Nokia 1208 > Reviews (20)

I am writing this review on behalf of my dad (he lives 300 miles away) who bought this mobile as an emergency when BT cut him off 5 days earlier than requested prior to moving house!! (But THAT'S another story!!!)
He purchased the Nokia 1208 from Tesco Mobile on Pay as You Go, for £17.97. It was good deal, if you top up by £15 they will triple it to £45. Well done Tesco.
Anyway back to the phone review, it has the following 'features' -

Screen
65k Colour CSTN Screen (96 x 68 Pixels)
Large Digital Clock Wallpaper, Animated Screensavers, Jumbo Font
Dual Band (GSM 900 & GSM 1800)
4 Mbytes Memory, 7 Hours Talk Time
365 Hours Standby
One Touch Shortcut Keys
Flashlight - Probably its most useful function!!!
SMS (Text Messaging)

Phone Book (200 Contacts)
Alarm Clock
Time (Analogue & Digital)
Countdown Timer
Stopwatch, Calculator, Converter, Reminders
Language Support
Time Tracker
One Touch Shortcut Keys
Power Saver Mode
Preloaded MP3 & Polyphonic Ringtones
Handsfree Speaker

Weight & Size
77 g
102 x 44.1 x 17.5 mm

This is a basic no frills mobile that seems to promise so much for particularly the elderly or 'technophobes' but delivers very little.
As I said my dad has used this but I haven't, so I can't comment on looks and feel,etc, however I can say that it does not fulfill its use as a phone. I received a first call from dad and then rang him straight back (to save him funds) and I kept getting voicemail. Oh Dad I thought you've been fiddling in the menus and changed something! So had to wait for him to ring me again, When he did he promised me he had not changed anything so I let it go and rang him again. Voicemail each time.

I waited for another call and persuaded him to take it to a mobile dealer for some basic lessons!! The guy in the shop told him that the phone was set up to receive calls - no divert etc on and he couldn't explain why it kept going to voicemail.
I looked on the internet for the manual - very basic with hardly any info at all. Other reviewers have said the same as me, maybe its a big technical glitch. Tesco had no advice either so I'm afraid he took a hammer to it and that's the end of that!!!!

What is the use of a phone that can't receive calls? I think that Nokia have made a dud here at the bottom end of their range which is a pity as there will always be a market for simple to use, cheap mobiles. They should have spent less time adding a torch and more time ensuring it works properly :(

Originally submitted to Dooyoo