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Nokia 9300 Smartphone

Aalaap Ghag, May 05, 2005 1010 hrs IST

Let's take a break from the frilly teenybopper phones for a while

Compact, great display size, good set of applications, full QWERTY keypad that's very comfortable

Keyboard has no backlight, outer phone has very limited features (no T9), inner display doesn't work too well in bright sunlight, passable battery life.

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EXPERT REVIEW

Enough of those frilly cellphones with radio and camera and all those things aimed at college kids, let's grow up and talk business with Nokia's Communicator series. But this is a smartphone review isn't it? Well, I honestly don't know why they called a new 9000-series phone a smartphone rather than the traditional Communicator. The 9300 is as much a communicator than any other before it, and probably a whole lot smarter than a regular smartphone, so why? I guess there's a reason why I'm not in the Marketing department. The 9300 is, in simplest words, a "lighter" version of the 9500 Communicator. Literally, the device weighs a modest 167g, compared to the 9500's 230g. The 9300 is 13.5cm high, 5.1cm wide, and 2.1cm thick, which is not at all worthy of the "compass box" title. Its not as sleek as your 6610, but for what it is, its definitely not huge. In contrast, the 9500 is a pretty big 14.8cm high, 5.7cm wide, and 2.7mm thick. Features wise, the 9500 comes with a camera, WiFi 802.11b and is much, much bigger in size than the 9300. There's no camera or WiFi in this 9300. The phone has a similar form factor - a Series 40 phone with the flip closed, and a Series 80 interface communicator with the flip open. Let's take a look at the outside "phone" first.

The phone is a tri-band GSM/GRPS (900/1800/1900) handset. The display is a 128x128 displaying up to 65k colors, but I feel that's entirely wasted. The outer Series 40 phone is so limited in functionality; it doesn't even have a picture viewer or high-color menu icons. The only place where the color would be used is the background wallpaper. But come on! The phone offers only messaging, call log, contacts, profiles, and settings applications. While the call log and contacts applications are fairly featured, messaging will be a problem because there is no T9. Eh? That's right, you have to open the phone and type your message out on the full QWERTY keypad, or its multi-tap all the way for you. Even the profiles application lets you choose a profile to activate, but you can't edit any of them, so if you want to change the volume level of your default General profile, you will have to open the thing up and do it from inside. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, after all you wouldn't spend 32k on a communicator just to use it like a phone, but if you've got a laptop carry bag in one hand and the phone in another? Then, this Series 40 UI is the slowest I've ever used. And here I was, comparing other phones to the speed of Series 40, which had become a benchmark of fast.

<__PAGETITLE__The Phone__/PAGETITLE__> When opened up, the communicator is a beautiful thing. Its large display has everything you'd want: crisp, ultra-high resolution 640x200 65k colors and those are put to good use too. High res icons, sharp text, and pleasing colour schemes. Just the look of the Adobe Reader splash screen is enough to make you go wow! It's an amazing screen to look at, but not in bright sunlight. We've read about how brilliant the display was in sunlight to some other review sites, but it certainly wasn't very readable in our experience. We had to strain our eyes on our way to have lunch.

One of the first reactions to the screen was of touch: does it have a touch-sensitive screen? A stylus? Nope, neither. You gotta use the keyboard and the soft keys. It's actually a thumbboard, but for simplicity's sake we'll call it a keyboard. It's a full QWERTY keyboard with Enter, Backspace, two Shift keys, Tab, Caps lock, even Ctrl and Menu and a special Character key. It has a full numeric row, an arrow triangle, but no numeric keypad. And my favorite Esc key! It also has seven preset shortcut keys that take you to Desk, Telephone, Messaging, Web, Contacts, Documents and Calender, and another key called "My own" that's user configurable. The keyboard is very comfortable to use. The keys have a very fine tactile feedback which enables fast typing. Some of the commonly used symbols like the full stop (.), @, and quote (") are not in the relative places on our regular PC keyboards. Again one of those things that you can get used to, but the fact that I was using a QWERTY keyboard kept pulling me back to the default location of the keys and slowed me down. Another possible problem is the lack of backlight on the keyboard. Though there's sufficient light falling from the screen above, a comfortably obtuse angle for the screen will not throw down enough light to illuminate the whole keyboard. There are also four soft keys to the right side of the display, the labels to which appear on the dedicated screen area. There's also a joystick which I'd rather call a "joystub" since it looks and feels like someone just snipped the joystick off the keyboard. It was still quite comfortable to use, but sometimes it was a little too sensitive, especially while scrolling. The joystub offers five-way navigation.

