Sex in the palm of your hand, and they say size doesn’t matter! (Nokia 8210)

Member Name: little devil

Product:	Nokia 8210
Date:	19/06/01 (510 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: small, smart, sexy

Disadvantages: screen problems

After living with a brick as a mobile phone I decided I needed a change. After numerous considerations, I decided to stick with my operator, orange, and buy a contract phone. I had a little look on the orange website and viewed all their available contract phones and saw a few that took my fancy, the little Motorola one looks super nice but my wage didn’t go up to cover that as a luxury non-necessity. I eventually settled on the Nokia 8210, it jumped out at me and screamed buy me, what was I supposed to do?!

Why I went for this phone…
Well apart from the voices in my head I know that Nokia are a reliable and popular manufacturer of mobiles. I had never owned a Nokia but most of my friends and relatives did and they sang the praises of their phones. I had owned the big Ericsson phone and was fed up of going around with a huge brick in my pocket/bag and as for the aerial well it was massive! I know they say bigger is better, but in this case it definitely wasn’t. I had made up my mind I wanted something small, light, reliable and sexy.

Wading through the available phones in the shop I wasn’t really drawn to any, there was the big Nokia with WAP capability but I decided that no I wasn’t ever going to need this feature. Then right at the end there it was, we met and saw each other and it was love at first site. It flashed and I smiled I had found my partner! There it was this little blue phone that shouted sex appeal and would fit into the smallest of bags, perfect for me, that’s the one I had to have.

The look of the phone…
Well if I say that the dimensions are 10.2 by 4.5 by 1.7 cm then I think you will understand that this baby is tiny. Being only 10cm big, it easily fits in the palm of my hand with room for my keys, money etc. Brilliant. Mine is a blue phone, but it does have express on covers, so you can get any colour you desire. I’m on the hunt for a nice deep purple
cover as it’s my favourite, but the standard blue is nice. It contrasts well with the black, that’s around the screen, and the silver trimming and buttons, lovely.

Fitting into the palm of your hand and weighing a cool 79g you can be forgiven if you forget you have thins. I often put it in my pocket and have to check it’s there because I can’t feel it. I have found it fits into the smallest of pockets and my going out bags have halved in size since I got this, guess what was taking up all the room! This phone is super sexy and stylish, if it was a man I’d marry it!

The screen of the phone is small, which I will explain later has led to a few problems, but it is really aesthetically pleasing and despite what you would think just as easy to use as the bigger screens.

I don’t think this is really to do with the look of the phone but it’ll tell you about the talk time anyway. The standby time of the phone is 150 hours and the talk time a while (don’t know exact figures depends on signal etc), coming from a little tiny battery I must say you can’t help but be impressed. That means you don’t need to charge it up every two minutes and when you go away for a bit, no need to take the charger with you. The battery itself is amazing, I don’t know how they could make it that small, I had to look twice! As for the cover that goes over the battery it’s a thin as a piece of paper, I don’t like taking it on and off incase I break it.

Using the phone…
As with all Nokia mobiles the 8210 is easy to use and the picture menus make a difference from the normal text menus I had been used to. There are several main menu options, all of which have a short cut number if you don’t want to scroll through all the options. There is a button in the middle that allows you to do this, up and down! For those of us who know how to use a Nokia, hands up the odd p
erson who actually doesn’t, the menu system is the same as the others and so easy to use, I could do it blindfolded, but enough of that back to the phone… :o)

The names system is easy to use and anyone could pick it up. All you have to do is type the number on the screen and press ‘save’ then name the number and hey presto an addition to your phone book. There is the ability to store names/numbers on the sim card and the phone, so you can have lots of numbers. It’s simple to go to the list of numbers, just scroll down, you don’t even have to go to a menu option.

So on using the phone lets have a look at the menu options and what they allow you to do;
If you leave the screen on an option for a certain amount of time it brings up and explanation of what it is, great for those I have no idea what they do!

1 – Messages
Inbox and outbox which allow you to store messages, the phone saves them on the sim card so 10 is the maximum for me. Write messages is obviously where you type in what you want to send, there is the option of a dictionary and predictive text input. However I switched this off as it really did annoy me and didn’t like the words I was using. There are 10 picture messages on the phone, which can have text added to them and sent to people, so there’s a lovely heart of your feeling in a soppy mood for example. Message setting, where you can chose from two options and this will effect the type of message, fax or data call, this sets what you are sending, i.e. an sms or a fax. Last but not least voice mail, for messages on your answer machine. There is also an option that allows you to write numbers and letters to control automatic telephone services, or so my phone told me!

