impressed by the Sony Ericsson P800's expandable memory - a feature I greatly required from my (then) 7650...

I decided to ditch the 7650 in favour of something a little more applicable as both a personal phone, and a tool for my freelance work about five months ago - this started an immense amount of research time into a suitable replacement. During this time, I considered the Sony Ericsson P800 (who wouldn't), the Nokia 9210i, the Orange SPV, and a couple of 3 phones by NEC and Motorola - then I heard about the Nokia 3650.

My key concerns when researching into the replacement phone were as follows:

1.) Reliability
2.) Connectivity with a PC
3.) Functionality
4.) 'Future-proofing'
5.) 'Complete' cost

These may all seem like completely ‘standard’ reasons for upgrading or changing any phone as is, but under further analysis, my reasons become clear; using the Nokia 7650 as a baseline, I’ll detail exactly why the 3650 fits the bill.

Reliability

As an owner of a 7650 for no less than five months, I was subject to no less than four warranty and insurance returns. As a semi-professional user (I like to take a few we
ekend snaps, hence the camera phone) having this many changes of phone was a bit of a pain in the backside – could you imagine changing phone every five weeks (and I’m not talking to those of you who already own 7650’s)…

The 3650 has a backup to memory card facility built into it, and so is, by design, more reliable than the 7650 managed to be. For those of you with a PC (and the desire to keep your phone in good working order), the purchase of a simple MMC reader with this phone means that you’ll be able to backup all of your numbers, photos, videos and games with fantastic ease – suddenly reliability isn’t so much of a daily concern!

Connectivity with a PC

One of my biggest bugbears with the 7650 was the lack of provision for users who don’t own a laptop or a Bluetooth-enabled PC. Whilst the 3650 retains the lack of design allowance for a data cable, use of the (supplied) memory card and a card reader with your PC allows far easier data transfer between the phone and computer. As I need to be backup my images and video footage, this provided a far more efficient and effective solution than relying on an infrared adapter (which are usually highly light-reactive and expensive) for my computer.

Functionality

As a former 7650 owner, and a keen fan of new technology, it was imperative to me to have a phone that offered something new and remained usable. A brief look over the spec list of the 3650 doesn’t really offer many surprises in the modern phone market – full colour screen, still and video camera facility, MMS, Bluetooth, 4Mb memory, and so on. However, there are a couple of key areas in which this phone shines – expandable memory, and fully featured Bluetooth (meaning that a Bluetooth headset is now available for this phone, unlike the 7650).

By providing these extra functions, Nokia has opened up a whole new range of phone users to their produ
ct. For my side of things, it solves two major headaches of the 7650 – memory capacity and the ability to multi-task effectively within the Symbian operating system.

Future-proofing

Being the user that I am, it was very important to me to able to buy a phone that will be solid and reliable now, but also capable of staying with the market leaders until third generation phones became the norm (my analysis of currently available 3G phones is that they are generally poorly designed, and developed in the minimum amount of time to catch the early market – I’d predict that until Nokia and Sony Ericsson start making 3G handsets, this will remain the case. Additionally, usage of 3G data connections is far too expensive at the moment to make it worthwhile)

I knew from the 7650 that the phone would be based on the Symbian Series 60 operating system, and as such would be capable of using downloadable software. This is a key point – whilst the phone comes with a solid range of usable software as standard, there are a wealth of developers out there creating some excellent packages for this device, especially in gaming and media applications. Coupling this with the use of the commonly available and inexpensive MMC (Multi Media Card) memory format and the phones’ ability to communicate with other devices via Bluetooth, this phone leads the field in my mind.

‘Complete’ cost

I was one of the fortunate few out there who knows where to go and buy a phone. By this I mean that I was able to find a high-street retailer that were able to provide me with my phone on the tariff of my choice for the right price – in this instance, free. However, I knew before purchase that whatever model I went with, I would have to buy some accessories to ensure that the phone would be capable of ‘fitting in’ with my current solution – in this case, the phone had to be able to function alongside my
PC.

So, having got the phone for free, I was able to extend my budget for peripherals, allowing me to look at a few key additions. Firstly, I purchased a larger memory card than the supplied 16Mb unit (which in itself will store over 400 high quality images), opting to buy a 128Mb card, at a cost of £40 including delivery (you’ve got to know where to look!). Additionally, I decided that as I had brought a massive memory card for the phone, a USB card reader would be advisable (meaning that I could remove the memory card from the phone, and use it with my PC as a removable drive – no need to use Infrared or Bluetooth to transfer files now!) Having invested this amount of money in the phone, I was extremely satisfied…

So, time to summarise I think. Overall, this phone is an extremely strong contender (or for my usage, the best available at present), offering an accumulation of features available on other models – whilst the Sony has a better screen, it can’t film video; where the 3G offerings have faster download times, the Nokia is affordable; and where the SPV has better video playback, it’s only available on the Orange network. However, nothing is ever perfect – as a result of having such a wealth of affordable or freely available third party software, clashes can occur, necessitating a complete format of the phone and a full restore from backup. This is a rare event, but it is excruciatingly aggravating and time consuming when it does happen.

All things considered though, I’d recommend one. In fact, why are you still reading – shouldn’t you be on your way to the shops?

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