Nokia 7280 review: A toy for the rich

Nokia 7280 is the king among all stylish phones. The little oblong black brick provokes a mixture between astonishment and curiosity never mind the fact that handling its functions is confusing. Its equipment does not fall behind though either: feel free to enjoy a huge address book, 50MB of memory, MP3 ringtones, a camera, a radio, Bluetooth…

 

When Nokia 7280 appeared on the first published pictures, we could not believe our eyes. Is that meant to be a mobile phone? After having experienced stylish creatures as Xelibri we eventually believed. Nevertheless the rich equipment announced earlier turned out to be quite surprising for design freak phones of the type have not proved to be rich in functions.

Nokia 7280 official pictures

Nokia apparently decided, however, to offer its customers originality and elegance combined with maximum functionality. That is how three exceptional models: 7260, 7270 and 7280 were brought to life. The first one is a mobile phone constructed in a classic way, but dressed in an extravagant coat with underlined marginal. It is the cheapest of the group but nevertheless disposing of very sophisticated equipment. Speaking of qualities, the clamshell 7270 has even more to show off. With it the manufacturers have dared experiment more. The outer covers are made of metal additionally protected by leather covering. The inner part of the phone has also been planned untraditionally - it is black with colorful lines. The 7280 model is the top of the ice-cream within the mentioned class of phones in the sense of both functions and design.

Key benefits

• Design
• High quality active display
• More than 50 MB of memory, 1000 entries in the address book
• Bluetooth
• 40-voice and MP3/AAC sound of ringing
• Embedded VGA camera
• Embedded radio
• GPRS class 10 and EDGE

Key drawbacks

• Lengthy method of character input
• Squeaky construction
• Small display hardly visible in direct sunlight

 

 

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What is this box?

 

In terms of design Nokia 7280 is an exceptional phone; you would not find another one of the kind on the market. No matter where you go, picking it out will inevitably attract others' attention. Not only is its outlook unusual, but also the overall construction idea and the operating system attached to it.

You have not seen such a phone yet.

While I was testing the phone I showed it to some friends. Each of them would start looking at it with interest trying to guess its functions. Most of them agreed on the device to be a MP3 player. After having put the phone into their hands they would keep on being overwhelmed with confusion trying to find a visible keypad. When failing to find one they would slowly start moving the scroll button sideways and the phone would gradually get under their skin. Regarding different opinions about the new Nokia 7280 people generally fall into 3 main categories. Some of them curse it, the majority like it, but only few of them would feel comfortable using it in every-day life.

It will represent its owner with style

The form of the phone sticks to the square. It is only the size that differs from what we are used to. It is 115 mm long, 32mm wide and 19 mm high. We have also found out that the square is slightly sloped. Nokia's designers have chosen black as a main color. No alternative colors are going to be offered on the market. The phone's surface is glossy and that is why unpleasant smudges and prints remain evident on it. The phone weighs some comfortable 84 grams.

The square lies a little bit sideways • this phone's design reminds you of a chocolate bar • the display is hidden behind a mirror surface

The outlook is brightened by white lines, which zigzag all over the surface and - to say the truth - they suit it very well. Black and white colors in the design are supported by glossy accessories and a mirror of a similar impression that covers the display. Nokia is known for not being afraid of using untraditional materials in its stylish phones and the 7280 model is not an exception. On its surface you will find plastic parts, leather pieces or more precisely fur - as well as a tiny piece of fabric. The latter protrudes out of the very end of one of the phone's edges and reminds of a printed patch on a T-shirt. The manufacturer's logo - Nokia is placed on this piece of fabric - just like it works with T-shirts.

White lines zigzag all over the telephone's surface • leather areas • label as on a T-shirt

The big black button is crying for a constructional change. I have probably never seen a squeakier mobile phone, which puts a big shame on Nokia. It squeaks whenever touched or moved and while I was "cruelly examining" it, I had the feeling I was putting together the Rubik's cube. Speaking about a telephone which costs more than 600 Euro it is a real shame.

 

For right-handed only

Looking at phone's front cover your attention would inevitably focus on the big mirror placed on it. This is nothing else but the display being effectively hidden. Here you will also find a scroll operating button surrounded by two pairs of functional buttons. The latter consist of thin white doubled keys, which are part of the decorative lines. Above the display you will also find the ear-phone covered by a penetrated piece of leather.

