Nokia 9210i Review

Overall Rating

Web and email access, built in hands free, download applications from the web

Size, battery performance, weight, low memory warnings, operates very slowly,

I bought my Nokia 9210i communicator September 2002. I decided to get the 9210i, rather than the older version. I must say that i am disappointed with this handset. I bought the handset new and offline at great expense. The phone itself has many great useful features but also many bad things. It's handy that i can carry in my pocket pretty much everything i need, the phone numbers it stores is phenomenal, it holds many text messages and i have downloaded several applications for it. The version i have came with 16 onboard memory which i very quickly began to fill. A friend kindly game me a 16mb memory card so i upgraded the ram. This made no difference to performance tho so i guess the memory is purely for storing and not performance. The battery life is not very good - my 3 year old 3210 lasts longer on battery than my 9210i. Also a major annoyance is not being able to reboot the 9210i without having to take out the battery (searching for a download to do this). I have also just recieved the handset back again today from repair as the ribbon cable keeps breaking that attaches the 2 parts of the fone. Another problem i have found is that the battery terminals are of a bad design - sometimes, after removing the battery and rebooting, when i replace it, the phone refuses to power up so requires a lot of fiddling. Another problem i have encountered is that the phone will start ringing when someone phones it but the handset is not making any noise. It was purely by chance looking at the screen I saw an incoming call. A few minutes into the phone call, the phone just started ringing on full volume (which is painful when it is to your ear). After that the handset froze and i had to reboot. The way Nokia marketed the 9210i on adverts on the tele is with streaming audio and video. I am wondering how they got their 9210i to do this, coz i doubt mine will perform as well as this.

In all seriousness tho, it is a very useful tool. If you are going to use the features of it (and carrying a seperate laptop is not an option) it's great, but there are a few problems that still haven't been ironed out yet. I have a 6310i as well and i wish i had bought a handheld pda such as a compaq ipaq instead. I will continue to use my 9210i 'til i lose it or it breaks again because i paid too much moeny not to use it. Only buy one of these if you intend to use all the features on it and can handle the problems you may encounter with it.

Members' Comments onLiam.'s Review

• Louis. on 12th Mar 2003

  Your 9210 must be a bad egg
  My 9210 is great in every way
  from Video to Data.
  You should ask your seller to replace it..

• esprit237@yahoo.com. on 15th Mar 2003

  for me 9210i is still the best, even after looking P800. Its Camera & MP3 does not interest me. The two thumbs typing is much faster than using pen. The 9210i calendar and screen quality, and word editing, is the Best ever till now. It's true that it is big, but much worth it the functionalities. It might have not just fit with your needs.

• alpha-q. on 25th Mar 2003

  what are u talking about? this baby is the best. the only problem with this is there are no gprs and vibrating alert and its too big but the functions are excellent!

• Suresh. on 10th Apr 2003

  Hie there, I just bought 5 units of 9210i for my friends and myself. Its just a wonderful set, working great and really keeps me mobile at all times. Although its huge in size but better gripping and doesnt slip like any other small Nokia models with no features like 9210i. Well at least all in one carrying a brick is no harm for us.!!..

• BugMan. on 1st Jun 2003

  The 9210 and 9210i (note the "i") BOTH sucks!!
  I have mine now for one and a half year, it's been back in for repair now 5 times, every time costing around 250€ (250U$) repair. Coming back some parts where 'replaced' (do not believe THAT joke).
  It crashes a lot with out any reason! I found out (through a NOKIA employe) that 50% of the units COME back for repair more THAN ONCE! A dutch consumer organisation and a german one came to the same conclusion!! No refund or other HELP from NOKIA! In my opinon stay away from it!! It is my last NOKIA i bought EVER. Nokia sucks!!

• Matthew Donkin. on 15th Jul 2003

  I have had a Nokia 9210 for 2 years now.
  and as with some of the comments above I too have had my phone back in for repair about 4-5 times now.
  I originally started with a 9210 and had many problems with it and had it repaired 4 times.
  everytime nokia were honouring the warranty without fail and doing it very promptly.
  the 4th time I took it in they extended my warranty by 6 months.
  and the 5th time they took it in they extended it again by 6 months and also gave me a 9210i back rather than the 9210.
  In with the repairs I have kept my memory cards everytime, and have actually had my memory card upgraded from a 16Mb to a 64Mb at no charge to me.
  the 9210i I have had no problems with at all and it is 10 times more stable than the 9210.
  I used to like my 9210 but now I have the 9210i I love it.
  this phone is the best.
  And to anybody out there thinking of getting one, My recommendation is to steer clear of the 9210 and get the 9210i.

• Jess Katt on 20th Aug 2003

  While this is a really nice story, and I have to confess that it is true you have to temper the review with a little history.
  
  This man, Matthew (if you're not going to eat all your phone can I have some) Donkin, is a Nokia nut. The 9210i is a great unit and while it looks like a urban assault club when closed, open, it looks like a little telly and that's what counts.
  
  Guy Smiley

• ace97 on 6th Nov 2003

  I concur with you, I myself is very much fed up with my 9210i, in terms of internal memory, lagging and Internet performance. I use almost all of the functions and more, for as I need to be in contact with many collegues from all around the world through e-mail almost daily. Imagine, logging up to Hotmail takes ages, and when there's too much pics in the particular website, the "Not enough memory " goes up! I have well over 9000 kb free, but it still refuses to pop up a large number of websites! I also experience lagging, especially when looking up numbers, for as I have well over 300 phone numbers in the memory card, and in the Calander mode, if you have too much entries, it'll lag as well. A camera would be very useful as well...I have been comparing my 9210i with a O2 xda ( a friend got one, sadly, he can't pay for the mobile Internet access, so can't compare Internet performance ) and since the latest O2 II ( with camera, new processor, MMS, Bluetooth and Wi - Fi capability, I might just sell off my 9210i, add some cash and get the new O2 xda II instead? Comments guys?

• brommers on 23rd Jan 2004

  Less than 8 months old, we are returning our NOKIA 9210i yet again for repair expecting another 3 week delay as per my review. If you're dependant on a communication device then DON'T get this one. It has been replaced already and the second phone has the same problem. Despite calls to my dealer or NOKIA CARE(?) they aren't able to do anything to expedite the repair even though it's exactly the same problem. In all, a total waste of money for our MD. I would've thought a quick replacement was not going to break NOKIA's bank and would've kept me as a customer. But instead, we have to wait 3 mobileless weeks for them to confirm their product is faulty....... for the second time.