Nokia 7210 (Nokia 7210)

Member Name: jonotinx

Product:	Nokia 7210
Date:	05/07/04 (274 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Triband for use in USA, compact and light, useful features

Disadvantages: Dust gets inside of screen, Screen can be difficult to see in bright light

I've had my 7210 now for just short of a year - having owned several Nokias before. If you already own a Nokia, the controls and menus will be familiar to you, so you can get started very quickly. If you're new to Nokias, the menu system is very easy to use, so it shouldn't take you long to find your feet. I would only really ever consider Nokia phones now as once you've used one, you can use any. And they are very user friendly.

I upgraded free as part of my contract package, so cost of phone didn't enter into it. I've found all Nokia phones to be well built and robust (The Nokia 3510 bounced out of my bedroom window once and onto the drive and was still working !) - Although the 7210 doesn't feel quite as solid. Infact my first 7210 had to go back as there was a problem with the inbuilt software, but this was all sorted within a few days, and I had a new replacement.

As I said, using the phone is real easy - especially if you go through the instructions step by step. There are some functions I don't use (WAP) as I'm not bothered for using my phone for that.

The phone has a large memory, so plenty of phone numbers can be stored, as can text messages (sent & received). One useful feature is the ability to tag several different phones numbers to one contact in your phone book - so you can have a persons mobile, house, office and fax number all stored. You can even put addresses, e-mails address and notes against contacts too.

The alarm clock feature is also very useful - I use it to wake me up every morning. And a calculator function never goes a miss.

There's also a handy calendar function; here you can enter appointments / notes / reminders and set reminder alarms to let you know in advance of any entries you've made. And you need never miss a birthday again as you can enter birthday reminders too. - It's like having a mini PDA with you, and infact I've started using it
more than my pda for quick entries are I generally have the phone on me at all times.

I don't use the games much - I don't think the inbuilt games are up to much, but if that's you're thing, you can always download JAVA games. The same goes for rings tones / wallpapers - although I'm happy with the inbuilt choices.

There's a neat radio function, so, using the headphones, you can tune into your favourite radio station (using the headphones as the Ariel) - reception is good, especially if you're not moving.

Connection to the phone is with the 'pop port' on the bottom - It seems a bit flimsy, and I'm always wary of breaking the pins whilst connecting the headphones (also used for hands free). Although to be fair, I haven't had any problems with it yet - it just doesn't seem as robust as the push in charging socket (which is the familiar Nokia size, so you're old charges / in car adaptors still fit).

Using the pop port, you can also connect to a PC (via a data cable). here you can edit phone data / settings and backup your phone book and calendar etc. You can also import files for wallpaper etc. - The Nokia cable is expensive, but there are loads of other cable available - check out e-bay. You can use the cable with Nokias free downloadable software - PC Suite which enables you to synch the phone calendar with various PC versions. But you'll need to make sure the cable is DKU-5 to do this (A lot of cables aren't, so you won't be ale to run PC suite, although you can still do other more basic things)

The phone is also Tri-band, which means you can use it in USA; This was one of my main reasons for choosing this phone. And it works ! - although on my last trip, I did notice I couldn't get reception in some places where the locals still could.

The phone is nice and compact and has a good battery life - I leave mine switched on all the time, and get 5
days usage from it (although it's not heavy usage). It's also light, so it can sit in your top pocket without it dragging you down.

The colour screen is OK, but can be a little difficult to see in bright light conditions, and because the covers are changeable, it seems to let a lot of dust in which gets stuck behind the screen, so you have to keep taking the cover off to clean the inside.

Sound quality is very good, and talking and listening have good clarity.

All in all, a very good, capable phone - should meet most of your requirements.

Summary: