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Nokia 7360

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By Melvin Teo
Feb 27, 2006

Sometimes a popular mobile phone does not have to be equipped with multiple functionalities or top-of-the-line features. Take the Motorola RAZR V3. It has only an integrated VGA camera but the super-slim metallic casing has won over its fair share of followers. In the case of the Nokia 7360, the magic is simply in the looks.

Design
While Nokia's previous art deco fashion phones, with their dark red-and-black combinations, wouldn't look out of place down at the club, the Finnish company chose to go with a classy theme this time round. During our testing, the Nokia 7360 was the subject of envious colleagues and interested glances with its stylish gold and beige façade decorated by patterned floral designs. Other little touches like an orange-tinged translucent gem as a central selector button, a cute fashion cloth tag similar to those on your jeans, and a brown silk pouch with velvet interior lining have the words "phone luxury" written all over. Pouch aside, the whole package works well, making the 7360 a sexy alternative to those who desire a good-looking mobile but don't fancy the sleek, silver lines of Motorola's RAZR fame.

At 105 x 45 x 18mm and weighing 92g, the handset fits the palm just like any other Nokia candy bar. A rougher, rock-like texture at the rear of the handset provides a good grip. On the other hand, the volume controls on the left are rather stiff, the numerical keys are slightly plasticky and the keys generally lack depth, although they are still comfortable to use.

Employing the same 128 x 160-pixel, 65K-color TFT screen of previous low- to mid-ranged Nokia handsets, the 7360's display is decent, though not spectacular.

Features
As per any other Series 40 mobile phone, the menu interface can be toggled between a 3 x 3 icon grid and a list. Opening the menu interface, however, has a 1-second lag which is slightly unusual. The usual applications such as calendar, to-do list and notes are found, but an interesting addition is Yoga Coach which provides postures, tips and even a schedule for your management.

The VGA camera sensor, which is starting to show its age amidst megapixel variants, produces mediocre snapshots that, while decent-looking on the phone display, cannot be considered viewable on the PC. Without any onboard photolight, taking good night shots is a challenge.

If you wish to transfer files or do backups via Nokia PC Suite, the 7360 is limited to USB cable and infrared only. Push-to-talk and EDGE technology are both supported on the 7360, but currently subject to operator unavailability.

The paltry 4MB of internal memory without any expansion options limits the 7360 as a multimedia device. On the plus side, the 7360 allows for MP3 and AAC ringtones and video and voice recording. FM radio is also a welcome feature and works well.

In terms of gaming, the Nokia 7360 comes preinstalled with Nature Park, a Tetris-like puzzler, and Space Mahjong, a mobile if rather slow version of one of the region's favorite hobbies.

Performance
The triband 7360, running on a 760mAh Lithium-ion battery, managed about three days of normal usage before calling it quits. We had no problems with voice quality, though call reception was occasionally weaker than expected. The handsfree speakerphone was sufficiently loud.

Conclusion
If you're looking for a simple candy-bar phone for calls and messages, you'd be hardpressed to find a better-looking one than the Nokia 7360. However, power users or those hungry for multimedia functionalities need not apply. Nevertheless, the L'Amour collection, including the 7360, is a more than worthy addition to Nokia's mobile portfolio, and one of them might just steal your heart.

 
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