Review on Performance
Calling, reception, and sound quality
Making calls is very simple with Nokia phones as everyone knows. The only problem is that speed dials is for only 8 numbers (2-9). Voice tags are there as well and voice dialing is easy and prompt. The lag time between dialing the number and the phone getting connected is short as compared to my 7230 (though I think 191 had still shorter). The call key (the green one) is used to make calls. Apart from calling directly, from phone book, speed dials and voice tags, there is an options in the messages where you can use the number of the sender or a number sent as a part of the sms. That makes it convenient
This phone has an extendable antenna to compliment it’s internal antenna. Luckily, the internal antenna on the 6255 works wonderfully, so the external antenna is not necessary. The reception is good. I usually get 2or3 network bars in my room and rarely 4 when I am in my room. But I haven’t had a call dropped or anything like that. As long as the voice quality is clear and there are no calls dropped, I don’t care about the number of bars.
I always thought that the quality of calls using CDMA phones has been clearer, louder and more real. This phone too has much better sound quality than GSM phones but I believe that the quality of LG and Samsung used by me were superior. I read somewhere that the sound heard on this phone was lower and thus difficult to hear. On the contrary, I find that at very high volumes, the voice begins to break and crackle a bit and makes it unclear. Headsets give good quality sounds. Loudspeaker too is good, I haven used it too much though for making/receiving calls.
Messaging
As easy as it gets. Since the keys are ultra soft and smooth, writing messages is very easy. Also the T9 can be customized as opposed to my old GTRAN (words can not be added to dictionary). However if you have written a wrong word and return back to it, you can not simply press star (*) to find the alternatives to that word. For example, you wanted to write “pay” and by mistake you wrote “say” and moved ahead, when u return back the cursor using arrow keys to “y” in “say” and press star, it does not take you to “saw” and then “say”. You have to erase “y” and then it again picks up in the T9 mode. I have seen this in another phone as well, don’t remember if it was 191. Whether it is by design or a flaw but it is inconvenient.
The words can be added to the dictionary, you can either insert word or you can use the spell feature when the options for spelling are exhausted.
The message length is 160 characters only. This is a poor aspect of a phone which has easy messaging mode. LG has brought out phone where we can write long messages so why not his one? Only Reliance and Nokia can tell.
Another useful thing is options while replying. When you press the reply button, There are options of starting with either empty screen, original message, Yes, No, OK, Template, Thank you, Sorry, I love you too(useful for Ashoksoft) etc. This makes it very convenient and saves some time and energy.
Delivery report option can be set to yes or no. There is another option of signature to add in every message you send. There are two font sizes available for writing text. There are also message folders where u can organize your messages.
I already mentioned that there is an option of sending messages to preset distribution lists too.
Camera and Video
The camera isn't a megapixel, so one still has to deal with VGA resolutions; BUT of the 3 camera phones I have used, this one returns some of the best images that I have seen.. The camera has an LED flash that works well as such flashes go but I don’t see much use as it hardly gives illuminated pics in darkness. 6130 definitely has better flash function. The phone has a self-timer that gives you 10 seconds to get to the other side of the camera. The night shot lengthens the shutter time to allow more light to be absorbed by the lens, making for better pictures in low light situations. (IF you can hold your hand still, which is tough to do at times.)
Much like the video on other phones, it really is just plain worthless. The resolution is tiny, maybe 75 x 90 or so. So it is only good if watching on the phone screen itself. But the presence of sound makes it better than 7230 which did not have this function. The video is recorded in 3g2 format( never heard of it before) it plays well on quicktime and should also play on Nokia multimedia player. The phone however can play 3gp clips as well. The maximum length for the video is 3 minutes. I can have 3 min on my 32 MB card and nobody has been able to tell of a longer clip recorded which would mean that it does not depend on the memory of the card but is set to default maximum of 3 minutes.
I will be adding more in a coule of days!