Five buttons should be enough • mirror, mirror, tell me... • leather cover of the ear-phone

It is hard to say which edge of the phone we should name as a bottom one. The phone is put to the ear in a typical manner - in a vertical position with the display in the upper part. The displayed picture is however horizontal in order that its full width can be used and therefore when operating it is necessary to hold the phone in a horizontal position as well. Unfortunately there is no way of moving the pictures upside down, so left-handed are in a great disadvantage. The operating buttons are placed right from the display, so holding the phone in your left hand makes no sense.

Holding is untypical, but comfortable

Let's hold the phone in a vertical position as if we want to make a phone call. On its left upper side you will find a narrow slot where a loud speaker is placed. Under the slot is the big infrared port window and at the bottom there is a silver cover of the SIM card drawer. The latter has a little crevice in one of its corners, in which one has to stick a sharp object in order to open the drawer. For this purpose a small metal roller comes enclosed in the original packing. There you will also find a spare drawer for the original one is fully extractable and may get easily lost. On phone's right side is the already mentioned label with the manufacturer's logo and above it the small leather-covered area is placed.

SIM card is hidden in a drawer • the device opening the drawer

Loud speaker • leather-covered parts both on the side of the phone and the speaker
 

The upper and down surfaces are placed a little inward. On the upper one there are two small white frames, the outer one of which can illuminate with a red light. Provided you activate the light effects function, that frame starts to blink to inform you about anything new or missed. This function can be either activated or deactivated, so you won't be able to chose certain ways of blinking for various events. As it is already a standard, a sign for the network access is also on, so the frame slowly lights up every twenty seconds or so. I felt like the mobile phone in front of me was breathing.

The small outer white frame can illuminate with a red light

The downside is decorated by a narrow projection creating one of the white lines. In it there is a slot for the strand connection. The most probable to be mounted here is the black-red leather wrist strand, which is a part of the original packing and suits the phone very much. Further on the small area there is another slot for the microphone as well as connectors for inserting the charger and the hands-free device. Do not even try looking for a data cable connection. It will be in vain.

Connectors and a bond for the strand • the elegant wrist band comes along with the telephone

You will not be successful looking for a battery cover on the back side of the telephone either. In other words - there is no way to get to it. It is hidden inside the phone and to change it you will have to visit a Nokia technician. The phone has a lithium-ion accumulator of 700 mAh capacity and is able to stay "alive" up to 240 hours or 300 minutes in case of permanent calling. I had to charge the phone every three days on the average.

A stylish telephone deserves a stylish charger with an unfolding cable

 

Sesame, open up!

You will be struck with surprise if you pull the phone when holding both its ends. The part where the ear-phone is placed comes out by a centimetre. On the front side it moves to the edge of the display, on the back - somewhere in the middle of the phone. The gap that appears as a result is colored in red which gives the telephone's look an additional stylish touch. If you turn the phone around you will find the camera lens hiding behind the cover and hence very well protected when the phone is closed.

Surprise changes into amazement - it is possible to make it even longer!

When the phone is ringing, you can accept the call by pushing the phone's cover out and end it by pushing it in. Here the leather-covered area on the right side comes to show its purpose. That is exactly where the thumb of your right hand would fit and quickly open the telephone without any risk of sliding on the glossy plastic surface. Those of you who are left-handed will however suffer from it again.

The leather-covered area helps opening the phone • open a red color comes out

The part that has been moved aside nicely fits into the edges. Unfortunately the manufacturer's work once again deserves to be criticized. The moving part's will to move is not so strong so the phone squeaks here even more. An interesting detail to mention is the light effect coming out through the penetrated cover of the ear-phone. I do not know if this was meant to be the purpose of it, but the line of red dots gives a strong impression.

 

Display and functional keys

The display is relatively good quality. It is active and would show up to 65K colors. It offers a resolution of 208 ×104 pixels. Unfortunately it is a little bit small, covering an area of only 15 ×30 mm. The picture is very fine quality though. It is not possible to set up the intensity of the background illumination, which is a pity for its reducing would be welcome at night as well as would be its increasing in daylight. Both would be useful for illuminating the mirror that covers the display. For the mirror is guilty for the display being almost unreadable in a sunny day light. I would solve this problem by turning the telephones towards me so that my dark clothes can reflect in the display cover.

