Nokia 9300 / 9300i
Average Ratings
A true favorite of mine...
I have had this unlocked Nokia 9300 (North American version) for a year and two months now, and I love it. I have used it on both T-Mobile USA and AT&T Mobility networks in the Harrisburg, PA, area, and it has been a solid performer on both.
Signal quality is limited only by signal availability from the carrier, and the phone will send and receive both calls and EDGE data on no bars, as long as the operator logo is displayed.
Sound quality is very good as long as you have your ear in the right place; otherwise, you may find yourself shifting the phone around to get good sound.
The PDA functions of this phone are first-rate, and include document, spreadsheet, and presentation editing capabilities, but do come at the price of the occasional crash: usually, the phone will bring itself out of a crash if you leave the PDA alone for long enough, but those who are less patient may end up just pulling the battery out.
The text keyboard indeed looks and acts like a miniature laptop keyboard, but the feel is a little awkward; there is little feedback when a key is pressed. The internal display is exceptionally wide and offers a fantastic web experience especially when in full screen mode. The PDA and phone portions are not very heavily integrated like one will find on traditional smartphones, and this can be either a great strength or a terrible weakness depending on your point of view.
PROS
- signal strength
- out-of-the-box applications (documents, spreadsheets, presentations, Adobe Reader, Real Player, MP3 player and such...)
- PC-sync and phone-as-modem capabilities are robust (per my testing and use)
- Many functions can be controlled from both inside and out
CONS
- sound quality takes some finesse to produce
- occasional crashes, sluggishness (150 MHz processor)
- new apps are hard to find for Symbian Series 80 OS
Overall, this phone fits me very well; I can get along with the Cons and love the Pros. Great show by Nokia!
I have yet to have a better phone.
First off I'd like to say that I've owned ALOT of phones in the past 10 years going back to my first startac being one of the most reliable I've owned. This phone blows them all away even though I have made a warrenty claim on it since I got it. first I will start with the pros.
Pros
- Edge,EDge,EDGE!!! this phone is great for browsing the web and is fairly quick for a phone not as fast as some UMTS phones, There is no UMTS where I live anyway.
- OS is extremely easy to learn and operate.
- Speakerphone. as far as clarity and volume this is the best I've ever dealt with. Unlike other phones that may be louder, but you cant always understand whats being said to you.
-GAMES!!!! There are tons of titles for this phone. I downloaded DOOM and it plays just like I remember it on the pc.
-Reception!!! unbelievable!! this phone gets service in areas where most cingular phones do not.
-Battery life. Amazing for a PDA. I talk alot and listen to music alot and I only have to charge it every 3rd day.
-Real player!!! I can watch full leangth movies on this phone!!!!! With proper software any movie can be converted to work on the 9300. with stereo headset experience is even better.
-Feels like a phone when you hold it to your ear. Instead of bulky,awkward, uncomfortable PDA. I realize it is still bigger than most phones and not what most are used to these days, but consider what it does.
-Full QWERTY keyboard is awesome. One of the most usable on a phone ever made. love the mouse.
CONS
- no camera. not a big thing for me. Until we have cameras on phones as good as they make such as 7 mega-pixel or better I dont see the absolute need. Unless you are in realestate where you might need one.
Not much to complain about with this phone. My only question would be: When is Nokia going to make a phone with windows?
sweet!
What a deal. Got the phone from cingular 2 weeks ago. I switched from verizon and an lg vx4500! Let me tell you, i don't regret it! it's a pda, yeah, but it's still great. the ringtones are unreal sounding, meaning the built in ones are not bad and slap some mp3s on here and it's over. the sound quality of calls is steller, you can hold the phone and have it feel great, not crappy like myy vx4500! best of all, the reception is steller as well! My only gripe is no vibrate! Tip for blind users, you can install talks on here so we can use it as well. way to go nokia! and we can't forget the mp3 player and the mini sd slot, 80 mb of built in memory is not to bad either! there ya go, a review of one of the best phones ever made!
Awesome Phone and PDa
I have owned many conversion devices over the years and this is the best.
Pros:
--Call Quality
--Call Volume
==Speaker Phone
--Internal Screen
--Has regular phone dial pad
--PIM Features
--Key Board
Cons:
--No Wi-Fi
A very classy little thing.
I must preface this with the fact that I don't own this phone yet, I just have played with it extensively at a Nokia experience center. This review is for this who won't get a chance to play with one in a store. The form factor is nice, by no means the smallest phone out there, but not at all bulky . It's roughly the size of a 6010, if perhaps a bit longer (or 'taller', depending on how one chooses to view that). The opening hinge on the side was quite smooth, and it was possible to get a range of angles for viewing. The screen is nice, far nicer than the majority of other phones. I compared it to a 9500, it was just slightly clearer. Resolution is 640X200 - by no means huge, but decent for what it is. More tech details here:
http://www.nokiausa.com/phones/9300/0,7747,feat:1,00.html
The keys do have a nice convex feel, each one is a little bump that nicely tells your fingertips which key is which. For such a small device, typing is very quick. I wasn't able to send email or use the data functions, but in testing the applications, it's clear the phone is able to move quick. Symbian is quite an effective little OS. It seemed easy to navigate for me, but I'm a mac user - dunno how it would be for someone used to Windows or Windows Mobile. I'm told that they will have the full access to the Blackberry mail server, so this device could effectively replace a BB. Might be handy if RIM is forced to stop selling Blackberries...
Overall, the phone is feature packed & very well set up for business users. Not very sexy, but who cares with everything it can do? I think I might like a camera as well, but I can't complain too much, especially since I'll be buying it from Cingular w/ an employee discount. . .
blackberry on steroids
first off this device has a phone that really works and is clear !! next the blackberry email works and it's small. i use to have the 8700c and i really love it,but my problem was the cell phone side of the device..it was choppy and a make weird buzzing noise
Get this Phone!
