Phonewhore Post of the Week



It's been more than a week since I got my Nokia 7610, and so I've gotten to know it better.

The phone's really a fashion phone, which means it really looks great. I remember when I got my T610 and 6600, my immediate reaction was to replace the original covers with more colorful shells. Not so with my 7610... the sleek, black cover is just oh, so cool. The only problem is, it's prone to fingerprints, so I'm always wiping it on my shirt. Heh.
The keys, while odd and artistic, are easy to get used to and very snappy, without any rattling or shaking. The only gripe I have is with the joypad- it's a bit stiff, especially with side motions. It's especially hard to play games like Sky Control and Space Impact with the pad. Sigh.
Overall the phone feels very solid, firm and snug in your hand. It's thinner and narrower than the 6600 and a bit lighter, but far tighter- quality!

The Megapixel camera is really cool and it's better than anything else available on cameraphones right now. There are three settings- High, Normal and Basic. The High pics are several hundred kilobytes in size, and fit about 20 or so in the phone's onboard memory. It's good that you can transfer photos to a PC or some other large archive via an included USB cable or through Bluetooth. Despite still not having a flash, taking pics in low light is better with the 7610 since the lens allows for more light exposure, and a single button push activates an excellent Night Mode. Video recording, of which you can now take up to 10 minutes per session, is incorporated with the digital still camera. As far as I can tell, the videos taken with the 7610 are clearer and sound a bit better than with the 6600.

In general, the 7610 has the best sounds of recent Nokia smartphones- far better than the 6600 and the 3650.

The Symbian OS of the 7610 runs a lot smoother and a lot faster than in the 6600, which will become quite apparent after you run programs, arrange files, compose MMS messages and stuff. Videos play smoother on the embedded Real One Player and even the third-party Smartmovie player.

Themes and apps that will work with the 6600 will usually work with the 7610, except for any apps that require the use of the IR port (Infra Red), since the 7610 doesn't have IR!

Memory is a bit of a problem at present since regular MMC memory cards won't fit in the phone. The 7610 uses Reduced-Size MMC cards, which is a new format that will soon become standard in upcoming phones from Nokia and other companies. I've already found a 128 MB card in a shop, but I'm holding out till larger-size RSMMC's are available.
Battery consumption is fair- about three hours to fully charge the battery, and then it will last for about 2 days. Using Bluetooth, the camera and media apps will of course shorten this faster.

The phone is presently priced at 30K in most shops all around the Metro, while The Hub will be selling the phone starting this weekend at about 28K with their subscriptions (get it free with the higher plans).
The 7610 package includes the 7610, manual, promo brochiures, a USB cable, PC suite CD, RS MMC card (64mb) and adaptor and a wrist strap. The wrist strap is not recommended since it has a metal component which may scratch your lovely mobile.

Well, that's that. I am fully satisfied with the 7610, and it's really cool to have be one of the first to have this great model. I am sure it will be as popular as the now 'In' 6600, though the present high price will be a deterrent to all save the most devoted (and in the money) gadget freaks.

And now, let's see about learning how to work the in-phone editing programs so I can start putting together my first 7610 short film...