10-10-2003, 02:30 AM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Nokia Updates 3650 Bluetooth Phone
I know a lot of you have picked up Nokia 3650s, which are very solid companions to Pocket PCs -- great screen, solid reception, and Bluetooth for GPRS functionality. One of the biggest criticisms of the device, though, was its keypad -- and I don't have the faintest idea why they did it. I guess they didn't either, because they finally announced the 3660, which has a "normal" keypad.
Just as importantly for you Cingular and AT&T GSM users, there will also be a 3620, which supports both 800 and 1900MHz frequencies. I'd like to see more quadband phones, but at least this is a step forward.
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10-10-2003, 02:58 AM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 516
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I can tell you why they designed the old keypad the way they did. They did it so as to improve speed for text messaging. The old layout spread out the alphabet sequentially. Unfortunately, so many people disliked it for phone-dialing that they finally gave in and are now offering this. There's a good chance I may get one of these, and I'm torn between which design I like better.
Scott
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Tapland
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10-10-2003, 03:00 AM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Scott R
I can tell you why they designed the old keypad the way they did. They did it so as to improve speed for text messaging.
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How is it better, though? Does it allow for more unimpeded 2-finger operation? I don't quite see that -- having to swivel your thumbs around a radial dial requires more dexterity, too.
--janak
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10-10-2003, 03:31 AM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 516
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Janak, I haven't used one personally, so I can only speak in theoretical terms. The idea is that by laying out the keys "in order" it should be faster to locate the key you need. So, for instance, if I want the letter "M", I know it will be toward the bottom of the Nokia 3650, because that's the middle of the keypad layout and the letter "M" is in the middle of the alphabet. If I want the letter "G", I'd know that it's about 1/4 of the way in. With a traditional phone keypad, I could make a reasonable guess as to where the key is, but if I'm guessing that it's on the number "3" button, my eyes (and fingers) will need to reposition all the way over to the next row down on the left-most side to get the letter "G" on the number "4" button. With the Nokia 3650, if I'm slightly off in my guess, I'm probably just going to need to reposition one button over to the right or left.
Scott
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Tapland
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10-10-2003, 03:39 AM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 3
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I currently possess the Nokia 3650 (while waiting for the XDA II or something else to come out, of coures) from T-Mobile. The most prevalent reason I see for designing the keyboard the way that Nokia did was most probably asthetics. It does accent and flow with the natural curve of the phone, but in terms of function, it is highly debatable. However, from personaly experience, I can say that once I got used to the strange layout I was slightly faster in both dialing and SMS, but I don't think that it really makes up for the time it takes to get used to it. It is, however, a very nice symbian phone, which I would recommend for any hihg-end mobile phone consumer.
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10-10-2003, 03:51 AM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 516
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I almost forgot...
One of the biggest criticisms of the Nokia 3650 from PDA "power users" is that the 3650 isn't a serious PDA replacement simply because of the poor method of text entry in comparison to a PDA. Well, infosync just reported the other day that Pocketop has released beta Symbian drivers for its foldable full-size QWERTY keyboard. More details here:
http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/4165.html
IMO, this is pretty exciting news for anyone who wants to use the 3650 as their primary device but needs a better method of text input.
Scott
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Tapland
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10-10-2003, 04:36 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 461
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I SINCERELY thought that design was to resemble old fashioned disc dials in fixed telephones  ops: ...believe it or not, I STILL use one of those phones and I like it!
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10-10-2003, 04:40 AM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Prevost
I SINCERELY thought that design was to resemble old fashioned disc dials in fixed telephones ops: |
Good point. This occurred to me a while ago, but it's a stylistic resemblance more than anything else.
--janak
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10-10-2003, 07:24 AM
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Theorist
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 267
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OT
I heard that the nokia 3650's cannot communicate with Ipaq BT, even PPC2003. Is this still an urban legend or reality. This is pretty much the only BT phone we can get in Hawai'i, so I'm getting a lil desperate here. If so do you guys think these updated versions would finally be able to talk to the Ipaqs?
I really want to try out my HP2210 BT legs 
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10-10-2003, 07:50 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 60
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The 3650 and the WM2003 (I use the H5555) work just fine...you just need to know the additional connection strings for it to work. You can find that at howardforums.com.
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~ Q on VZW --> Previously, Nokia N70 on Cingular
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