__islandbanner__ The 9300 comes with a fair set of applications preinstalled. The Office section has a word processor, spreadsheet, and a presentation creator/viewer. In addition to the apps available on the outside phone (telephone, contacts and messaging), there's also a calendar that makes full use of the wide screen. The Media section includes the web browser, an image viewer, a voice recorder, and a music player that does MP3s and AACs in, yep, full stereo. There's also RealPlayer for video. No, there's no FM here. If you want FM, go get the 7710! As mentioned before, it also has Adobe Reader for viewing PDF files. The MMC card in the phone came with Pro Tour Golf and MobiReader for reading books. Speaking of the MMC, the phone has around 80MB of memory on the device and an MMC slot for additional cards. The 9300 ships with a 128mb card. Files can be transferred to the phone via Bluetooth, Infrared, or USB cable that's provided in the box. <__PAGETITLE__The Communicator__/PAGETITLE__> The Series 80 user interface was surprisingly snappy in response, considering the unexplainable slowness of the outer Series 40 UI. New applications take a two or three seconds to instantiate, but from then on, its smooth sailing.

The 9300 comes with a BP-6M battery at 970 mAh, giving you up to 7 hours of talk time or 5 days of stand-by, but that's under optimum conditions. We clocked in around 3 days of stand-by with around half an hour or 45 minutes of talk. On the 9500, you get a BP-5L 1300 mAh that gives you upto 10 hours talk or 12 days of stand by. Now that's what I call sufficient. __islandbanner__ You can pick up the Nokia 9300 Smartphone (or Communicator, as I would prefer to call it) for Rs. 31,335 MRP. For businessmen, this is definitely the phone to be seen with than a 7710. This is a bit cheaper than the P910i, but it has no camera. Between the P910i and the 9300, you have to decide how important input methods are to you. The P910i offers a keypad (with T9), a very shitty (pardon my French) QWERTY thumbnail board, and a touch screen with a stylus, whereas the 9300 gives you only a keypad (without T9) and a full QWERTY thumb board, which is infinitely more comfortable than the P910i. I'd pick the 9300 simply for its full QWERTY keypad, anyday. <__PAGETITLE__The Conclusion__/PAGETITLE__>

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USER COMMENTS

i should be nokia 9300's body

by jitendra kumar , delhi, on Feb 14, 2009 03:00 PM, Report abuse Reply

I want to purchase a top pannel for this nokia 9300 model . where can i get it in hyderabad

by haroon, hyderabad, on Jan 08, 2009 10:03 AM, Report abuse Reply

Saya adalah pengguna HP Nokia 9300, saya sangat menggunakannya. Kalau Bisa Rubrik ini lebih dilengkapi lagi.

by Ady Irawan, Ngabang, on Dec 28, 2008 03:01 PM, Report abuse Reply

i am having nokia 9300 mobile. and i want body case of the same. Can u help u ? from where i purchase ?

by rohit patel, ahmedabad, on Dec 01, 2008 04:36 PM, Report abuse Reply

gfuhigggfc jgjkytrr uutuiug

by hguyoyo, fyurfr, on Dec 26, 2008 03:37 PM, Report abuse

plz tell me price 9300

by inderpreet, new delhi, on Dec 20, 2008 04:52 PM, Report abuse Reply

Using E-mail with 9300

by Rithirak, Cambodia, on Feb 02, 2008 06:09 PM, Report abuse Reply

hello i am abdolhosain ansari . i live in iran anb bushehr i love this sait i need progeram and anti viruse for mobail . nokian70 ,6600

