The Nokia N90, $900 Camera Phone Reviewed 212
Lord_of_Tech writes "CoolTechZone.com has reviewed Nokia's N90 cell phones that comes with 2 megapixel camera and a host of other features, and it costs a solid $900 per unit. "The minute you set your eyes on the N90, the first thing that springs to your mind is 'it looks a lot slimmer in photos...' but as you take it out of the packaging, you realize the heaviness of it. To be very clear at the outset though, this is not Nokia's attempt to produce as sleek a phone as the Motorola Razr. What it is designed to be is a feature packed phone that doesn't mind compromising on the ergonomics to pack in every last bit of functionality you could ever want on a camera phone."
Tiny quibble with the review (Score:5, Informative)
It goes in-depth with all the features of the phone rather well, it does however miss one thing.
How good is it as an actual phone?
What does it sound like when making a call?
Is the antenna any use?
How is the microphone?
This is something rather important to me when buying a phone.. being that it is the primary purpose of the thing.
Good review of all the features though, I won't touch this phone with a barge-pole if the review is correct (and the price tag so inordinate ).
PS: I took the liberty of coral caching the site , it was taking a while to load pages when I was reading the review http://www.cooltechzone.com.nyud.net:8090/index.p
Re:Tiny quibble with the review (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Tiny quibble with the review (Score:4, Informative)
I have been using Nokias (and other mobile phones) for over 10 years here in India. While some of the earlier models did have issues in these areas, in my experience, NONE of the current models do...
The problems that they do suffer from are mainly usability issues such as sluggishness of software, bad layout of keys and so on.
So although every time a cam-phone is mentioned on Slashdot someone brings up the 'mic and antenna' issue and how a 'phone should be just a phone', I really don't think these newer phones have a problem in that area any more.
[DISCLAIMER: This is of course based on my own experiences with several cam / non-cam phones I have used. Your mileage may vary...]
-YoGiX
Japanese cell phones (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.vodafone.jp/english/products/model_3G/
It's completely bilingual (although I don't think it has predictive text in English mode), has a 2 MB camera, global roaming (and global GPS navigation (although only five or six countries are available at the moment)), can take video calls, communicate via Bluetooth or IR, read QR codes (very convenient in Japan). The Nokia N90 can't even vibrate when it's in silent mode. WTF? That's pretty much par for the course over here. And the Nokia is $700 more? If you can switch this phone to work on a Verizon account back home, it's almost worthwhile to buy a ticket to Japan, buy the phone and then fly back.
Even the free phones you get with a new account over here have AT LEAST a 1 MB camera. Some have 2. Some of the newer Sharp phones even have built-in optical zoom.
Vodafone is generally looked down upon by the Japanese people. NTT Docomo probably have even better phones available.
Re:Tiny quibble with the review (Score:2, Informative)
Re:This phone is a travesty. (Score:4, Informative)
http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/foldoc.cgi?boxe
Re:Global Roaming? (Score:2, Informative)
Thus, I made a point of mentioning that it is capable of global roaming.
Not again, "they are so far ahead in technology" (Score:3, Informative)
The situation in Japan differs much from situation in other parts of the world, namely population density in Japan is much higher and there aren't many areas in Japan where there isn't high population density. What this means is that you have to build your whole mobile phone network differently, you have to have lot's of base station and they have to operate in much smaller area, thus leading to lower power usage in both base stations and in mobile phones. Because power requirements are lower, Japanese mobile phones have been a lot smaller for decades. They don't have any magical technology that the rest of the world hasn't, they just a different situation with different needs.
It should also be noted that the markets have proved that Japanese don't have more advanced technology, if they would have, they would have stormed the markets allready.
High Population Density (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Tiny quibble with the review (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Japanese cell phones (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Not again, "they are so far ahead in technology (Score:2, Informative)
By the way, have you ever been to Japan? There are PLENTY of places with low population density. For example, the whole coast of the Sea of Japan... Tohoku... Hokkaido... Kyushu... Shikoku. Basically, EVERYWHERE except Kanto, Kansai and Nagoya. The population density of Japan is LOWER than that of Belgium and the Netherlands, both of which, I believe use the GSM standard for cell phones.
If you've ever gone to a Japanese electronics shop, you'd know that we are FAR behind them when it comes to phones.
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)