Good for a cheap phone this, at £30 from VODAFONE's online store (Jan/Feb 2009) and came ready charged.
I originally bought this on the spur of the moment a few weeks back after my Nokia N-Gage started playing silly sods (probably just needs a new battery, hopefully) + VODAFONE somehow lost my number with them... which I'm guessing was something to do with not having used it to phone/text anyone for x-number of months 'cos all my contacts were seemingly too busy doing other stuff to want me calling / texting them.... I even contacted VODAFONE customer service about my giving me my number back, and the miserable twats never even replied, which I am NOT particularly impressed with, especially as I own 2.210527 shares in the company (via my Halifax Sharebuilder account reviewed elsewhere on CIAO a couple of years back).
So, a new SIM card was in order, and on the spur of the moment a new phone too....... but as I was rather on the skint side, it had to be a cheap one.
Delivery of the new phone from VODAFONE's online store was pretty quick (a few days), and the packaging was pretty straight forward to get into... the phone and bits being put inside a VODAFONE box with loads of odds n sods inside. The SIM card was already in the phone, but the battery I had to put in myself. Putting the battery in looked pretty straightforward enough, looking at the instructions, but turned out to be pretty damn fiddly getting the backcover off, and resulted in several knackered fingernails after I finally won the battle.
At least when I did get the battery in, the phone was ready charged out the box, and ready to use. Next job was to register the phone with VODAFONE... which you can do either by phoning a number included in the booklets provided, or at vodafone.co.uk and creating an account. There was also a £5 calling TOP-UP voucher included with the phone + £1 for registering the phone.
The controls are pretty simple to use as a regular phone (dial the number, press the green key to send, red to end call).... but the fiddliest phone I've ever used when it comes to using the microscopic directional key in the middle.
Basic controls include: Red button = end call, or turn the phone on/off green button = send call directional key flat down = brings up the phone icons to go to the various functions of the phone. directional key up or down = brings up your phone contacts directional key left = create an SMS / MMS message directional key right = view your calendar above the red & green buttons there a - mark, which by default the one on the red key is used to access VODAFONE LIVE! (and to exit phone functions on other screens). The one above the green key by default says "goto", which takes you to a list menu of functions such as "general" (mode), "silent" (mode), "bluetooth options", "alarm" & stuff like that (i guess to bypass the fiddly directional key).
There's another button on the right side of the phone that turns on the phone's built-in VGA camera......... which is marginally better than my old TRUST SPYCAM100 portable webcam, but not by much (I think I prefer my Fuji A345 + Fuji S6500fdDigital cameras)
The numberpads + other keys on the front have a funky blue backlight. The screen is pretty damn bright too... way brighter than on my posher Nokia N-Gage smartphone... indoors it's just about possible to light up a room, while outdoors it works just enough to find the keyhole in the dark + just about see the steps up to the flat enough to not go flying arse over tits in the dark when I forget to turn on the outside light before I go out.
The phone is extremely thin & compact, being not much thicker than a pen.... and feels extremely well screwed together.
Overall a good buy if you want a cheap camera phone, with lots of built-in functions inc. being able to surf the internet on it.
Battery generally lasts about 3-4days between charges, depending on how much you use / fiddle with it.
The phone has 11MB of built-in memory, and no provision for a memory card. The Pictures can seemingly only be transferred from the phone via Bluetooth.... either to a PC that has a USB Bluetooth dongle plugged into it (not always guaranteed to work, at least with my luck at setting up wireless networking stuff)........ or to another phone you may have (e.g. one like my old Nokia N-Gage smartphone) that also has BLUETOOTH + a memorycard / other features that makes it easier to transfer pictures out of it.
Pictures of Nokia 2630
Barely just out the box
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
This Nokia 2630 mobile phone is a sophisticated and easy to use phone packed full of more
practical features including VGA camera, Bluetooth, video capture&integrated FM radio. This mobile phone comes on the Orange network with up to 288 hours standby time and 240 minutes talk time. It also features WAP access with downloadable ringtones.
Feb 20th, 2009
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