by ABDOLHOSAIN, IRAN-BUSHEHR, on Dec 25, 2006 12:52 AM, Report abuse Reply

HI IAM YAKUB MOHAMMED. I LIVE IN TUNISIA I WANT YOUR HELPE ABOUT NOKIA PROGERAM FILES 3100B/6111/3220/N73

by YAKUBU MOHAMM, TUNIS, on Oct 24, 2007 07:25 PM, Report abuse

by arash, tehran, on Dec 16, 2007 07:56 PM, Report abuse

Tell me the comprasion features, data speed &rate of 9300i & 9300

by Abhay Tiwari, Agra, on Aug 07, 2007 03:00 PM, Report abuse Reply

how can I get, a wallpaper annimated, Plse

by ben, Kigali, on May 18, 2007 07:09 PM, Report abuse Reply

O2 PDA's r better than both 9300 & 9500 communicator, but its a style statement in India.

by Riyansh Mundra, Bhilwara, on May 07, 2005 10:56 PM, Report abuse Reply

Agreed, but what about the price of O2 PDA's as compared to the 9500? And where would you get after sales support and warranty for the O2 PDA's. For Nokia,you can get from your next door dealer. Comments?

by pchopra, Delhi, on Jun 09, 2006 10:40 AM, Report abuse

I don't think so

by Kirtimaheshwari, udaipur, on Mar 29, 2007 02:24 PM, Report abuse

There are blackberry available in Market having all High end Features

by kirti Maheshwar, Udaipu, on Apr 17, 2007 05:18 PM, Report abuse

But i think so that Black berry is a more efficient phone then any other phone by u mentioned

by Kirti Maheshwar, Udaipur, on Apr 17, 2007 06:08 PM, Report abuse

i want to purchase the nokia 9300 body set

by yashwant, rajkot, on Apr 03, 2007 12:03 PM, Report abuse Reply

Hi, Well anyone can help me witrh the settings of GPRS. The facility is already activated by the operator and i have recd the default settings too. The phone was working properly but when i connected it with my PC something gone wrong. Now when i start open web page it asks for acces point but in that it doesnt show any network. The list displays the settings which were not there when it was working properly.

by Sharad, Jaipur, on Feb 20, 2007 05:17 PM, Report abuse Reply

hi there i will like to buy this phone and i dont know the amounth it cost i want you to send me an email so that i can know how to buy it with me credit card here ..i want you to send me and email?

by lakeside, nigeria, on Oct 31, 2006 12:49 AM, Report abuse Reply

Hi lakeside, you can buy the phone from a friend Bunmi Adebisi is his name. I'm sure he will give you god deal. His ohone number is : 08053619299. Happy new year.

by Shina Doherty, Lagos, on Jan 05, 2007 06:23 PM, Report abuse

HELLO. I AM ABDOLHOSAIN ANSARI .I LIVE IN IRAN AND BUSHEHR . I LOVE THIS SAIT . I NEED PROGRAM AND ANTI VIRUSE FOR NOKIA N70 . 6600

by ABDOLHOSAIN, IRAN-BUSHEHR, on Dec 25, 2006 01:05 AM, Report abuse Reply

HELLO. I AM ABDOLHOSAIN ANSARI .I LIVE IN IRAN AND BUSHEHR . I LOVE THIS SAIT . I NEED PROGRAM AND ANTI VIRUSE FOR NOKIA N70 . 6600

by ABDOLHOSAIN, IRAN-BUSHEHR, on Dec 25, 2006 01:00 AM, Report abuse Reply

in what way is the fone better than sony ericson t630

by arjun, chennai, on May 12, 2005 09:29 AM, Report abuse Reply

I think u r crazy..!!

by Rahul, New Delhi, on Jun 29, 2005 09:47 AM, Report abuse

:):):):) Wow.

by sid, chandigarh, on Oct 29, 2006 07:21 PM, Report abuse

internet

by adil, marok, on Oct 21, 2006 11:16 PM, Report abuse Reply

looking 4 9300

by jijesh, usa, on Oct 19, 2006 10:15 AM, Report abuse Reply

no comment

by NANDAN, AHMEDABAD, on May 24, 2006 08:36 PM, Report abuse Reply

I have a laptop...want to buy a communicator ....is it useful ? plz guide.

