Nokia 7650 Review

Overall Rating

Java Apps! Good sized monitor. Speaker phone. Picture icons for contacts. Connectivity

The depth of the phone is a little large. No timed profiles. Battery life shorter then older phones.

OK so the size of the phone is a little large. This is the biggest obstacle for people to overcome when deciding whether or not to buy the 7650. However, it's quite comfortable to use, with or without the number pad open and fits well in a jeans pocket. Looking at it online or in the phone shops doesn't do it justice, because everybody (including me!) harps on about the size. You must use one for about 10 mins, then you realise how good it actually is. Over the last few days I have being showing it to friends and the same thing happens; "Oh, it's too big!" they will say, only to be redressed 10 mins later with "I want one, how much is it". You can expect to pay €199 first-time connect / upgrade in Ireland and I think for what you getting it's great value. I like the features that are not talked about much, either by Nokia or other 7650 owners. Adding icons of your friends and family as part of contact details is a great idea. Combined with the speaker phone and voice dialling you have a very handy and impressive way of calling people in your car without any extra equipment. I love showing off this feature to friends; place the phone on a table, hold the speaker phone button for a second, say a friends name, phone dials and loads up their picture, have a quick chat on speaker, then pick it up hold to ear and the 7650 automatically turns off the speaker due to the proximity sensor and we can continue the call in private!! I can also record one minute of conversation by both parties, but an annoying beep every 5 seconds sounds (for legal reasons). The camera isn't that great in low light conditions - even with the night mode selected, pictures are blurry and out of focus. Best used in daylight conditions. I have a good digital camera anyway, and I would recommend using those pictures for contact icons. Just crop the images to 64X64 pixels jpeg 70% on your PC then upload them to the phone. The fun doesn't stop there... Go to www.findmidis.com and download the latest chart midi song files and upload them onto the 7650 for free! The 7650 can even playback animated gifs! I have had a look at the applications available at the Nokia software market (http://www.softwaremarket.nokia.com) and there is quite a range to choose from. This is another major reason why I picked the 7650 over my original must-have-Nokia the 7210 - the screen size is bigger on the 7650. This allows for better onscreen application use. One of my gripes was no timed profiles, but I can download software that will allow me to do this! Well, I did have to pay for it (~€15), but at least we have the choice. You can even get spy software (Digia ImageSpy 7650/3650) that has motion detection (the camera can be set to monitor its neighbourhood and raise an alarm/ send picture when motion is detected). To summarise: Great phone, great features, great price. Bigger is better!