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Wednesday 10 January 2007, 4:51 PM
Misses the mark and the point
This is a very sexy little phone. It could be great.
The basics start well:
The pearl is a nice interface device most of the time.
USB 2 connector for power and sync makes far more sense than the proliferation of propietary cables and AC adaptors out there - Sony-E and Nokia take note!
Contact management seems to work well and the sync is efficient and fast. I really like the way you start typing a number or name and the phone homes in on your target as you type - best feature by a mile.
The interface is unfussy and clear. I like the appointment book too, simple and clear. The camera is basic but does what it says on the tin. The call quality is good. The keyboard is ok, but you do end up re-entering thjings now and again.
Where does it all go wrong? For inexplicable reasons it is impossible to send a contact by SMS!!!! You can send blackberry to blackberry but it will be a long time bfore all my friends and colleagues are so harmonised. Same goes for contacts.
Unless you are using this from within a "blackberried" enterprise your email depends upon the mobile company - my vodafone can't connect to secure email servers - so for example no nhs! There is no excuse for not being able to connect direct to pop3, smtp, and IMAP servers.
The software is buggy - more prone than usual to those "pocket generated calls". My phone intermittently decides to activate voice calling spontaneously, even if it fails to integrate with my car handsfree.
The SIM and micro SD card are inaccessible - I can live with this but if you plan to swap these you will curse.
3rd party software is dire, and reminiscent of the MS-DOS freeware of the 1980s and early 1990s! It does not integrate with contacts and calender on board.
Blackberry customer support? Doesn't seem to exist, and kops out to the mobile phone co.
In summary buy it if you have a blackberry enterprise - that s what it is designed for, but do not fall for line that this is a mass market consumer/business phone - it isn't and you will be frustrated. This is a great example of form over function.
Finally. My phone went wrong after a six weeks. RTA and I will have an ericsson K800i or Nokia N73 please. If only the Nokia E60 had a camera!
| Design |  |
6.0 |
| Features |  |
3.0 |
| Performance | |
3.0 |
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