Product Advisory

DISCLAIMER:

Reposted with permission from The Diary of A Kenyan Campus Girl. The original article can be found here…

Before you read this post, I want to apologize for making myself 24 hours older. My birthday is actually tomorrow, on the 23rd. I had completely messed up my dates & living one day ahead. I woke up this morning thinking it was my birthday until my Mum told me to look at the calendar again. But thanks anyway, for all your wishes.

So here goes…

The Back of the Fake & Real N95...

Let’s not get excited. There’s nothing N-Series about the Chinese Nokia except, perhaps, the look. Many people have told me what a great phone I have & I just smile & say thanks. No need correcting them it’s Chinese. It’s definitely lighter than the real Nokia, so don’t be fooled.

Here is a personal view of its features:

1) Bogus Touch Screen:

To begin with, it was never accurate, not even with the stylus. The right-side is touch-resistant. Anyway, I’m not such a fan of poking around with the stylus so I can let this go.

2) Battery Life:

My previous phone (Motorola W220, God bless it!) could last up to a week without recharging. This one lasts a maximum of 3 days. The brand name on the battery? You guessed it: NOKLA.

3) The Volume Controls:

I’m talking about those shortcut keys on the side. They control the audio/video volumes as well as in-call volume. I discovered they weren’t working when I realized it was the only place you could control the volume from. The other way is via the touch screen which is paralyzed on the right side.

4) Extreme Incompatibility:

This is one area that makes me go urrrgh! I can’t use any cable that fits into the USB, not even for charging. With my Motorola phone, I could even use Nokia earphones. I lose my data/USB charger & I’m screwed.

5) Spoil Earphones:

I’ve just explained the phone’s incompatibility. One day, I was listening to music when the phone fell & something snapped with the earphones. So, now am stuck with a good collection of music & lullabies (blues for bedtime) that I can’t listen to. I’m still searching for earphones that will work but I’m not that hopeful. Now I guess I may have to get that iPod after all. I must admit the phone had a good audio player though. You might have thought you are listening to good quality speakers.

6) Internet Access:

Nothing to write home about, just the usual GPRS. I can “Facebook” really well because of the wide screen. I can read blogs but I can’t leave comments. I can’t view YouTube videos as the real N95 could.

7) The Camera:

This is just about the only thing I love about this phone. It has a Karl Zeuss lens (I’m assured it’s the best) with 2.9 megapixel (that’s what’s written) but I’m satisfied with the quality of the photos. Besides, the big screen lends viewing of the photos enjoyable, however, night photos are totally unclear.

8) Dual-Sim Support:

Well, with me still stuck in Safaricom & still wanting to move to Zain which is the cheapest so far. Do I have to explain this? How many of you walk with multiple SIM cards.

Other features include the usual calculators, converters, To Do Lists, World Clock, Calendar, Stopwatch, even an e-book reader (which can’t read books in PDF format, so I’m wondering which format?), power-saving mode, audio, video, FM radio, even a TORCH. It also comes with a 256 MB memory card.

Of course it has Bluetooth. Which has its own problems too. I can send stuff but whenever I receive anything, it’s stored in such a format that I can’t view/play it, if it’s an image or song. So, I rely on the data cable to transfer stuff to my phone from the computer, including viruses, naturally.

9) No Support for Java Applications:

Or any other applications for that matter. I can download games, Opera Mini but I can’t play or install them. That’s probably why I’m not worried about viruses. They may be stored but they just can’t be executed.