Anybody got a Nokia 7650 phone? I'm thinking of replacing my old Ericsson R520m with one since Orange have finally decided to offer it as an upgrade. One of the disadvantages of Orange are that they take forever to release new phones because they have to brand with their logo first.
I've read some of the reviews of it and generally it seems to be good apart from the lack of the Bluetooth audio profile (What were Nokia thinking?!) and that it's dual band only. Anybody got opinions on it?

- Trevor

I got one a couple of weeks ago and it's excellent. The camera is reasonable quality and although the novelty wears off after a while, it has useful features such as allowing you to attach images to contacts in the address book. Then you're just left with going around asking your friends if you can take their picture.

Being Symbian based, it's all fairly familiar if you're used a Psion PDA. The series 60 interface is very consistent and Nokia have done their usual act of turning usability into an art form. Microsoft could learn so much from them.

The ringtones sound good and you can even use a .wav file if you like. I'm boring and stick to leaving it going 'beep-beep'.

Battery life is reasonable, even with bluetooth left on and regular use.

The built in email client is fussy about secure connections and instead of just connecting on 993 for IMAP SSL, it connects on 143 first and does starttls.

Lack of bluetooth audio support did bother me at first, but I figured that I can't justify spending £150 on a headset, so it didn't really matter that much.

One thing of note is that while Nokia provide a SyncML client, it only supports over -the-air connections on HTTP, not direct bluetooth or IR, hopefully that will be sorted soon though.

In reply to:

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The built in email client is fussy about secure connections and instead of just connecting on 993 for IMAP SSL, it connects on 143 first and does starttls.

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You should complain to the guy who wrote it - I hear he hangs out here sometimes

Rob

Cool. Thanks for the info.

Unfortunately, I do actually have a Ericsson Bluetooth headset. I don't use it very often because I look like a moron when I've got it on I think I can live without it.

Stability and speed of the OS is quite important to me. As all of the newer Ericsson's have problems. When writing a SMS it starts to slow down as the message gets longer and I occasionally some how crash the phone and have to take the battery out.

- Trevor

Last week I've bought an Ericsson T68i

Normally I'm a big Nokia fan (had both a 6110 and a 8810), but the new Nokia models couldn't convince me.
So I've bought that Ericsson. I've only done this since Ericsson now develops its mobiles together with Sony. And this shows.
I can't believe the things this baby can do! I also plan on getting the (optional) camera module for it.
Battery life is excellent, and so are the features. Ok, so it takes a bit getting used to after having used Nokia for the past 4 years, but I haven't regretted it so far.
Overall, it's a pretty solid phone, and I like it very much. I haven't noticed any of the problems you mention with SMS. (and I SMS more than I phone)
Oh yeah, Bluetooth comes standard with it

Yeah, all of the new Sony Ericsson styled phones work and look much better than the old Ericsson ones.

Apparently getting the firmware upgraded does solve most of the problems I've had with it. It's just finding a place near me that actually has the proper hardware is the problem. A few people I know have the T68i and they've pretty happy with it, there is the odd crash but they've both got very old firmware revisions.

I was going to wait and get the Ericsson P800 but it will probably be even more expensive than the Nokia 7650 and I'll have to wait months for Orange to get around to offering it if they even decide to.

- Trevor

I was going to wait and get the Ericsson P800 but it will probably be even more expensive than the Nokia 7650 and I'll have to wait months for Orange to get around to offering it if they even decide to.

Yeah, that P800 sure looks sweet, but if you get one of those you'll probably have to deal with dodgy first gen firmware again. The T68i has been out for a while now.
Damn, I wish I've head about that Nokia 7650 sooner. But overall I'm happy with my Ericsson.

*sigh* I really wish I could get a nice featurefull phone to replace my 8290. I've been sold on Nokia for a long time now, but it seems the GSM networks here in the US advance rather slowly. While I could get a nice phone, I also need the network to support it. GPRS access right now is some ungodly rate, measured by how much you use it, and the highest plan offered 15 megs for $40-$50 a month.

I'll revisit this thread in about two years when the 76xx series Nokia is new to me :-)

Sorry, no sympathy. Normally it is us over here the UK that gets the raw deal in terms of new technology. You guys get nearly everything first and usually for cheaper as well!