The display is good quality, but very small and its reflexive surface causes it to be merely unreadable in sunlight

Right from the display the only five operating buttons of the phone are placed. The main one is the scroll operating button. In the middle of it there is a silver confirming key placed in an India-rubber target with a silver frame. Handling this button is very easy. When scrolling your thumb does not slide sideways thanks to the India-rubber and its movements are very sure. The pressing depth of the confirming middle key is not big, but is accompanied by a quiet click, which makes it absolutely non-problematic. The few buttons closer to the display are basically classic context keys, the buttons on the opposite side represent the pair of keys that serve for accepting and terminating phone calls. The red button handles both the switching off and on of the phone when pressed for a little longer. Unfortunately it is not equipped to change profiles.

The scroll button is very comfortable • all items are illuminated enough

The context keys are illuminated in blue, the red and green keys brighten in their own colors and around the scroll button there is a narrow ring of white light.

Environment and operation

Holding the phone in a horizontal positions influences the operating mode and display's picture. When the phone is in an emergency mode a slope indicating the signal intensity is placed in the left edge of the display. In the second third of the display counted from left to right there is a similar slope indicating the accumulator's state. In between them the mobile-operator's name is viewed. The clock is situated in the right upper corner. Right from the battery state's indicator the context keys' names and the functions of the confirming middle key are situated. The font size on the display and especially the names of the context keys are quite small.

Tip: If the pictures on the display seem too small to you, just click on them and they will appear in a bigger size.

Emergency display mode on the different background • an example of animated screen savers

Keys can be locked (protection from unwilling pressing) by first pressing the middle key followed by the green one. The same keys and process are used when unlocking.

The bottom context key is as a standard meant to let you into the address book. However you can choose another function as well. By pressing the upper key the list of the most used functions opens and you can choose or organize functions from here. You can choose out of 38 functions to put onto the list. Nokia also enables you to handle instructions by using your voice, which makes searching much quicker. To activate the voice order press and hold for a while the bottom context key. There are not many functions to choose from when giving voice orders though. Hence you can only choose out of profiles, mailbox calling, activating the radio and infrared port devices, sending voice message and making call statements. An acoustic device measuring the state of the network cover or the battery is one of those functions. I don't really get the sense of it though. For example, by using voice order you choose to find out what the battery's state is. After a short time the phone silently gives you as many knockings as full fields there are to be graphically seen on the display.

Setup of the menu for quick search of functions

The main menu has one possible picture mode only - using big icons with text description placed in the left part of the display. The right part is reserved for the description of the keys' functions. After entering into one of the sections, two lines with additional menu appear. Small letters in the bottom part of each line then describe the current function's setting if any.

Full Main Menu

The menu offers you several color schemes to choose from. They are all well designed and together with colors to accompany the almighty grey they also change the menu background. Of course, you can always change your display's wallpaper. However it should not be too dark for otherwise you won't be able to see the black descriptive text. Wallpaper along with ringer tones and animated screensaver can be changed by using the file called Themes. The phone itself contains five themes, but more should soon be waiting for you on the Nokia's website.

Color schemes • an example of icon coloring according to the scheme

All Nokia telephones of the Series 40 are famous for their fast and excellent response. Nor does the new 7280 model make you wait. We will take a closer look at the phone's camera a little bit later.

 

The secret when dialing numbers

While ringing the phone gives out relatively loud tones. If you cover its slot though, you won't hear a single sound. The slot is clearly a miniature speaker and underlines the bass timbre which explains why it is almost closed. If you close it completely, air cannot ventilate and the sound gets utterly deadened. If that happens to you unwillingly - let's say when carrying the phone in your pocket - you may miss calls.

On the other hand the sound reproducing is at a very high level. The phone can perform 40-voice melodies or any record in the MP3 or AAC format. The melodies are mostly jazzy, but likable as well. You can either deny accepting a phone call or simply deaden its sound. The ringer melodies can be accompanied by light effects and vibration - both of which are quite weak though.