I bought this phone unlocked, it came from Thailand, and i was skeptical as the next about it being compatible with US carriers. Well, i have been using it with T-Mobile USA, my experience so far has been nothing short of amazing! Yes, they frown on the fact that it's not a standard phone that they provision, yet, T-Mobile has been awesome in customer service with the phone, and well, it works so great, i have little to call them about.
The keyboard rocks, you can type really fast and full emails and documents. not to mention play with excell worksheets. The battery life is not that bad either and well. They could have had the speaker option work with the lid closed, but they made up for this in many other areas. Note, if you go with T-mobile and you want fax to work, you need to ahve the CSD option activated for an extra 9.99 a month. The standard nokia software for using the phone as a modem with your laptop is really fantastic. everytime i sign on, i never get less than 115.kbs, and with edge in ny and california soon available, it will really zoom. The web browsing on the phone is great, and it feels comfortable, it really is the perfect platform, if you like the 6820 feel of typing, you'll love this phone. Anyhow, hope the us carriers get on board with it soon, but i don't care, with TMobile and this unlocked version, i'm set. :)
9300/b (US tri-bander): Sweet, sexy, superb looks, but retarded.
Good news
Build: 4.5
Sound: 5
Radio: 5
Software bundle: IMAP/POP3 mail, Operaâs browser, Word/Excel editing/viewing, & more.
Bad news? I want to like this sweetie, I surely do, but it's.... retarded.
The keyboardâs odd to my liking, compared to my beloved Tungsten W. I surely wish changing MMCs didn't require shutown, dismantle & a 3 min. reboot.
I miss the Treo 650's backlit keys (but, compare Treoâs 1800 mah cell to the 970mah of the Nokia BP-6M. Backlighting buttons burns batteries, I sâpose). So, swing the lid in from the normal tilt, to around 75 degrees & the screen shines on the keys.
Remaining issues: 1-PopPort 2-Speed 3-Capability.
Nokia has an irrational fixation on the Pop-Port, a easy-to-loose cheesy plastic wart on the bottom, where I'd rather put my hand. Wake up & smell the Salmiakki, guys; add a four-pole 2.5mm miniphone jack, so you can sell Nokia-branded hi-fi headset-stereophones (a la the iPod White earphones). Make your users happy.
The 150MHz TI OMAP brain is the Mini-Me of CPUs, without enough oomph for quick applications. Don't know about Yurp, the land of 35-hr workweeks, but Stateside, this is the age of the Hemi. If I have to water-cool my PDA to get it faster than my decrepit Kaypro Ten, well, by gum, I'll git-r-done, even if I look like Locutus of Borg.
And, then, Applications. Dang it, if you want to climb out of the primordial ooze of wireless telephony, Transcend the featurephone & smartphone to Ascend into PDAphone-ness, it's got to DO stuff. Even PPC/WinCE/WindowsWhatever has more apps than Symbian.... and Symbian is a house divided. Do System 90 apps run on the System 80/OS 7.0 of the 9500/9300/9300i ? Do Series 60 apps run? What runs on the Series 40 of the exterior display? You just can't count Symbian apps, you have to count apps which run, which narrows things down quite a bit. It just does not have the richness, the diversity available to PalmPhone users... so I won't 86 my Treo 650 as I surely would like to.
Absolutely Awesome!
Have had this phone for the about two weeks now, and can't say enough about it. It is too cool. In an effort to keep it simple:
Pros
Keyboard: Excellent. Perfect size for even the least nimble fingered typer.
Screen: Crystal clear and nice size.
Earpiece: Very Good.
Software: Very well organized and easy to use. No manual necessary.
Reception: I'm on the Cingular network and reception is better than the Razr V3 I own.
Size: A little bigger than the newest bar phones, but not so big that you don't want to carry it. Definitely nicer to hold in your hand than a Treo.
Cons
No camera. That would be the ultimate addition if future models are sold.
No vibrate. Would be a nice feature for when you you don't want to interrupt a meeting.
I've owned a Treo 600 and a Nokia 6620. Currently own a Motorola A630, Motorola Razr V3 and a Sony Ericsson Z525a and the the 9300 beats them all, except for the camera.
If you're looking for a solid phone with excellent features this is the one for you. In my opinion Nokias are work horses that will stand the test of time. If you want a good phone and aren't interested in cameras and the like, you'll want this phone.
Nokia 9300 vs Cingular 8125
I started out with the Nokia 9300 from Cingular and then ordered the Cingular 8125. In the end I picked the 9300 over the Cingular 8125. Here are the points where the 9300 was better than the 8125:
1) Sound quality - especially with the speakerphone. The 9300 has an awesome speakerphone. I called 5 different people and the response was unanimous.
2) Symbian OS well thought out design compared to Windows mobile which will require you to use the stylus even with the keyboard out. Most everything you need to do like turn on bluetooth, IR, get to Messages is very easy on the Nokia. The 8125 is a little more laborious unless you keep a really sharp fingernail. The Windows mobile platform required me to reboot a few times because it locked up. The 9300's Symbian OS has been stable so far.
3) Keyboard longer and better for typing than 8125.
Not as good as 8125:
1) 9300 is tri band, 8125 is quad band
2) 9300 has no camera.
3) 9300 has no wi-fi
4) 9300 has no vibrate feature.
In short, if you want a better phone, get the 9300. If you want a good PDA, both quailify. If you want more bells and whistles, get the 8125. I would have loved to have a Nokia 9300i but that is not available with any of the GSM providers in the US.
