| Mini-Review of the Nokia 3205 |
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The Nokia 3205 is the first Nokia CDMA phone to be offered by Telus PCS since the ill-fated 6188. While that phone eventually proved itself to be a solid choice with later firmware upgrades, the damage to the Telus-Nokia relationship had already been done. There are many Nokia fans out there who are cheering that the relationship has finally been patched up. Last Updated: 22-Nov-2004 |
Before reading this review, please read Some Thoughts on Phone Reviewing.
Also read Comparing performance of Telus PCS Phones.
General
I already knew that the 3205 had a funky keypad, and seeing it in person didn’t do
anything to improve my option of the design. I have to admit that tactile
feedback and overall operation of the keys is exemplary, but I just couldn’t
seem to wrap my head around keys I had press at the top or at the bottom to get
the functionality I wanted. While you can probably get used to anything (I know
someone who goes around challenging others to write text messages faster than he
can on his Nokia 3650’s round keypad), I think that the keypad is going to put
off quite a few buyers.
Nothing else about the physical design of this candy bar phone is contentious,
however. It’s solidly constructed, with good fit-and-finish, a nice feel when
pressed against the ear, and feels good in the hand. The one I saw had a
see-through faceplate and backing, and so it was hard to say anything one way or
another about the styling. It’s not going to win any awards for clever design,
but it shouldn’t turn anyone off of it either (the keypad notwithstanding).
RF
Performance and Audio Quality
As this is only a mini-review, the primary focus is the
RF performance and
audio quality. Along as references were the
Ericsson T206 and the Kyocera Blade, both
of which have reputations for possessing the best RF sensitivity of any Telus
PCS phones that I’ve thus far tested. We used the Hall of Shame at Square One to
perform the primary comparisons, but we confirmed the behavior at other weak
signal locations around the mall.
The Nokia 3205 performed exceptionally well, but sadly it didn’t quite match the
stellar performance of the T206 or the Blade. Don’t get me wrong, it was a
photo-finish, but the Ericsson and Kyocera phones simply held onto the signal
longer, and could place calls more readily in weak-signal conditions. As I’ve
noted many times before however, there can be slight variations from one example
of a phone to another, which means it possible that another 3205 might even have
beaten its older competitors. Or then again, it may have done worse.
I also got to test over-the-road performance, which I rarely get a chance to do
in a mini-review. Fortunately the owner of the 3205 had no problem driving me
around a challenging loop near the mall so that I could compare the three phones
under severe conditions. The Blade was clearly the worst, once again exhibiting
the same inability to cope with network problems as it had last year when I’d
done a long-term test on one. The T206 was quite good, but it wasn’t quite as
good as the 3205. The Nokia chipset clearly does a superb job of making frame
errors and other network problems almost inaudible. I believe that this facet of
the phone more than makes up for a slightly-less-sensitive receiver.
In terms of incoming sound quality the 3205 is a mixed bag, much like the Nokia
3586i that I tested last year. In terms of tonal balance the 3205 is clearly the
winner, with a much more natural balance than the boomy-sounding T206 or Blade.
On the other hand, the 3205 produces far more audio distortion than the other
two phones, both of which do an excellent job of sound reproduction. It’s a bit
of a toss-up which failing is worse, but in the end it will likely come down to
YOUR personal preference. Too bad the 3205 isn’t great at both aspects, in which
case it would be the best-sounding CDMA phone I’ve ever tested.
Earpiece volume is a bit disappointing compared to the Blade, which is at least
4 to 5 dB louder. The T206 is also louder, but to a lesser degree. This isn’t to
say that the 3205 is too faint to be useable, but it could certainly do with
being a bit louder. This is especially true then the background noise becomes
exceeding loud.
The speakerphone feature doesn’t seem to suffer from the same problem. The dinky
little speaker on the 3205 is more than capable of belting out surprisingly loud
audio (though no one would describe it as sounding great). Just the same, the
volume and passable clarity are more than enough to make this the most
useable speakerphone I’ve encountered on any CDMA phone thus far.
Outgoing sound quality is quite good, but not quite as good I remember noting of
the Kyocera Slider on Bell Mobility. Just the
same, the phone is markedly better than the T206 or the Blade in this respect.
My test was under rather severe circumstances, and in more moderate conditions
the phone sounds very good, with great tonal balance and clarity.
So there you have it. The 3205 exhibits excellent over-the-road RF performance,
excellent tonal balance, and almost top-notch RF sensitivity. All of which
should be enough to convince anyone, but unfortunately I fall short of
unconditionally recommending the 3205 because of the audio distortion issue. As
I noted already, this is the same problem I had with 3586i on Bell last year.
Some people may find that they aren’t sensitive to the distortion, or they may
simply not care. If you can honestly say that you are one of these people, then
the 3205 is, without question, the best-performing phone presently offered by
Telus PCS. For those who ARE sensitive to this distortion, they may not be quite
so impressed.