by anand, bbay, on Feb 05, 2006 04:14 PM, Report abuse Reply

Dear Sir, I across your company address Via the Internet, i found your Company Suitable for my Business I would like to transact Business with your Company . I am personally Delighted to be involved in this Business transaction with your Company, i humbly Request for your Immense Support and Contribution through this Business transaction , I would like to know the Brands of mobile phone nokia communicator you have, and The Cost of each , both in Retails and in Bulks, Also, i would Like to know the Cost of Shipping thanks, for your Anticipated Assitance, Awesome to hear from you soonest. Regards ALEX

by alex mike, nerdarland, on Jan 28, 2006 04:45 PM, Report abuse Reply

i cant seem to find the particular site to get softwares like bible and dictionary anybody pls help out thanks a million

by ben, abuja, on Jan 21, 2006 05:07 AM, Report abuse Reply

Why you guys dont review Treo 650 which is all selling well in Europe and USA. Are you allergic to Treo ?

by Vikram, Mumbai, on May 05, 2005 11:09 PM, Report abuse Reply

Sober down kid watch that tone in the langauge, its all abt putting u thoughts in a proper manner dont be rustic ......

by GOD, is tht a question, on May 06, 2005 04:16 AM, Report abuse

maybe theyre allergic to users like u

by GoDSQUARED, Pondy, on Jan 09, 2006 01:21 PM, Report abuse

I want to know how to apply to nokia job in chennai. please inform me the mail id and its address

by M.Sathish, chennai, on Dec 23, 2005 09:32 PM, Report abuse Reply

hi every body.... i wonder if can find some programs for this smartphone.. thanks

by areej, saudi arabia, on Oct 27, 2005 02:32 PM, Report abuse Reply

there r lot of free sofware like dictionaries,bible stc .search using gprs and u will get it

by Vujib, dubai, on Nov 16, 2005 06:21 PM, Report abuse

Well, i like this site, its interesting. I'd like to know how to check my e-mail using my communicator 9300 with an msn wap service.thats it, thanks alot.

by shadi, beirut, on Oct 08, 2005 04:05 PM, Report abuse Reply

Dear Customers, I found your company address Via the Internet, i found your Company Suitable for the kind of Business I would like to transact with your Company for my Project consultation. I am personally Delighted to be involved in this Business transaction with your Company, i humbly Request for your Immense Support and Contribution through this Business transaction , I would like to know the Brands of mobile phone you have, and The Cost of each , both in Retails and in Bulks, Also, i would Like to know the Cost of Shipping thanks, for your Anticipated Assitance, Awesome to hear from you soonest. Regards

by Benjamin ojo, benin nigeria, on May 08, 2005 07:40 AM, Report abuse Reply

I'm constantly amazed at how strange some of these posts on TT can get!

by Anks, Mumbai, on May 08, 2005 10:40 PM, Report abuse

I think this guy is practicing his business english.

by Shyam, Kozhikode, on May 10, 2005 11:18 PM, Report abuse

benin and nigeria are two different countries benji dude... wtf are u ?

by dood, doodsville, on Aug 26, 2005 11:06 AM, Report abuse

nokia 3220 is really a gem and full of goodies ,please enhance its horizon with more softwares

by prasenjit, gangtok, on Aug 23, 2005 06:36 PM, Report abuse Reply

i have been using a palm m105 since when it was launched, 1998 ithink...so i am damn comfortable with using a touchscreen so as an extension to the comfort level few years back when handspring launched its 180g i snapped at the opportunity, what better, didnt need to carry 2 devices...but now i have realised, the busier u get the less time u have for dialling a number on ur handphone, especially when ur driving... so guys i recon 9300 is a better bet as a functional phone, scores over the 910i...

by Arnab, New Delhi, on Aug 18, 2005 09:06 PM, Report abuse Reply

hi i m intrested in this lovly mob.. can u send me all its features and cost ratings & plz do benchmark it with sony erikson .. thank u raj veer

by raj, mumbai, on May 11, 2005 10:32 PM, Report abuse Reply

well spec to spec both 9300 and 910i are coparable as smartphones, if u discount the fact 9300 lacks a camera, but 910i lacks the new EDGE technology for high speed data transfer, for a business phone if it scores higher on connectivity thats always a plus...as opposed to have a crap camera that u can buy for 2K, also 90mb+128mb memory definitely sounds lot better than what the 910i is packing...and MMC cards are lot more economical and available that memory stick duo... what say people, correct me if i am wrong...

