New cell phones bolder and brasher

New cell phones bolder and brasher

Zatni Arbi, Columnist, Jakarta, zatni@cbn.net.id

Did you spend more than five hours at Roxy Mas, Jakarta's biggest
cellular phone center, the last time you bought a new cell phone?
Did you ask your friends what they thought of the latest, funky
make and model? Did you spend hours reading magazine reviews and
browsing the Internet for information?

Trust me when I tell you that choosing a new cell phone that
you are going to use for at least a year will only get more
difficult in the future. I know, because I have just seen some
stunning models that are coming our way.

The mobile communications infrastructure may not be
progressing as fast as we would like to see, and promises of new
technologies heralded by the industry still remain unfulfilled.

Even the new game-changing, value-added services -- which will
squeeze the last ounce of potential for the existing
infrastructure -- have so far yet to produce any real impact on
our lives.

Nonetheless, leading cell phone makers such as Alcatel, LG
Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic, Phillips, Samsung,
Siemens and Sony-Ericsson continue to bombard us with newer and
sleeker models.

Among the cell phone makers of today, Nokia seems to have
worked extra hard to become the boldest and the most innovative
of them all.

One thing is clear -- Nokia is one of the most aggressive
vendors in launching new models. Although I have been quite lucky
in having had the opportunity to review many of them, I have
honestly lost track of how many new models this company has
launched this year. The latest was the N6600, featured on last
week's IT page.

And there are more to come. In late October, the Finland-based
company organized its first Destination Nokia event in the Gold
Coast, Australia.

During the event, themed "100% Pure Mobility", Nokia previewed
a series of cell phones with very bold designs, which are
expected to be released during the first half of 2004.

Fashion and style

If you place style at the same level of importance as features
and functionality, be prepared for the N7200.

This model departs from the concept of style and fashion as we
know them in a cell phone. The first clamshell, or flip-cell,
phone from Nokia, the N7200 is sensuously wrapped in suede
fabric.

"It took us about one year to design this model," said N7200
chief designer Duncan Burns during the Q&A session.

Three basic fabric colors are available -- black, gray-blue
and brown. If I were to buy this cell phone for my wife, I would
definitely have great difficulty in choosing the color. Luckily,
we can buy Xpress-on textile covers for this model to match the
color of our outfits. The covers are not cheap, of course.

As the emphasis is on style and fashion, the N7200 also comes
with a matching soft pouch and wrist strap. Even the display
wallpaper and the screensaver are color-coordinated.

The model is pretty small -- perhaps a bit too small for my
hand. Personally, I prefer a larger phone that fits more securely
in the palm of my hand.

The keypad is also beautifully designed. All the buttons and
even the joystick are rectangular, and they are easy to press.

Small as it is, the N7200's technical features are
surprisingly complete. It has a digital-zoom VGA camera, which
means you can take 640 x 480 pixel pictures with this cell phone
and record short video clips to be sent as MMS.

I wish Nokia had been bolder and opted for the one or two
megapixel cameras instead, but perhaps the bulkier components of
a more powerful camera would have reduced the stylishness of this
model.

Beginning with its N6600 and N3650, Nokia has been using the
65,536-color TFT screen, which provides a better color display
than the older, 4,096-color screen.

My only complaint is that the screen on the N7200 is a bit
smaller than that of other new models. I guess the bezel could be
reduced to allow for a bigger screen without increasing the size
of the phone.

A leaf?

The N7600, another model showcased during the event, also
departs from the mainstream designs.

Shape like a leaf, the screen is in the center of the unit and
the buttons are placed along the rim. At first, I thought Nokia
was repeating the same mistake that it made with the keypad of
the N3650.

However, as each of the buttons on the N7600 are much bigger
than in the N3650, it would not be difficult to memorize their
individual locations. They could be a bit more responsive to
pressure, though.

This model, which comes with dual-color sleeves in yellow and
gold or light and dark blue, falls into Nokia's imaging category
-- the same as my favorite, the N7650.

It has a VGA camera -- unfortunately, not a megapixel or
higher resolution camera -- that can capture both still images
and video clips. This model also plays both MP3 and AAC music
files, which can be used as ring tones, too -- with this enhanced
personalization, you need never worry about grabbing your phone
frantically, only to find that it was the phone of the guy next
to you that was ringing.

Other features include a gallery to help organize your
pictures and video clips, an XHTML browser that automatically
fits Web pages to the size of your screen, a 65,536-color screen
and MMS.

Most importantly, perhaps, this model is 3G-standard ready for
the GSM front -- or WCDMA -- in addition to the 2G GSM 900 and
1800 modes, and can switch between modes and bands automatically.

Media phone

The N7700 is the model that departs the most from the ordinary
cell phone -- it has actually entered the realm of Personal
Digital Assistants (PDAs), incorporating most of the features of
a PDA, including a personal information manager. It has a 640 x
240 touch screen, and you navigate through the menus and icons of
the Nokia-developed operating system with a stylus.

It is Microsoft Office-compatible, so you can even open a Word
or Excel file on the N7700 and edit it. It has handwriting
recognition, for sure, as well as a virtual keypad.

I'm still skeptical that dialing with a virtual keypad and a
stylus can ever be as convenient as dialing with a real keypad.

We will find out when I get the chance to test drive this
media phone.

This model represents the convergence of various cellular
features, and Nokia calls it a "media phone". With its multi-
tasking capability, you can take pictures and send it via MMS
while carrying on a conversation.

The microphone and speaker are on the bottom, so it must be
held perpendicular to your ear when you talk.

Other models introduced during the event included a revised
version of the text-oriented N6800 -- the N6820, which now boasts
an integrated camera, tri-band capability and a 65,536-color
screen.

Nothing groundbreaking was announced in terms of technology
during the event, but the new designs and the higher level of
convergence were enough to rouse attention and excitement.