kjp

On Wednesday my new mobile phone - a Nokia 3120 - arrived. Compared to other phones on the market, it's basic, but a notch or two up from the basic Nokia phone that every other man or dog seems to have.

For me, the important bits of it are:
* Is more reliable. It only turns off when I press the power button. (!)
* The keypad locks in a programmable number of seconds ("automatic keyguard")
* Is useable in China (would have to be considering both Australia and China are at 900MHz (GSM 900)).
* Is about 3 cm shorter than my previous mobile.
* Has a better battery
* Colour screen is useful. Makes the menus clearer

It doesn't have a camera; doesn't have an FM radio / MP3 player (I figured that I wouldn't use the camera enough to be worth it; I plan to get a dedicated MP3 player later in the year). The data cable to the computer is a fair bit of money extra. I need to find a place where I can get better backgrounds; or buy the PC connector cable?. The backgrounds that are preloaded on it are pretty average.

When I got the phone the right select button was programmed to go to Optus Zoo (not Contacts). Hmmm, I wonder how many people don't change that button back to point to "Contacts"... The right selection button can be programmed to open up the "Go To" menu - which is a list of functions of the phone (this list is configurable, contains things like Contacts, Inbox, General / Silent Mode, Alarm Clock, etc). I'm trying this out, it will probably be a bit easier than going through the menus for the common things. It's got an inbuilt handsfree speaker (i.e.: loudspeaker) - will probably be useful.

Time for some pretty pictures. Firstly, my old phone - Nokia 6210 next to my new phone:

When I put the phone together I was pretty surprised at the battery - so tiny to what I was used to. The old battery is the height and width of the new phone:

I was a bit worried about the separation of the keys (old phone = definite gap between the keys, new phone = keys right next to each other) - i.e.: would I press the 5 accidentally if going for the 6 (say). This isn't the case - no problems in this respect.

I got the phone through my current phone company - Optus - online. The "Direct" / online arm of Optus seems to have lower cost plans than the "Optus World" shops that are in the shopping malls. The deal I got it on is cheap per monthly cost, but quite high call rate (probably the biggest downside to this phone / plan). Higher per month plans have lower call costs.... not really surprising. Anyhow, ordering in the "hot deals of the month" gave me $50 call credit (very useful), and a few extras: case, personal hands free and car charger - although I probably won't ever used the last two. I'll probably get a better cover / case as well - the belt clip annoys me and I won't use it. Buying the phone online has the disadvantage that you can't pick the colour. awww shucks... har har.

Assuming I use up all the call credits (and the $50 credit) and nothing more, I figure that the phone will cost me $59 - not too bad. With Optus, it's only on plans that are $35 / month or more where the phone is free. However, if I have a couple of decent conversations after 8pm (for free) then I'll get that value back... So it seems to be a pretty good deal for me. The only question mark is that I may (at a later date) go to the next plan up: more calls / month and lower call cost.

Overall, I'm very happy with the phone - seems to be everything I want, nothing I don't.

In a later edition I'll put up all the photos of the insides of my old phone when I took it to bits... it was fun...