Theme menu • Light effects' functions • Choosing a profile

When making calls you can regulate the ear-phone's volume by scrolling the operating button even though I do not see any sense in having to first press the bottom context key. You can set up your call to be loudly heard and you can record up to 3 minutes of conversation.

If you go for making a call you will immediately come across an interesting problem - how to dial the number? It is necessary to either press and hold the confirming middle area of the operating button or choose the file "Number record" in the main menu. At the bottom of the display a line will appear containing all characters available on a classic phone keypad and you can start dialing by scrolling the operating button. If you make a mistake and would like to go several characters back, simply find the green icon with a two-way dart, which switches between the record mode and the cursor movements.

Dialing numbers • Context menu for dealing with numbers

Searching for every number by using the scroll button surely takes more time than simply writing them on a keypad, but it was not that bad as I had expected it to be. The biggest problem for me turned out to be stopping on the chosen character on time. Most of the time I would have to go several steps back.

The address book is essentially the same as in the rest of the Nokia Series 40 high class phones. It takes in up to one thousand entries, each of them capable of recording 5 different numbers, e-mail, web and post address, a short note and a picture. A special ringer tone could be only set up within different groups, in which you can further place your contacts.

Searching in the list

When viewing the address list you can choose out of four display types: four simple lines with names only, double lines with a name and a main number, one line with a name for customers with weaker sight and finally a double line with a name and attached picture. The picture's functions are quite limited - when the phone rings it only appears as a miniature in the right bottom corner of the display. Hence the face of the person related is basically unrecognizable.

Contact details • groups

The absence of a proper keypad makes the searching in the address book quite specific. Similar to the dialing numbers process here once again the whole alphabet comes out in the bottom line and by scrolling the operating button you choose the first character of the searched name. Unfortunately, it is not possible to choose more characters in a row. Therefore your name search has a chance to stay clear and organized only if you gradually choose single names by using the scroll button and your address book is not utterly full. You need to also cancel the choosing line by pressing the bottom context key.

The quickest possible way to dial a number in the new Nokia is therefore the voice order. Simply press and hold the bottom context key and pronounce a name. The phone recognizes names very precisely. It gets confused with very short and very similar names only. I am sure you will appreciate the voice order especially when driving. The only device necessary is a connected handsfree, which is delivered with the original box.

Missed calls alarm • Picture of the person calling

Writing messages

Writing messages on this phone is a bit of a wrench. Nevertheless Nokia has handled the absence of a keypad in a very smart way. One can create text or multimedia messages only. There is no e-mail client which is caused by the fact that Nokia 7280 does not support Java while in all other phones of Series 40 the client is a steady installed Java application. When writing text messages you will find the standard three lines plus a forth one, in which characters to choose from appear. If you set up a smaller font, the display can even view four lines of text, but having in mind the size of the display itself you will find such a font really miniscule. I would have problems to read it even though my sight is very good.

Writting a text message

Inserting characters is similar to number dialing. Bu scrolling the operating button you choose the character you need in the bottom line. By pressing the confirming middle part of the same button you insert it into the text. It is simple but when you start writing you find out how awfully long the alphabet is.

Regarding predictive writing, the system in the new Nokia 7280 is better than the famous T9 dictionary for it would choose out of 5 characters, you are expected to use in the coming word, instead of 4 and writing therefore becomes much quicker. The new Nokia's dictionary would also choose out of the whole alphabet. Provided you write messages using only common words, you may not even need to use the scroll button.

This is the process when writing with the help of a dictionary - the letter that is expected to come is offered on first place

When you search for characters placed at the end of the alphabet you will by no doubt welcome the possibility to activate the gradual character searching. Thanks to it you can scroll the button to the left and get straight to the beginning of the search where the letter Z and the most frequent additional characters as dot, comma or question mark are. On the way there, however, you will come across six green icons.

Switching between the mode of writing messages and the mode of cursor movement

The first one starts or deactivates the predictive writing, the second serves for switching to the mode of the cursor movement, the third and the forth ones view the special characters menu. The second from the right views the numbers' line and the one placed at the very end of the field enables switching between lower and upper case. Next to it a space is placed and after it the alphabet starts.

In the special characters menu you will also find plenty of standard smiley faces. When creating messages you can choose whether to display them as a sequence of characters or as a picture.

