Cell Phone Review - Battery and Reception
Nokia's 3360 comes with a Nickel Metal hydride (NiMH) battery that provides approximately 10 days standby time and 1.5-2 hours active talk time. For heavy users, there is an extended life NiMH battery available, and for users concerned about phone weight there is light-weight a Lithium-Ion battery compatible with the phone. You need to install the battery in the back of the phone yourself, which is easy and there is an on-screen indicator showing how much battery life remaining before a recharge is necessary. Most reports are of excellent reception regardless of provider, and once again there is an on-screen indicator for reception rating. Although the talk time isn't great, this phone is an excellent performer and very reliable.
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TheEricsson t68 cell has a Lithium-ion battery that is tiny and incredibly lightweight. The product outline promotes the phone as having 290 hours standby and 13 hours talk time although most users report significantly less. Certainly using the voice dialling or WAP capabilities drains the battery fast. However there is a built-in battery reporter which will fairly accurately inform you how much battery time you have left to the nearest hour and minute. Overall the battery life isn't great, and the phone has a habit of switching itself off. With poor reception as well, Ericsson have got some work to do on the general functionality of this phone. |
The Siemens S40 cell phone has up to 260 hours standby time and 3 hours active talk time - comparible to the Nokia 3360. The Siemens does come with a lightweight Lithium-Ion battery which lives up to the promoted active and standby time allowances and keeps the phone as light as possible. Although the battery is a huge plus, the reception is less than perfect.
Cell Phone Review - Appearance
The Nokia 3360 has a groovy, modern apeparance and although its not as small as other Nokia phones, it weighs in at only 4.8 oz and at only 1" thick it will slide in your shirt or pant pocket easily. The design is simple and sleek in a blue-gray color with silver trim. The screen, which shows about 5 lines of text, is recessed slightly so there is less chance it could accidentally get scratched with dropping. The key pad has fairly small rubbery buttons but they have nice feedback and are still not too difficult for larger fingers to use. Because they are flush with the phone casing there is less chance of accidental pressing, although there is a key lock function you can implement. As with all Nokias, you can replace the phone casing plate with a huge range of multi-colored casings in the Nokia range. |
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Ericsson's t68 model is top of the cell phone spectrum with a color display. When its in active mode the screen is crisp and clear, unlike any other cell phone display you will have seen before. There are fantastic display graphics and you can select a screen saver from a variety of themes in 256 bit color. You can select your own color background for standy-by mode giving this cell the height of customizable features. The phone has an overall curvy design, which widens out at the screen. The casing is an impressive gold/yellow color and the buttons are chrome with a silver trim. Although the keys have good feedback they are small and delicate and big fingered users may have problems (but there is a navigation nipple-mouse to help out). Small, compact, light and incredibly funky - rated on nothing else except appearance this Ericsson phone is a perfect 10! |
The Siemens S40 has a modern look, with silver casing and black plastic keys. The phone has a square design, slightly wider at the screen, but overall very compact and especially slim. The screen is fairly dark and difficult to read without activating the blue back light. It holds only 5 lines of text and the fonts could be bigger for a nicer appearance and ease of reading. The keypad is well spaced out and not a problem for bigger hands, but the keys are very stiff and lack strong feedback. |
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Cell Phone Review - Durability
The solid feel of the
Siemens S40 is infact a reliable indicator of this cell phone's durability. The phone doesn't damage easily and features such as key lock, internal antenna and scratch resistance add to the overall sturdiness of this little phone.
Ericsson's t68 is a strong performer in the durability stakes as well. It has a rubber pad on the rear surface of the phone that prevents accidental slipping when it is put down. The antenna is internal like Nokia's and this reduces chances of damage. The whole phone is sturdy, the keypad has a lock on it and it can easily withstand general rough treatment. |
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The Nokia 3360 has had great reports regarding its durability. It can withstand day-day knocks and bumps as well as being dropped. The overall cell phone is with the recessed screen and flush keys protects it from damage and the internal antenna isn't at risk like cells with extended antennas.
Cell Phone Review - Navigation and Use
The
Ericsson t68 has a nipple-mouse-cum-joystick for easy navigation and although this is a little flimsy it is great to use when you get used to it. It makes scrolling through menus a breeze, although with short cuts to access popular menu items navigating is hardly difficult anyway. If you prefer, you can personalize these shortcuts and customize menus. The phone's main menu has colorful icons instead of your standard text list, but the sub-menus are standard Ericsson text menu displays. The one problem you might have with this phone is that it is quite slow with text updating and with all the extra features to increase ease of use the slower response of the phone is even more frustrating. The phone has an advanced calander feature holding up to 300 appointments. The phonebook has 100 entries, but for each entry you can record 5 phone numbers, email and address. It is simple to enter the data, or you can use infrared and utilize your previously recorded info from PC or Palm Pilot. It is also very easy to add new identities to the phonebook when they call you - if the number isn't known you will be prompted as to whether to enter it into the phonebook.
After hearing about the Ericsson's brilliant interface, the plain grey-scale screen of the Siemen sounds dull. And indeed it is. There are no graphics what-so-ever, the text in menus are very small, the font is difficult to read. Although the menus are organised well with a double-menu system (one for phone setup features, one for functions) there are minimal short cuts and scrolling through items is a chore. The phonebook actually has two different databases - "address book entry" mode which will record a contact, 5 phone numbers, email and birthday and has 1,000 slots. There is also a "phone book entry" mode which stores only contacts and phone numbers and in this mode you can indicate whether the contact is family, friend or work, for the group ringers function described later. The calander is linked to warnings and alarms as well to increase usability. |
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Nokia's 3360 has the familiar Nokia interface with 4 buttons at the top for navigation of the general function menu. You utilize the up and down menu to browse the menu items and the left/right arrows correspond to the on-screen display. The text is easy to read on the green back lit display (which has an adjustable contrast) and moving through menus is second nature. You can enter your own personal details to create your "business card" that can be transferred via infrared to other cell phones or via SMS. The phonebook is easy to both enter data into and browse through. It hass 200 slots and allows 1 line of text and 2 phone numbers per entry. The organiser holds up to 20 text reminders and 20 memos, both synched to the calander if required. Working with this phone is as easy as any Nokia cell product!
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