The Nokia 1680 is the newest low-end phone from 7-11 Speakout Wireless. It
sells for more than the previously-reviewed Nokia 1208, but in my opinion
(as you will soon discover) I don’t think it is worthy of this position in
the lineup. The Nokia 1680 is available through 7-11. Last Updated: 16-Jan-2009 |
Before reading this review, please read Some Thoughts on Phone Reviewing.
RF Performance
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RF Performance, and how to interpret it.
RF Sensitivity: (A+) I
had no problem with this aspect of the phone. It seems that Nokia has finally
figured out how to squeeze excellent RF sensitivity out of all of their recent
models, regardless of its position in the hierarchy. It’s almost got to the
point where doing this test on a Nokia phone has become redundant, but that’s
the direction we should be headed with cell phones by now.
Over-the-road Performance:
(A-) The 1680 is only a 2.5G phone, which means it uses the older
TDMA-based GSM network for voice communication. For that reason the handling of
network handoffs and other maladies is very important. Nokia phones have
generally been improving in this regard over the years, and the 1680 doesn’t
deviate from this pattern. The 1680 does a fairly decent job of handling this
aspect of performance, though certainly no better or worse than the 1208.
Audio Performance
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Audio Performance, and how to interpret it.
Tonal Balance: (D-)
Even though RF performance has become a non-issue with phones of late, audio
certainly hasn’t. No matter how much experience the company has making phones,
many with excellent audio performance, Nokia still seems capable of producing
ones that sound like they were tested by tone-deaf technicians. The 1680 sounds
like a cheap plastic toy that is totally put to shame by the audio quality of
the less-expensive 1208. However, the poor tonal balance is only the fault of
the native earpiece. The phone actually sounds half-decent through a
good-quality earbud or headset. Despite that, its failing mark in this category
stands, since many people will use it as-is (without an earbud).
Sound Reproduction: (C-)
The overall sound reproduction wasn’t quite as big a disappointment as the tonal
balance, but it was never-the-less sub-par and once again put to shame by the
1208.
Earpiece Volume: (B+)
Well, at least the phone has decent earpiece volume, but given the awful tonal
balance you’ll probably want to keep the volume turned down anyway to protect
your ears from an aural assault. The volume of the 1680 is slightly louder than
that of the 1208, but not by much.
Outgoing Audio: (B-) I
found the quality of the outgoing audio a little thin, but overall it seems to
do as well as most Nokia phones on the market today. I put it up against the
N95, because I didn’t have any other phones to compare it to during the test,
and the sound was a bit less distinct and there was more noticeable background
noise from the bustling food court at Square One. However, the 1208 provided
outgoing audio almost on-par with the N95, and so once again the 1680 fails to
match its nearest competitor in the 7-11 stable.
Speakerphone: (C+) The
speakerphone on the 1680 can produce a fair amount of volume, but it sounds just
as bad as its native earpiece and it isn’t very comfortable to listen to. I
probably wouldn’t use it for a real phone call as I often do with the N95. The
1208 has a speakerphone almost the equal of the N95, and so again the 1608
looses again.
Support Features
Ringer Volume: (B-)
Despite the overall poor quality of the speakerphone, the little speaker in the
1608 was quite capable of generating a reasonable amount of volume. It was on
par with the 1208 in this respect.
Keypad Design: (D-)
When Nokia builds an awful keyboard, it goes all out. The tiny little pad on
this phone is difficult to use, prone to error, and annoying enough to possibly
cause you to toss the phone out of your car window. It’s laid out in a
traditional way, which is good, but its tactile feel is very poor. I often
mis-dialed numbers, which forced me to slow down and watch the screen to make
sure I was dialing the number I wanted.
Display: (B-) This is
the one-and-only aspect of the 1680 that was better than the 1208. The size,
resolution, and brightness of the display are clearly better than the 1208,
which had a minimalistic display at best. However, the screen still isn’t very
big and the improvement over the 1208 doesn’t make up for all of the other
shortcomings.
Icing on the
Cake
Camera:
(C-) Just another disappointing 640 x 480 camera
meant for nothing more than creating Caller ID photos, or for sending in MMS
messages to other phone users. There’s little I can say about it.
Conclusions
The 1680 is a big disappointment all around, with the exception of its RF performance, which it shares with all of the recent Nokias I’ve tested. Beyond that it’s an entry level phone that can’t even compete with its supposedly-lesser kin the Nokia 1208. If I had to choose between the 1680 and the 1208, EVEN IF they gave me the 1680 for free, I’d choose the 1208 every time. With the possible exception of its size and styling, I can’t see why 7-11 even bothers to sell this model.