by Arnab, New Delhi, on Aug 18, 2005 08:58 PM, Report abuse

The price for the nokia models with fm radio should me reduced it cost more Can I get any discount offer

by Gunasekaran man, chennai, on Jul 25, 2005 01:29 AM, Report abuse Reply

hiiiiiii

by pradeep, mumbai, on Jul 14, 2005 07:29 PM, Report abuse Reply

i need some programs to sony ericsson mobail please.. thank you.

by mohammed, aldammam, on Jul 12, 2005 11:33 AM, Report abuse Reply

I need the price of Nokia 9300

by Chhavi, Hyderabad, on Jun 10, 2005 10:24 AM, Report abuse Reply

Hi I am krishna(9884014248) bought nokia 9500 for 39k three months back,Wants to sell it since i bought a laptop few weeks back,so i thought of doing that.I bought the phone with bill and warranty from an international shop.Finalnd make.I am professional ,so dont be afraid of much regarding the quality .All with the box and original accessories .Mine quotation is 28k remember no comprise for the quality,

by krishna, chennai, on Jun 20, 2005 04:25 AM, Report abuse

I want to purchase a laptop and a pocket pc with mobile phone please suggest me the models

by Deepak, HYderabad, on Jun 02, 2005 02:59 PM, Report abuse Reply

good

by sathvik, bangalore, on May 31, 2005 11:53 AM, Report abuse Reply

I plan to purchase a Pocket PC Phone in India, & give me a list of the model.

by Balakrishnan, Saudi Arabia, on May 25, 2005 05:46 PM, Report abuse Reply

I need price of above the unit

by Balakrishnan, Saudi Arabia, on May 25, 2005 05:42 PM, Report abuse Reply

nokai 9300 is a great phone i want to buy this but i d,not know price of this mobail

by sani, sakhakot malakand, on May 23, 2005 05:33 PM, Report abuse Reply

good but just can't stand in front of our[indians] mobily!

by sajith, calicut, on May 14, 2005 01:32 PM, Report abuse Reply

indians are develouped mobilis which is far better than this in price as well in worth.

by sajith, calicut, on May 14, 2005 01:24 PM, Report abuse Reply

good

by b.chakradhari, hyderabad, on May 13, 2005 10:12 AM, Report abuse Reply

Do any of you guys no how much it costs.

by GAGAN, Bangalore, on May 11, 2005 09:49 PM, Report abuse Reply

This is a phone which has high standards and only for confidential people around and not for guys like us.

by GAGAN, Bangalore, on May 11, 2005 09:46 PM, Report abuse Reply

Dont you think it is too big and slim. Just Jokin, Its really amazing.cheers man.

by GAGAN, Bangalore, on May 11, 2005 09:35 PM, Report abuse Reply

Dude nokia sucks. Da o2 mini is a much better phone for dat price n t also has a 1.3mp cam beter n much more stable software n indeed a much smater phone matter of fact even p910i is also much better

by Hozaifa Hakim, Pune, on May 11, 2005 12:51 PM, Report abuse Reply

It is too big to be called a mobile phone first of all, yeah i agree that it has some great features. but to use this phone we need to use a carry bag to carry it along with you. that defeats the whole idea of a easy to handle sleek smart gadget. For me this phone is a"COMPASS BOX"!

by Salman Siddiqui, Bangalore, on May 11, 2005 10:05 AM, Report abuse Reply

too nice and usefull

by mohan, ahmedabad, on May 11, 2005 09:18 AM, Report abuse Reply

9300 is great mobile i like this mobile but i dont have this mobile . my dream is to buy this mobile & i dont know i will able to buy this mobile or not . in 9300 mobile there are many function .i know that bcoz my friend is having .

