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-------------------------------------------------------------- This story was printed from ZDNet Australia. --------------------------------------------------------------
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Nokia 8910i October 31, 2003 URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/reviews/coolgear/mobiles/soa/Nokia-8910i/0,139023387,120280235,00.htm
Nokia's tagline for the 8910i is that it's in a class of its own. That's pretty much true of the price tag, but little else. Read our Australian review.Nokia's tagline for the 8910i is that it's in a class of its own. That's pure marketing hyperbole, by the way, given that little that the 8910i offers is truly unique. That doesn't stop the 8910i from being an exceptionally capable and robust phone that's both easy to use and bound to attract a few jealous stares from your compatriots, if that's what you look for in a mobile phone.
Physically, there's one word for the 8910i, and that word is black. Whether or not the phone is popped up or not, the surface is an unremitting hunk of black with silver keys that stand out well from this otherwise sombre display. The keys themselves are very thin, but well laid out for most fingers; it took us only a very short time to become quickly proficient, whether entering phone numbers or composing a quick SMS message. The arrangement of the selection and dial keys at the top of the keypad is a little cramped, but again we did find it easy enough to adjust to this. Owing to its pop-up nature, the 8910i is one of the few phones we've seen that has four measurement dimensions. Compressed, it measures 130mm long by 46mm wide and 20mm thick, but popped up it's 140.5mm by 46mm by 20mm. That's a little long for a mobile, but then the extended state is something that you'd only be using while you're actually utilising the phone, so it's not like you'd have that much bulk in your pocket at any time. Given its extending nature, we suspect there's an advertising campaign around the line "Is that an 8910i in your pocket, or are you just glad to see us?" somewhere. Perhaps not. At 112g it's a reasonable weight without being unweildy. Apart from being something of a crowd pleaser aesthetically, the other main advantage with the handgrip design is that if you forget to keylock the phone, you won't accidentally call Uzbekistan when the phone sits in your pocket. Not that Nokia envisages this as anything but an executive tool that wouldn't go anywhere near anyone's hip pocket; it comes with a very PDA-style charging stand and a totally superfluous carrying case that not only obscures the phone face but also the entire phone. In order to answer a call with the phone in its case, you'd have to remove it entirely from the case and pop up the handgrip, by which time your caller is probably leaving an angry message about how you never answer your phone. The 8910i offers a number of features that are fast becoming standard on mobile phones, including bluetooth compatibility and MMS support. What it does lack is any kind of inbuilt camera; presumably Nokia's pitching it at a market that wants a fancy looking phone without consumeresque distractions. It's dual-band GSM compatible, which gives it a certain amount of travel potential. The 4096-colour screen is clear enough, although on our test sample the backlights were very evident at the top of the screen, creating two small patches of glare. Nokia's phones usually don't disappoint when it comes to battery life. Nokia rates the 8910i as good for up to 4.5 hours talk time or 300 hours of standby. The 8910i managed a solid 7 days of relatively light usage before blinking out. While it comes with the recharging dock, the connector at the base is of the standard Nokia type, so it should work with any compatible Nokia charger, and presumably the third party clones as well, although we were unable to test this. Nokia 8910i
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