By Aloysius Choong
05/07/2002
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/mobilephones/0,39050603,38023561,00.htm

Nokia 8310

We never cease to be amazed by the exploits of third-party manufacturers. Last week, we talked about battery covers that can take two SIM cards, available at all good neighborhood handphone shops.

This week, I was again browsing the usual wide range of unauthorized housings for the Nokia 8210. Nothing special there, except if you take a closer look, you will see the 8310-lookalike covers.

With one of these, you can encase the Nokia 8210 in the colors of a Nokia 8310. The cover even converts to the stylish keypad layout of the 8310.

This idea is similar to the Pasar Malam (night bazaar) mobile phone stalls that perform upgrading services for Nokia phones. For about S$60, you can transform your 8210 into an 8250, complete with the blue backlight and the "butterfly-style" keys.

Nokia 8310 cover

The Nokia 8310 has been hotly anticipated for some time. Last week, a Nokia Singapore spokesperson confirmed that the phone will likely hit the market this month. Apart from the new GPRS and FM capabilities, the 8310 also sports a new design. The front side of the phone (see right) is dominated by two main colors, bordered distinctly just below the keypad. The keypad itself comes in two colors, with the center column of number buttons a different hue from the rest.

Response to this unique design has not been unreservedly positive. At least one reader has refered to it as the "Ah Beng", or delinquent, phone. But at the very least, the 8310 catches the eye.

Those 8310 covers have been around for at least six months, but I've never given them more than a passing glance. But yesterday, tired of seeing that rubber 8310 sample in the shop window and with no access to a real one, I decided to do the next best thing: I bought one of those 8310 covers for my 8210.

Here's what I discovered...

Original Nokia 8210

S$8 for an 8310 poseur

The racks held a number of 8310 covers, with an assortment of colors. After browsing a bit, I settled for a blue/white/purple one.

The salesgirl asked for S$10 at first, but when she saw the disbelieving look on my face, she quickly scaled it down to S$8. That's probably one of the cheaper prices you will find for a third-party cover. There were other shops selling other 8310-type designs, some costing more than S$10. An original Nokia cover costs about S$15.

When I opened the package, I found I had gotten what I paid for. My 8310 cover was bright and colorful, but when you took a closer look, you could see the uneven paint job around the edges. The build quality was abysmal. After opening and closing the ill-fitting cover a dozen times, hairline cracks appeared at the base of the cover. In addition, a tiny, detached plastic piece served as the on/off button. It took me just 5 minutes to drop it and lose it. Thankfully, I recovered it the next day. Here's a tip: it may be easier to insert the button from the outside after the cover has been secured, than to put it in on the underside of the cover.

Nokia 8210 modified to look like 8310

Conclusion? Nothing new so far, simply what you would expect from a third-party cover. But wait, there's more. When using a 8310-style keypad layout on a Nokia 8210, further trade-offs are inevitable. The 8310 keypad is larger than a standard 8210, which means the positions of the buttons don't match that of the internal contact points. So if you press the bottom portion of the "#" key, it feels less responsive than if you press the top portion, which is closer to the contact point.

After all is said, the 8310 pseudo cover works better as a novelty item. It has little usability or value. Maybe you will have better luck than we did in finding a good cover. Meanwhile, with the ill-fitting, inferior, cracked cover I now had, it was scant comfort that the third-party manufacturer had thoughtfully included an extra keypad.