by kunal, pathankot, on May 10, 2005 08:57 PM, Report abuse Reply

I HAVE NOT USED IT TILL NOW BUT IT SEEMS VERY BEAUTIFUL AND HANDY

by NEERAJ GUPTA, NEW DELHI, on May 06, 2005 10:08 AM, Report abuse Reply

Don't get away by the looks,its better to not use this phone instead go for Sony Ericsson's p910i. Its really wonderful.

by Praney, Hyderabad, on May 08, 2005 09:03 AM, Report abuse

Really i will like to order from for this phone ok

by Benjamin ojo, benin nigeria, on May 08, 2005 07:23 AM, Report abuse Reply

Get real guys: >>> Nokia is for novices, the enlightened use Ericsson (now Sony Ericsson)

by Dr. Parag Shah, Mumbai, on May 08, 2005 12:32 AM, Report abuse Reply

Very big on the oustside, it's not a cellphone, it's a PDA - to speak correctly

by Gokulakrishnan, Erode, on May 08, 2005 12:07 AM, Report abuse Reply

Get real......a Sony Ericsson P910i is anyday a better overall package.A smartphone/communicator with this "business" targetting with no touch screen??yuck... Ashutosh is right.You guys go all goo-goo over Nokia even if you're getting better product elsewhere.Sure, Nokia became the standard when mobiles were taking off,but to still have that fetish now is insane.

by Karthik Kumar, New Delhi, on May 07, 2005 08:00 PM, Report abuse Reply

The 9300 and the 9500 does not have a vibrating alert. That is a ridiculous omission for a business phone which i feel people will agree

by agnay, delhi, on May 07, 2005 11:28 AM, Report abuse Reply

The deal breaker for me is that the 9300 (and the 9500 for that matter) does not have a vibrating alert. That is a ridiculous omission for a business phone.

by Anks, Mumbai, on May 07, 2005 09:21 AM, Report abuse Reply

Can we pls. have a comparison study between almost similar priced/similar featured mobile handsets like Nokia 6020 vs SE T630 ? Also I am looking forward to a comparison study of some low priced handsets like Nokia 1108, samsung N700 etc , and a review of LG G1800 please. Thank you all.

by Suranjan, Calcutta, on May 06, 2005 04:55 PM, Report abuse Reply

alaap you are unfair in your reviews. you always seem to be taking side of Nokia and outlining SonyEricsson as secondary choice just because its your opinion! Please try to be just when you present the reviews. I suppose the reviews should reflect the facts.And regarding the opinions.for that you have the users comments.

by ashutosh, delhi, on May 06, 2005 04:03 PM, Report abuse Reply

U know what? I hav experienced the Nokia9300 and it definitely has a STYLUS. Also a CAMERA. I am perfectly sureo of it.

by Bash, Mumbai, on May 06, 2005 08:10 AM, Report abuse Reply

may be Nokia made a special 9300 for you dude.Hah.......

by ThwartYou, Hyderabad, on May 06, 2005 09:46 AM, Report abuse

yeah dude u sure this NOKIA 9300 isn't made in noida or ulhasnagar ?? or maybe nokia made a unique piece for u...u're one lucky guy if that's the case..

by jay, mumbai, on May 06, 2005 02:42 PM, Report abuse

Does it contain WAP compatible browser? Can i browse websites using WAP gateways?

by Mohit Duggad, Bhopal, on May 06, 2005 02:04 PM, Report abuse Reply

This is a phone i would still do anything for (First on Comments)

by Mohammed, Navi Mumbai, on May 05, 2005 08:36 PM, Report abuse Reply

Get me a 9500 and I shall get you a 9300 ;) sounds fair ... you said you'd do anything for this phone right?

by Pats, Bangalore, on May 06, 2005 10:08 AM, Report abuse

Yeh... Same here..give me 9500 and i shall get u 9300... ek hat de. dossre hat le...

by ankitshah, mumbai, on May 06, 2005 12:45 PM, Report abuse

alaap u hate sonyericsson be fair in ur reviews

by absar, mumbai, on May 06, 2005 12:44 PM, Report abuse Reply

I have Nokia 9000i Communicator. I am not getting its battery in INDIA. Where to buy? Nokie 9300 looks handsome.