Nokia 7250i : 10/15/2003
By Ralph J.
I have had a Sony Ericsson T68i for some time; it always got the job
done. You can imagine how horrible it was for me when it finally croaked
and withered away. There was no soldering that could fix it now. I was in
search of a phone, in a moderate budget range, that could handle the job.
I have always been a person that has wanted things that are not mainstream,
gadgets that not everyone has. Enter the Nokia 7250i. Two days with this
phone assured me that I had selected the right one.
The three most important aspects of a cell phone are reception, usability
and endurance, in that order. It does not matter that your phone is a rock
and will not break if you can’t dial a number as quickly as you want,
or if you don’t get reception inside your house.
Reception
Living in the Hudson Valley is a bit tough since there are many spots where
there is very poor signal reception or none at all. Cell sites are not the
problem all the time, in most cases it is the actual cell phone you carry.
In this arena the Nokia 7250i does not disappoint. On average, I have reception
above 50% and can carry out my calls and messages well. Even with 1 bar only
of reception I can carry out a whole conversation with very minimal loss
and having to ask, “Can you hear me now?”
Usability
Usability is easy to understand, how usable is the phone? How many buttons
do you have to push to do something? Things of that nature. Again, the 7250i
does not disappoint. The 7250i has a simple icon driven menu (or list, your
choice). There is also a “Go To” button that leads to a customizable
menu that allows you to circumvent the main menu for operations that you
choose. The 7250i has several PIM applications, Calendar, Alarm, To do list
and like. It also has some extra options like a Countdown Timer, a stopwatch
and a calculator. There is also an interesting application called Wallet.
Wallet lets you create a “wallet” of passwords, credit card numbers,
etc, which in itself is also password protected. Giving you quick access
to your information when you need it.
As all Nokia’s, the 7250i has several audio profiles that allow for
changing volume and tone settings. Very simple to use, excellent feature
of all Nokia’s.
Another excellent feature is the camera. This is no 4 megapixel digital camera
but it will definitely get the job done when you need a quick picture. There
is a standard photo mode, a night mode for low light situations and a portrait
mode especially made for adding pictures to your contacts. This allows the
picture to appear when a person is calling you. Here is an example of a standard
picture:
My big screen, Showtime Comedy….
This is the highest quality setting, as you can see it isn’t that great,
and actually has a tendency to be blurry. But again, it isn’t made
to replace your Canon S400.
Synchronization with a computer is also very straightforward, whether using
the Nokia application over infrared, or USB cable, or perhaps using any third
party applications such as Oxygen Phone Manager. Unfortunately, I tried several
serial cables to no avail. I was only able to sync using a third-party USB
cable and the Nokia standard DKU-5 USB cable.
The 7250i supports Java applications and games, which can be downloaded over
the air or uploaded from a computer via infrared or serial cable. There is
a wide array of applications, games included, available from many different
sites around the world that will increase the functionality of this already
great phone.
One very cool feature that the 7250i has is its integrated radio tuner. Unlike
most, the 7250i has the radio tuner built into the actual cell phone, meaning
it does not need any fancy enhancements to work, all it needs is a regular
Nokia headset and voilà, you can tune to your favorite stations. Excellent
feature if you aren’t allowed to have a radio at your desk. Looks like
a cell phone, it is a cell phone… but it’s a radio too!!!
Endurance
The Nokia 7250i is 4.13 inches long x 1.73 inches wide x 0.75 inch thick,
it weighs 3.24 ounces. Small, easy to carry and surprisingly strong. I have
dropped it several times and no scratches or damage. Some larger phones wouldn’t
be able to take more than a couple drops. Another excellent aspect in endurance
is the power input for the cell phone. Unlike most Sony-Ericsson, and Motorola
cell phones Nokia has chosen to use non-proprietary adapters, simple adapters
that can be found anywhere in a hurry. That is a definite plus.
I mentioned many of the positive aspects of this cell phone. I do, however,
have several rants and raves:
1. Will Nokia please, please, please, change the style of their power buttons
on their smaller phones? It is very difficult to press the power button if
you have large fingers; you have to try getting your nail in there. Extremely
annoying!
2. The 7250i, among other Nokia cell phones with the same shell, have two
small buttons for volume on the side of the cell phone. These are way too
small and although aesthetically appealing, they are very difficult to depress
and possibly prone to getting damaged very quickly.
3. Although the power adapters are not proprietary, the headphone adapters
are. This can be a bit annoying. I think we 2.5mm or 3.5mm standard jacks
would be great! (Standard being the operative word).
Overall, this phone definitely receives 8.5 out of 10 on my cell phone scale.
The Nokia 7250i is a moderately priced cell phone with excellent capabilities.
I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a stable, cutting edge,
cell phone that they are not planning to change for a while. It has great
reception; it is easy to use and durable. Also a great item for any garget
geek to have as their stable, or perhaps “in-between” cell phone.
If you don’t know what that means…. Too bad…. I digress…
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