Yeah, GPRS access here is also stupidly expensive to use. It's okay for downloading email but anything else will start to add quite a few significant digits to your phone bill. The speed isn't that amazing although it is still better than normal GSM data of 9600. If they ever launch the 3G services then that should be an improvement. Assuming they live up to all the promises and actually price it reasonably though.

- Trevor

I have the T68 (which I had flashed to the T68i - the stock T68i color scheme looks a little to "sissy" to me).

Prior to that, I had the T39, which was a stellar unit. The optional extendable mast was excellent in fringe areas.

I use it conjuction with my iPaq 3870 (via bluetooth) and it works like a champ.

I bought my wife the Nokia 6310i (well, she got it after I decided I didn't like it) and other than in the RF department, I would say the T68i is the hands-down winner.

I believe the T68i is one of those rare products, like the empeg, that truly perform as billed and were well worth the price of admission...

Just my two drachmas...

Rob

Where did you get your t68 flashed? I have one and would love to get it upgraded...

Well I've had the phone for about a day now and it's pretty cool. It's much bigger in real life than the adverts make out.

Only problems I can see are names in the contacts list is always displayed lastname, firstname which is a tad annoying. I've run a Java app to swap them all around after I synchronised it with my PC.
And that you don't get enough memory! 4MB fills up quick...

Nokia have announced the 3650 today. Will be out sometime next year. It's basically like the 7650 but it doesn't have the slide mechanism so it's slightly bigger, has video capture support, a MMC slot for memory expansion and it's triband.

- Trevor

Yeah, the 7650 is pretty fantastic generally. A lot of people recommend waiting for the Ericsson P800, but to be honest, I've had a good look at it (read the manual etc), and there's no way I would consider paying £500 (expected initial contract price) for it compared to the £150 I paid for my 7650 the day after Carphone Warehouse got them in.

Problems are, as have been mentioned, the camera is a bit blurry (and turns photos annoyingly blue when it takes them), no Bluetooth Audio (this is alleged to not be fixable with software, as it lacks a hardware link between the BT and the audio subsystem, although this may be BS), and the few bugs it has.

Actually, for a Nokia, and a 7xxx series at that, it's surprisingly bug-free. The main issue is that it has a memory protection feature that cuts in to prevent you hitting less than 80k free memory, but if you go below 100k free memory it's no longer possible to do anything with the phone (freeing up memory or even resetting it) and hence you have to take it to a service centre! Other than that, it's pretty good.

Also, there's this guy called Hugo Fiennes that keeps posting on the 7650 newsgroup... Don't know who he is...

A.

Luckily I haven't used up that much memory yet... Hopefully it's covered under my phone insurance

Wonder if they fixed anything in v3.16. Most of the reports were from v3.12 but it seems that you can still lock up the phone by using up too much memory.

- Trevor

Nah, my code was the IMAP talk-to-the-server component (IMPS). I wrote the first version which was released in ER5 - SSL support was added later.

No officer, that isn't my bug.

Hugo

I've had a T68 since they came out; I have to say it's an awful phone IMHO. The software is just *so* buggy - I've had it reflashed once (R2B, I think it's on now). Not tried going any further with software though.

Other problems:
- the joystick died on me, so it had to go back for service
- *awful* RF performance (lots of dropped calls, inability to send SMSs - "send failed" - even with good signal)
- woefully slow SMS input (I get at least 4 words ahead of it usually)
- SMS input doesn't deal with apostrophes like the nokia T9 does
- random poweroffs and reboots (software? battery connector? who knows)
- codec crashes giving garbled audio and requiring a power-cycle to fix
- problems making calls ("calling ..." never changes to "connecting ..." and the phone just pretends you never tried to make a call - no error, the dialog just vanishes). Even with good signal. I've had times when I tried for 20 minutes to make a call with 5/5 signal and it's not let me even after several battery-out resets. *Never* had that sort of a problem with a nokia!

It looks good, but the big problem the fact that when I wanted to do things like MAKE A CALL or SEND A TEXT it'd fail me. Maybe they fixed it with the T68i, but it's the same hardware (exactly the same: when the T68i came out someone looked out the FCC reports and ericsson claim no changes so no re-cert required).

In my opinion, a wholly binnable phone and put me off Ericssons (again). I've got a 7650 now which performs as advertised.