Inserting smiley faces

Multimedia messages are up to 100 KB in size. You can insert text, pictures as well as videos. The way of writing is just the same like in the text messages. Nokia 7280's editor does not differ from the editors of other Nokia phones either. The pictures hence do not get displayed. You will need to choose the function Preview to play a MMS.

Creating multimedia messages and preview

 

The hidden camera

I had expected that after extending the phone, the camera would automatically get activated. That did not happen though. I had to turn it on by using the menu. The camera's range-finder is very small, but the picture changes very fast.

You can take pictures with VGA resolution or portraits with lower quality resolution. In the mode menu there is also a night mode. There is no video though. You could further on set up three quality levels for your pictures, a name of the created picture, activating/deactivating of the sound when taking pictures and the self-release. And that is the end of the camera's functions. When taking pictures, you can bring the object 4 times closer using digital zoom. At the same time the resolution quality does not change at all.

Camera's range-finder and menu

The quality of the pictures is average. Near the edge of the frame they apparently get out of focus and the colors sometimes differ from the real ones a lot. A compensation function and some balancing of the white color would have done the camera a very good favor

Sample photos in VGA resolution

Sample of digital zoom

Organizer

In the phone menu you will find a time organizing menu, which is basically similar to the one in the rest of the phones of the Series 40. The problem is that the functions of this particular mobile phone lose a great deal of their usability because the searching and the dialing processes are very slow. After some more tries however, I had to confess they were not so difficult to get used to.

Regarding the possibilities to synchronize items in the calendar and the address book, you should not count with too many data entries. You will definitely do much better with a computer. Nokia 7280 and the computer create an ideal couple.

Monthly, weekly, and daily preview of the calendar

The calendar is equipped with a monthly, weekly and daily preview. It is possible to see only a part of the month on the display though for its size limits would not allow you to do better… There are three lines available plus a forth one with the names of the days. You choose a day by using the scroll panel - hence in a horizontal way. It is not possible to move rolling vertically. In the weekly preview the situation is even more chaotic. You will see a line with the name of the day as well as three lines - each of them for a chosen hour of the day. Moving among hours is therefore vertical. At the same time moving among days in a horizontal way is impossible. In the monthly preview the days and the events are viewed in bold. The font is so small though, that you will easily miss the bolding. In the weekly preview at a certain moment an icon of the event comes out. A sound alarm may help you here for the system is quite confusing. Such an alarm is possible to attach at any of the chosen events. It cannot be changed though, so you will have to get used to the peep that has been preset up. Moreover the signal is weak and can be missed very easily. Fortunately we can rely on vibrations.

When you enter a new event you have 5 specific types to choose from: reminders, negotiations, calls, birthdays and notes. Meanings and entries are named, so they are utterly clear. All of the rest you already know very well from the other Series 40 phones. You are also given the option to enter repeated events.

Some people will manage with organizing their time by only using the alarm clock. One can choose a melody, which can also repeat in certain intervals.

Alarm setup • task organizer • notes

Further on in the menu you will find a typical task organizer. You can enter only one general type of a task with an attached priority note that eventually helps you organize all the tasks. It is also possible to create notes, which take in up to 3000 characters, but I doubt anyone will make use of this option in this particular phone. The last item refers to the synchronizing options. You can set up a password protection for synchronizing the phone with a computer or you can synchronize data from a distance through a server.

Dictaphone and synchronizing options

 

Multimedia

In the multimedia menu what drags attention is the radio. It only works with head-phones, which come along with the original package. The head-phones are equipped with a microphone and they serve as a handsfree accessory. The cables are coated in a strong protective layer and that is why they are quite thick and not very flexible, which may be a problem. . On the other hand they are comfortable to wear hung on the neck.

Head-phones with a microphone

You can also play the radio loudly through the phone's speaker. The head-phones however should be connected for they serve as an antenna. While listening to the radio you can operate with the phone in any desirable manner. When a phone call is to be made the radio turns off automatically.

You can save in the memory and name up to 20 favorite radio stations. Tuning can be done manually or half-manually with the help of tuner, which searches for the closest station within the chosen frequency scale. There is no obstacle in handling the radio by using the scroll operating button, but in order to set a different volume level you will need to get into the menu and choose another item, which is a bit of a lengthy process.