2 – Call Register
Received, dialed and missed calls are all listed here.

3 – Profiles
This allows you to modify the settings of the phone for different occ
asions. The on/off button can do this, which is dinky, or going to the profile menu. This is best if you want to personalise the settings of a particular profile. The phone has 5 profiles: General, Silent, Outdoor, Pager and Meeting.

4 – Settings
Allows you to change aspects of the phone such as date and time and set the alarm. There are many things to do in this menu and I like to play with it every now and again. This is the place where you change the greeting of your phone as well.

5 – Call Divert
You can decide which option to do with the calls, so if you don’t want to receive any send them all to the answer machine. Also you can check the status of your call diverting.

6 – Games
There are 4 games on this phone, which are guaranteed to help pass the time, be it waiting for the bus or your other half to get ready these will keep you entertained.

Snake – you have a screen and use the buttons to move your snake so he eats apples, different levels which changes the speed for the pro or the beginner.
Logic – this game requires the user to guess the combination of icons.
Rotation – the numbers have to be arranged in order, you move them so they become in sequence.
Memory – you reveal pictures and then match them up with others you have found.

7 – Calculator
There is a calculator on this phone in case you need to do some sums and your head isn’t up to it.

8 – Calendar
Has the ability to store notes on each day, birthdays, reminders etc. along with setting an alarm for the note incase you just can’t forget.

9 – Infrared
The phone comes with infra red for linking up to a PC, this allows the printing of names and numbers etc and passing information between phones with the capability.

10 – Services
This will send you messages about stuff if you ask it to, like sport, a frien
d stole my phone to get information on Manchester United.

The phone is easy to use and you will pick it up quickly and without problem. Failing that there’s a manual!

Main Features of the 8210…
- Size and weight obviously, it is the worlds smallest and lightest phone.
- Dual band phone with no aerial, so you can use it in other countries, great off to pastures a new we go then.
- A stored name can be given speed dialing and voice dialing.
- Caller groups means if you set a person as something in particular, such as family, that group has an icon that distinguishes this.
- Vibrating alert, now I know this is common now but this phone really does vibrate, you’d notice this in your pocket!
- Predictive text input allows messages to be written quickly, apparently, but I found this a hindrance more than anything else.
- All numbers are recorded and then can be saved so it’s easy to get your best mates new mobile number when she calls.
- You can get ring tones sent to the phone, there is room for 5 new ring tones.
- As with all Nokia’s you can get logo’s sent, I have one but I cannot tell you what it is, it’s before the watershed and dooyoo would not appreciate it!
- Shortcuts to menu options make it easier and quicker to use.
- Call waiting, if your operator allows.

Problems with the phone…
I have had my phone for nearly 7 months now and have recently discovered a problem with it. Apparently when they made the phone the main aim was to make it as small as possible, in order to do this they over look practicalities and so the screen can go funny. I found that it disfigures and freezes on me, as well as turning itself on. Very annoying and I now have a replacement, but the man at orange told me that I would probably have the same problem again in a few months, damn!

It is also annoying that sometimes I find it difficult to press the butto
ns, they are small and luckily I have little fingers so I can just about press one button at once, however my boyfriend has trouble using it, just as well means he can’t steal it off me.

It’s so small that you’ll find it easy to misplace. I am always putting it down and forgetting where it is, and if it’s in my pocket I don’t know so I can look for it all round the house for ages before realising.


I am very pleased with this phone, despite the problems and it is easily the best phone I have owned. It is full of features that are both useful and unpractical at the same time. It cost me only £10 because I got a contract with it and it was money well spent (I’ve had two for that price!) as I got the smallest and sexiest phone I have ever seen. I have however seen some really high prices for the phone so if you want it then look for a deal, for your sake. It looks lovely and is the best phone I have seen by far and it seems to last through battering and banging about, as I am not the most careful of people.

I recommend this phone to anyone who wants a sexy phone that will make you feel like your ten times bigger than you are, height wise! Weighing hardly nothing and fitting in the smallest of places this phones is worth buying and offers a range of features that make it easy to use and that you will play with for hours, or maybe I need to get out more. This phones comes highly recommended but do get insurance, especially if you are planning on keping it for a while, as you may need another in a few months. Enjoy.

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