Review Of The Nokia 2610 Design and User Interface

Review Of The Nokia 2610 Design and User Interface
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Introduction

nokia 2610

The Nokia 2610 was released back in 2006 and came in as a phone that was designed to maximize the potential of voice calls as well as optimize the use of text messaging. This phone therefore appealed to users who just wanted to get their messages and calls across with the utmost simplicity. The Nokia 2610 is not only functional but it is also very user friendly.

Design (3 out of 5)

Housed in either a black or brown plastic casing, the Nokia 2610 is a trim looking mobile phone that is just the right size for any user big or small. Therefore the measurement of the Nokia 2610 are as follows. It has a length of 104 millimeters, a breadth of 43 millimeters and depth of 18 millimeters. This Nokia phone feels a little bit heavy for its size at 91 grams.

The front face of the Nokia 2610 is fitted with a 1.6 inches square CSTN display that is capable of showing 65K colors. This is placed just below the ear piece. Below the display there is the soft key panel which comes with a four way navigation key in the center. Above on the left you will find there is the left soft key. At the top right there is the second navigation key. Below these is the green call start button and the red call cancel button. Below the soft key panel is the alphanumeric key pad.

On the left side of the Nokia 2610 there is pretty much nothing there. Going over onto the right side of the Nokia 2610 you will find that it too has been left free of any controls and buttons. The same goes for the back side of the Nokia 2610. The back side is a little different in that it has been reserved for the battery and below the battery compartment you will find the SIM card slot.

On the top side of the phone there is a single power button for starting and shutting down this Nokia phone. The bottom end of the Nokia 2610 is fitted with the slot for plugging in the phone charger.

User Interface (4 out of 5)

The user interface on the Nokia 2610 is as simple as it gets as this Nokia phone retains the classic Nokia navigation model. There is a home screen on the Nokia 2610 which marks the starting point for everything.

Pressing the left soft key gives you access to the menu system of this Nokia phone which is in the form of a 3 by 3 grid . To move about through the menu system, you will have to use the four way navigation key. Once you have highlighted the specific application or operation you are interested in then you may use the left soft key to select operation or launch the application. The user interface also allows you to change the wallpaper of the Nokia 2610 while at the same time allowing you to set different themes and screen savers using the settings menu option.

To punch in the numbers to make a call you can simply use the alphanumeric key pad from the home screen. When ready you can press the green button to make the call. To type text messages, you would have to use the same alphanumeric key pad and change the text mode using the bottom left key all the while keeping an eye on the indicator on the screen. Text can be entered in the traditional way or using the auto complete T9 features of the Nokia 2610.

Features (2 out of 5)

nokia 2610

The Nokia 2610 comes with support for polyphonic and MP3 ringtones. There is a single speakerphone on this Nokia phone. As far connectivity goes, the Nokia 2610 supports 2G connectivity GSM networks with dual band of GSM 900/1800 and GSM 850/1900.

For Internet connectivity, users of the Nokia 2610 have options restricted to GPRS on a WAP / HTML browser. With this you can download games and MP3 tracks to use as ringtones. There is no other connectivity option on this Nokia phone. Email and MMS messaging are both supported on the Nokia 2610.

The Nokia 2610 comes with internal memory of up to 3MB and reserved space for 300 entries on the phone book. The phone memorizes the last 10 calls dialed, the last 10 calls received and the last 10 missed calls.

There is a single display on the Nokia 2610 which has a resolution of 128 x 128 pixels.

Preinstalled into the Nokia 2610 is a currency convertor, organizer and calculator among other applications such as various games.

Performance (2 out of 5)

The Nokia 2610 is certainly not a power phone. It does not measure up to the high end phones we have on the market today. With its virtually unlimited text message storage, this phone is ideal for text messaging. The sound quality on the ear piece is good and calls can be communicated well and clear. The external speaker does not sound that good and the same goes for the contrast on the screen. It is best to browse the Internet in text on this phone. Internet speeds are not that good but with the designs of mobile websites this is not a big problem.

The battery life on the Nokia 2610 is great and it can give you talk time of about 3 hours and standby time of about 300 hours on normal use patterns.

Verdict (2 out of 5)

The Nokia 2610 is an okay phone, not too bad yet nothing impressive either. This is a phone that will appeal to those with strict interests in making and receiving phone calls. If you are interested in internet and email usage or listening to music then this is not the phone for you. The Nokia 2610 is unique and has a general feel to it that is quite user friendly. Very rare to find these days but if you do the Nokia 2610 is priced at about US$20.

Other related Nokia phones worth looking at are the Nokia 2330 and the Nokia 6555.