Nokia 7100s

Nokia 7100s Review

The Finland mobile giant Nokia announced a new mobile known as Nokia 7100 Supernova on November 4th, 2008. The postfix “s” indicates that this phone is another member of the Supernova series, which must be counted as a surprise as we’re waiting for months for the coming of Nokia 7510s. It’s well know that Supernova mobiles all have stunning styles and there is no exception in this compact, stylish and bright slider.
The model name “7100s” reveals that 7100s is another Supernova phone targeted at the low and mid-end markets, which indicates that Nokia is increasing its input in low and mid-end markets. Fashion and Entertainment is what this S40 platform handset mostly focused on, with its fantastic appearance and comprehensive entertainment functions.
Appearance
The Nokia 7100s doesn’t come with the highlight polished cover as most of us expected, instead, it adopts the mirror screen design like the previous 7210s and is much the same in shape with 7610s. So we may call it as a combination of 7610s and 7210c while much more fashionable than that of 7610s. It comes 98×48.4×15mm in size and 103.5 gram in weight which makes it a more compact and easy to use handset.
7100s comes with three available color combinations, and we got the black and rose-red one which appears more suitable for young lovers. Its 2-inch screen is same as 7610s, but it can only display 65K colors due to its low and mid-end position. The screen is prone to fingerprint and grease, so we’d recommend not removing the mask of the screen.
Looking at the cover, you’ll be attracted by its large speaker at first sight which we have never seen in other Supernova mobiles. In what degree does this large speaker improve the volume? Let’s wait and see. Another thing, the 1.3MP camera is placed at top of the cover.
Detail oriented
A metal slide runner is adopted in its slider design which promises you both nice sliding feeling and excellent quantity. After removing the slide cover, we may find it adequate in length which is easy to hold and operate. We have to admit that these are the two most effective elements of this mobile.
As that of most slide phones, the function keys of 7100s are placed at the front cover which is similar with that of 7610s. The four function keys are all metal-coated which not only give it a nice looking but also a good feeling. Behind the slider cover lays on the QWERTY, you may find that the keypad is relatively big and the reaction is excellent, which makes the typing more smooth and comfortable.
The sides are still very simple with the Nokia LOGO on the left which may has been an indispensable element of Supernova mobiles, while the camera shortcut lays on the correspondent right side. The phone’s interfaces are all placed on the right side, vertically, they are power interface, data cable interface and the 2.5mm auto Jack interface. A pick at the top of it is designed to control the battery cover which you have to pluck to remove the cover.
Screen & Menu
As that of the previous Supernova mobiles, this handset also comes with a 2.0-inch TFT screen which has an adequate display with the 65K colors. Despite its low and mid-end positioning, its QVGA resolution still lists itself into the commonly mainstream screens.
The S40 rel5 platform is still adopted in this mobile, which is the same with the previous Supernova ones. We are relatively familiar with this platform, no matter the menu operation, or the display setting, so it’s not at all difficult to use even it’s our first experience with it. What’s more, there are already three themes options there, and you may also download more through GPRS.
Basic functions
The Nokia 7100s with S40 rel5 has rich and comprehensive communication functions, which we may have an early experience in the previous Supernova mobiles. However, the phone we got is not accompanied with a Chinese operation system which caused us some trouble during the review, but there must be a Chinese option after it officially goes to the market.
It has a common business style-phonebook which supports adding of names, numbers and emails under its 1000 contacts, while the introducing of a left soft key will help you further enrich your phonebooks.
As to messaging, 7100s supports SMS, EMS, MMS and email. The most common T9 was not tested as this phone doesn’t offer Chinese option. However, we believe that you know the text operation really well and sending a message using 7100s is not a problem at all.
Music
The built-in media player supports MP3/MIDI/AAC/ACC+/eAAC+/WMA and other common formats. The whole interface is simple, while the grey background makes the white font really clear; the tracks’ basic information is displayed at the top of it, while the volume key is on the bottom of it. The settings are simple and easy too, with only switch function between repeat and random playing mode and the mute function.
The speaker behind is a surprise when we’re playing music, the volume is impressively good and rare noise occurred even when we turned it all the way up. However, the lack of an equalizer is more or less a pity to some of us, but considering it’s positioned as a low-end mobile, maybe it’s acceptable then. After removing the back cover, we found with surprise that the speaker is just an insignificant small rectangle, the super big shape outside appears in an exaggerated way.
What’s more, this handset comes with a built-in FM radio, but we have to plug in an earphone which functions as an antenna to make it work. However, we have no idea as to the audio quality as there’s no accompanied earphones with it. The built-in radio also supports auto searching, quick store and other common functions.
Camera & Game
The Nokia 7100s is equipped with a 1.3Mp camera but without auto-focus, LED flash and auto-tracking, which ranks the lowest in Pixel among the already announced or released Supernova phones, which also reveals its mid-low end position. The camera can support images at up to 1280×1024 resolutions, and the imaging capabilities are adequate in the aspects of clearness, color representation and overall effect, however, it’s a pity to say that the noises is a little more than we have expected.
This handset also comes with three built-in java 3D games which are the same as the previous Supernova ones. These puzzle games will surely bring you a lot of fun when you’re bored. As to the software, the one we got doesn’t have an Opera browser which is a little inconvenience for users who are used to Opera, and I hope this will be improved when it’s officially released.
Connectivity
The built-in Bluetooth 2.0 module did a good job transferring a 2.65MB document in 32 seconds with the average speed of 84.8KB/s in the test. By the way, the internal memory is a disappointed 4MB without a MicroSD slot.
Standby
The Nokia 7100s is equipped with a BL-4S 860mAh battery, which can last up to two days with 20Minutes calling, 30Minutes music playing and 60Minute gaming per day. The standby time is adequate and may basically satisfy your daily use.
Conclusion
We don’t know if this brand new Nokia 7100s is suitable for you. However, with the vary basic functions, good standby time and durable & reliable mechanism which are highly valued by users as well as the powerful S40 platform and Nokia’s excellent workmanship, this handset is impressively good among the low end mobiles and will surely have a promising market prospect.