Why does anyone else even make phones
Written: Sep 12 '00
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Pros: Tiny size, battery lasts and lasts, simple menus
Cons: Relatively small keypad, backlight is kinda weird, The fact that I have to give it back (boo hoo hoo)
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| VincenzoSI's Full Review: Nokia 8890 GSM Cellular Phone |
Sometimes a company finds a groove, and frankly I think Nokia is one of those companies.
It was purely a hunch that my friend would loan me his shiny new toy. It was pure joy when he actually did. Not that my phone is so huge (I have a Timeport L7089), but what compares to the miniscule size of this little guy?
The striking brushed aluminum style case, black and chrome trim and chrome buttons bely the actual functionality of this little phone by stuffing in more style than I've ever seen in a mobile phone (and from anyone who's read my reviews can tell, I've owned a lot of them).
Once you pick your jaw up off the floor after seeing its size, you start to notice the features. An active keypad cover slide can be used to answer or hang up a call. Thank goodness, because finding the keys can be a bit rough. Not to say they're poorly located, it's just that it can be difficult to actually put your fingers in the right place until you're completely used to a mini-keypad.
The battery life, while not Nokia 6190,6160,6120 great is still pretty amazing. 2 days without charging and talking a half hour or so a day proves the general durability of the battery. I can hardly run the battery down to half its capacity, which in my opinion is the best measure of a phone's usefulness. As usual Nokia is smart enough to include a Lithium Ion battery on its higher end phones, and that's the true sign of a company that knows the score.
It does have a tiny little antenna (unlike it's cousin the 8860 which has none), but in reality it does very little to help reception and you'll find that you'd do just fine if you leave it down altogether.
The phone features Nokia's brilliantly simple pseudo GUI menu system, which is so easy to navigate you'll be setting the phone up exactly to your liking immediately. Common sense headers include Messages, Settings, Games, Clock, Calendar, Infrared, etc. If you don't know what options a menu contains, just leave the menu name on the screen. In 7 seconds, the menu's description will appear on the screen to describe the functions contained within.
The backlight is a little weird... The screen turns purple and the lighting is almost blue. It's hard to describe, but when you see it you'll either love it or hate it, but I don't imagine there's any in between with it.
A vibrating call alert means you won't disturb others, although there are so many ringer options built in you can probably find a ringer that won't offend as well. I've always found that vibrators can be a little hard to feel in cellular phones, but your opinion on them may vary.
Signal acquisition is more than adequate, however I attribute that to the overall superior quality of VoiceStream Wireless' network in NYC. Dropped calls are few and far between and people are always confusing my calls from my mobile phone as calls from my home phone (I kid you not).
Finally, this phone won't leave you stranded. It's support for GSM 900 and 1900 mean you should be pretty well covered should you travel to a country that has GSM Mobile Phone Service, but no guarantees. You're always going to be at the mercy of the standards of other countries. A piece of advice, though, is that if you are going to trek to Europe, buy a SIM card there and put it in your phone (make sure your phone isn't locked only to your provider first, of course) and I promise you'll save a ton of money.
I could go on and on and in depth about each little feature of this phone but I don't want to dominate the entire site with one review. Suffice it to say that the road to excess is paved with Nokia 8890's. A fabulous phone, a luxury-item price, and more features than you'll ever need make this phone a definite keeper.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): Loaner
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Epinions.com ID:
VincenzoSI
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Member: Vincent Ferrari
Location: Staten Island, New York
Reviews written: 43
Trusted by: 14 members
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