READ THIS 4 FREE CREDIT (Nokia 9210)

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Product:	Nokia 9210
Date:	07/11/01 (565 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: SMALL, LIGHT

Disadvantages: NONE

As a systems administrator for an Internet consultancy firm, I'm expected to respond to any problems with our servers outside of normal business hours. This has the affect of seriously cutting back on what I can do during the evenings. It was this that prompted me to look at the Nokia Communicator as a mobile "office" so that I could still go out and get the shopping in, or stay in hotels and not having to drag my Sony Vaio laptop with me.

I chose the 9210 as it was the latest model to be released from a long line of Communicators. I had originally used the 9000 when it came out and therefore had some idea of what to expect from the unit. However, Nokia have updated a heck of a lot of things since then, and I am pleased to say this is the only mobile phone I'll ever want to carry around.

First things first - the size and weight. It's somewhat bulky - but considering what it's packing underneath the numeric keypad on the front of the phone, it's no surprise. It still can slip into my pocket front shirt pocket, although I think the best solution is to get a vertical belt holster to carry it around in.

The unit has a silver finish and has a numeric keypad on the front of the phone, with a smallish LCD display on front like any other mobile phone. The antenae is retractable, although the signal from BT Cellnet is good enough to leave it down for the vast majority of the time. On the back of the phone is the earpiece and microphone. When taking a call, it feels somewhat unusual to talk into the back of the phone rather than the front of it.

Opening the Nokia up reveals a full qwerty-style keyboard. The keys are small (well, I do have big fingers!), but still very usuable. You can't do touch typing on the keyboard, but it still feels quite good when pressing the keys and as the build quality of the keyboard is quite good, I don't make too many mistakes which usually occur when I hit the key next
to the one I want.

The screen offers a 640x200 display in full colour - and boy does it make a difference from the 9110. It's sharp, crisp and very easy on the eye. The full colour support makes it a pleasure to use. Text and graphics are very easy to see and there is very little to say against the display other than I wish it was bigger! :)

The system now uses the Symbian EPOC operating system (version 6 - the very latest version!) which is shared with the likes of the Psion (although that uses version 5, I believe). This means that new appliations and games can be uploaded to the Nokia (which has interchangable RAM expansion cards - and comes with 16Mb as standard). Although downloadable stuff is a little thin on the ground (only version 6 of EPOC software is supported, and most stuff out there runs on version 5 and below), there will be massive support for this new OS from the likes of Palmtop Software and SSH. Believe it or not, the unit comes with RealPlayer (although this has to be installed from the CD-ROM supplied).

Applications included with the unit include a contacts manager, a calendar/organiser, email, web browser, WAP browser, video player, voice/dictophone recorder (which can also be ued for recording telephone conversation), word processor (compatible with MS Office, Lotus, etc), spreadsheet (ditto), presentation graphics, Wave file player (can upload your own .WAVs and use them as ring tones), fax software, SMS message centre, and too many other things to mention here.

I will mention that is has the best hands free facility of any other phone - just flip the lid and you're on hands free/conference mode. The recipient comes out very clear, and from all intents and purposes, they can here you just fine too :)

Also included is a link cable to hook the unit up to a PC. The Nokia 9210 can also be used as a fax modem for a laptop and, when using the HSCD protocol (only supported by Orange in the U
K at the moment - and only then up to 28.8K) can achieve speeds of 43.8K. The Nokia also supports connections via infra-red (including other Nokias, computers and printers).

Not sure about other suppliers, but when I bought my unit from The Link, I received a free digital camera which communicates with the Nokia through Infra-red. The image quality isn't brilliant, and the resolution is 640x480, but it's still a useful tool if you need to rush images back to base quickly.

I'm absolutely chuffed with this phone, and my only wish is that BT Cellnet would offer HSCD facilities, or the firmware on the Nokia could be upgraded to support GRPS. Other than that, I highly recommend this unit! THIS PHONE ROCKS IT IS THE BOMB

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