Rádio • volume setup • list of preset stations

I am particular about good quality sound, so I was disappointed with the sound that came out of the head-phones. The bass element is the most outstanding, the heights are unclear and the middle band is slightly distorted. However, when I realized I was listening to a phone and compared its sound to the sound of a pocket radio or a cheap MP3 player, my disappointment disappeared. Nokia 7280 is a precious partner when trying to kill the time in a means of transport for example. Moreover, it is always at hand.

In the Media menu section you will find not only the radio and the camera, but also a voicemail box, which allows you to create up to three-minute long records, and a media player. It might seem to you that a MP3 player is a sure thing in such a phone, but it is not. There is only a gallery with multimedia files, where you can play different melodies, records or video files. Of course, you are free to open a MP3 file as well, connect the head-phones and listen to it, but this definitely cannot be considered a music player.

The media menu also offers the option to stream download multimedia files. It can only be used though in countries where it is supported by the mobile operators. Of a much bigger use - and I am sure you will appreciate it - is the well-arranged gallery, which resembles a file manager in a computer. You can also choose the icons' size. The pictures come out with a preview plus information about the size of each file. The memory capacity is huge - 52 MB and you will hardly ever make use of all of it regarding the fact that the phone lacks a MP3 player.

Information about memory • viewing pictures and melodies in the multimedia gallery

Other features

The games fans will be disappointed to find out that Nokia 7280 does not have any games. Neither can be such downloaded. This phone's specific operating system is apparently not compatible with Java applications and therefore it provides no support for them. Nor will one find such additional functions like calculator, countdown, stopwatch, converters or the favorite wallet.

Do not be sad, however, for on the other hand you get hardware accessories. Besides the wrist band you will also get a leather case for your phone. It is a roll, in which you insert the phone and it holds inside thanks to the roll's narrowness. As a result pulling the phone out of the case inevitably means switching it on. It comes out cleaned and without any fingerprints on it.

The simple case protects the whole phone • The Nokia sausage • when pulled out the phone turns itself on

A CD with software is also delivered with the phone. In it you will find the newest version of the service software PC Suit, references to how to download pictures and melodies and a user's guide with a presentation of the phone and its accessories. The design work on the presentation is highly professional and is also accompanied by very stylish music.

Presentation example from the installing CD

The PC Suite makes it possible to comfortably synchronize the phone with a computer, manage all contacts, write short messages from the computer or modify pictures. We have already written about its features several times, so I would skip its full-detailed description here.

At the end I would also like to mention the data transfers for Nokia 7280 supports not only GPRS class 10, but also the EDGE fast data transfers. It is also brilliant at managing the fastened dial transfers HSCSD. You can connect the phone to a computer by only using cordless connection either by infrared port or Bluetooth. For surfing the internet there is WAP available.

Data connectivity • WAP

 

A toy for the rich

Nokia 7280 is an exceptional telephone and it is not going to become a massively sold item. That is why its owner will always look original and will attract others' attention. Even though it is a fashionable accessory, it also offers a wide range of functions and could manage very well in a competition with phones designed for work mainly.

Provided you don not mind the consistent squeaky sound, do not play games, do not miss the standard additional applications and write short messages once in a week, you will be completely satisfied with this telephone. You will have to put a thicker pile of banknotes on the table though. Exclusivity is expensive. Anyway the price - almost 600 euros - seems to me a little bit too high. One can have the absolutely excellent stylish Nokia 7610 with Symbian and a mega pixel-camera at almost the same price.

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Another point of view

In this section some of our editorial members are offered to express their opinion on the tested telephone.

Marek Lutonsky: I was given the new Nokia 7280 in order to prepare a guide for its setup. I spent a lot of time inserting numbers and other parameters using the scroll button and I have to say it is not comfortable at all. Moreover the scroll button tends to resist when used. It is a pity that Nokia has gone for a mechanical device instead of a touchpad.

However, generally speaking it is a stylish piece of electronics - one of the best. Neither Razr, nor any other extravagant phones grab one's attention as quickly as the new Nokia's lipstick does. Moreover I am sure it is going to satisfy many customers for one can make phone calls with it and this is what a regular customer needs.