It's the Communicator on a diet: Nokia's new 9300 is petite and powerful, leaving Editor-in-Chief Jørgen Sundgot with a positive first impression.
Who would have guessed: Nokia just unveiled another addition to its Communicator portfolio - and it hasn't even been 3 years since last time. Following hot on the heels (well alright, it's been half a year) of its Nokia 9500 Communicator, the two devices were according to Nokia developed in parallel; unsurprisingly, one might say, given their similar feature sets.
Far lighter and more compact than the Nokia 9500, the 9300 foregoes the inclusion of Wi-Fi 802.11b support and an integrated digital camera, but is otherwise virtually identical to the 9500 what regards features. Physically, the 9300 deserves - believe it or not - to be called 'pocketable', with a clamshell design more reminiscent of three-year old mobile phones than bricks of mortar. This impression is further enhanced by the somewhat average 16-bit colour display, comfortable keypad and excellent navigational pad which are available when the device is closed.
Upon opening the 9300, two things are immediately revealed; a bright and crisp 16-bit colour display, plus the fact that the screen hinges open 180 degrees to allow for a configuration more reminiscent of RIM's BlackBerry line of handhelds. This is, in fact, very comfortable, and although the point of gravity is not as well balanced as that of the 9200 and 9500 series, the 9300 still holds its own when used in a more traditional 'laptop' mode.
 | | Nokia 9300 Communicator |
Equipped with a QWERTY thumbboard, the 9300 is slightly more friendly in the text input department than the 9500 as its thumbboard is just a tad narrower. It's not much, but every little bit helps for a solution that in the past has typically appeared too wide for thumb typing, and too small for touch typing. The only other difference is the navigational pad, where the 9300 has a slide-style joystick with action button as opposed to the more run-of-the-mill rocker found on the 9500. On the bright side, noise emissions are very low, however key travel and tactile feedback could be better.
As with the 9500, Nokia's 9300 runs on the manufacturer's own Symbian OS based Series 80 platform, which is speedy and responsive - in fact more so than early prototypes of the 9500 shown at this year's 3GSM World Congress in Cannes. Those eyeing the 9500 have nothing to worry about, however, as the software builds for the two devices are virtually identical, except for the obvious lack of Wi-Fi and camera software in the 9300. This includes excellent PIM support and compatibility with Microsoft Office file formats, as well as J2ME MIDP 2.0 and Personal Java 1.0 in addition to support for installing native applications.
Another benefit of the 9300 is its roomy 80 MB of internal memory available to users, which - as with the 9500 - is twice that of the current 9200 series. Other highlights include hot-swappable MMC Card expansion with support for cards of up to 2 GB in size, as well as broad connectivity support including Bluetooth, Infrared and USB 2.0. Tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz ensures voice connectivity, while data on the go is tended to by GPRS and EDGE support.
Scheduled to be available in the first quarter of 2005, it appears Nokia's 9300 will become an excellent alternative for users who don't require - or want - a digital camera, and can rely on GPRS and EDGE for data connectivity. In fact, we'll predict the 9300 may very well become more popular than the 9500 as it will retail for 100 EUR less.
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