Thursday, December 04, 2008

I've got a new Phone!

The contract on my N73 came up for renewal, and as the phone was beginning to get a bit tired - there were a few scratches, the lens cover was getting loose and causing the camera to switch off randomly and the volume down key was broken - I decided on an upgrade.
The main feature for an upgrade for me was built-in GPS. I've been using TomTom 6 on the N73 quite successfully, but the bluetooth GPS receiver with its separate charging lead and the cigarette lighter doubler required meant there was a fair bit of spaghetti round the dash - not good. I did look at the HTC Touch Diamond, but this would have cost me £60 to upgrade to. So I stuck with Nokia, and got myself a 6220 Classic in Plum (they had no black in stock). I also negotiated a drop in tarriff (from Dolphin 35 to Dolphin 25 - fewer minutes but still unlimited texts) and increased my data from evenings and weekends to all day. Bundle in the £7 a month buyback on my old phone (actually my stepson's old phone - he grabbed the N73), and I'm paying less than before. Bargain.
First impressions are extremely positive. The 6220 is slimmer and appreciably lighter than the N73. The screen seems brighter, if slightly smaller, and the keypad seems slightly larger. I've noticed the keys can move a bit if pushed in the wrong direction, so I'll have to watch that. A good thing for me is the deletion of the extra side key to top left instead of near the camera shutter key. This stops it being pressed when putting the phone in the car mount.
The phone seems much slicker in use too. The camera lens cover slide is much, much smaller, and looks more robust. The S60 operating system finally gets a built-in keylock, and the menu transitions look cool. Also cool is the ability to set the standby wallpaper to a slide show. Coolest of all is the message reader, which will read incoming text messages. The built-in Maps application works well, although the UK maps weren't already on the memory card as I expected them to be. Speaking of memory cards, it won't take the same size as the N73, but it comes with a 1GB card, which will do until I can afford an 8 or even 16GB one.
The 6220 also won't take the same hands-free lead as the N73, which means that until I can get a proper Bluetooth car kit in the Astra, I've had to buy wired lead. The 6220 comes with a stereo headset, which is no good in the car. But I have found a clever feature. The 6220 has a 2.5mm jack socket for the headset and TV-out lead, which will also take headphones, using the phone's built-in mic. So I've bought a 2.5-3.5mm jack plug adapter, which means I can use the tape adapter to route the phone's audio through the car stereo. Seems to work fine for Maps and mp3s, and for the odd phone call I take in the car. The camera seems fine, too.

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