Hugo

After a few days of playing around with my T68i I came to the same conclusion.
Reception was bad. In the area where I live reception isn't all that good to begin with, but it made a turn for the worse with the T68i. This was one of the exact reasons I wanted to upgrade from my former phone, a Nokia 8810 (a phone known for it's bad reception).
Another problem I had with the T68i (but this one's purely subjective) : I found it weighed to little. I'd keep it in my pocket, but it weighs so damn little that I kept on feeling in my pocket if I hadn't lost it or something. Very annoying.

So I returned the phone to the shop last week, where they were so kind to completely refund me. I was so impressed with this service that I ordered a Nokia 7650 right there on the spot. I knew by reading this thread this was much more the kind of phone for me. And I've always liked Nokia better anyway.
Only downside was I had to order it, because the 7650 is (once again), still unavailable in Belgium. *sigh*

I have to disagree there, my t68 has always been a solid, reliable phone, unlike my Nokia 7110 of which I had three before I got one that worked. I refuse to buy a motorola, I had nearly a dozen startac's before I could convince orange to change me to a nokia 6110 free of charge. The shortest time I had a startac was two hours before it started powering itself off, a total POS.
I've recently had my 68 reflashed to 68i firmware and really noticed the difference. SMS is quick and so is wap browsing. I'll probably go for another ericsson as i've been so impressed with this one. Maybe you got a bad one hugo? I can certainly attest to that...

I have tried many Startacs (as you say, a POS), some Ericssons (poor user interface and S..L..O..W), 2 Siemens (both died within a week) and I am going to stick to Nokias.

Nokias are the only phones which can keep up with my SMS texting, the only ones with a sensible interface and the best battery life and signal strength I have ever found.

They also survive very well - I have seen one dropped off a yacht (while on), recovered, dried out above the stove while sailing home and working by landfall 4 hours later.

OK, so today I've received my 7650. Great phone!

Just one question that even the manual can't answer me (though I would think it's a fairly obvious question) : how can I get the photos that I've taken onto my PC?
I'm really not supposed to email them to myself am I ?
Or will I need to buy myself a bluetooth module for the PC or something? (does such a thing even exist?)

You'll have to use IrDA or Bluetooth with the Nokia PC Suite. One of the applications on there downloads and uploads images to the 7650.

You can buy Bluetooth USB adapters.

- Trevor

For IR, the file transfer software built into Windows works very well and means you don't have to use the abysmal Nokia data suite. Bluetooth works the same, but it'll be down to the software supplied with the adapter. You are limited to transferring one file at a time though.

Hmmm. Since I don't own a laptop (with infrared), and there seems to be no connector for IR on my desktop PC, I guess I'll have to buy a USB Bluetooth module.

I've never seen such a thing. Could somebody point me towards one? How much does such a thing cost on average?

Edit : I've found this one. For about $150. Of course, that's in America. And I've found that they don't sell it over here (yet?)

*sigh*

Thanks!

You could buy a USB IR adapter. They're not particularly cheap, though.

I bought a Bluetake USB adapter for £40 from dabs.com. It seems that Bluetooth is being ignored by most of the US though and any adapters that are available are expensive.

You may be able to buy the D-link adapter from Apple ($35 I think) and download software from TDK or somesuch.

£40 ? That seems like a fair price. I'll look further into that.

Thanks a lot!

The cheapest USB IRda adapter I can find is: http://store.yahoo.com/sagetech/bafbfusbtoir.html

$34

Calvin

Ok, so now I've got myself a USB infrared adapter. But the thing won't connect to my Nokia 7650!
Sometimes the two see each other, but I can't get them to establish a connection.

The infrared dongle is installed correctly. Then I simply choose "infrared" on my phone. Some stuff happens, but no connection.

I see that the USB dongle has some advance options : They are :
* Infrared transceiver type, which is set at "Infineon" (other options are : HP, Sigmatel 4000, Sigmatel 4012 and Vishay TFD
* Min. Turn around Time, which is set at 1.0mS (other options are 0.5mS, 5.0mS and 10.0mS)
*Speed enable, which is set at 4000000 (other options are 2400, 9600, 38400 and 115200)

What could be the problem? Any help is appreciated!

Thanks!

I find that I have to wind the speed down on my IRDA port on my laptop in order for it to talk to my t68i properly.

I found the problem : the drivers. As usual the drivers out of the box didn't work.
It took me a while to identify the USB infrared device, but once I did I downloaded the lastest drivers from the site. There was a special fix in the drivers for Nokia phones. After having installed those drives the thing worked instantaneously.