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Once in a while, in fits of nostalgia, we remember the good, old days of virtually indestructible, brick-like mobile phones, parodied by China-made water bottles. These days, modern phones by virtue of their size and complexity are often all too fragile. The Nokia 8910 harkens back to those early days, sheathed in a housing that's made of the same alloy as aircraft fuselages and wings. More incredibly, it's also a phone that confers the user a level of prestige.


Rock Solid
At first glance, the 8910, with its single-tone finish and rectangular outline, might be mistaken for its predecessors, the 8855 and 8850. But this phone is very much in a class of its own.





A protective titanium shell encases the main body. When the handset is needed, depressing the catches on both sides releases the phone automatically from its cover. This trick invariably draws gasps from first-time observers; amazing how a little bit of spring action can be made to look so cool.

There have been concerns about whether this mechanism will last. After two weeks of vigorous testing, the 8910 slid out of its housing as smoothly as ever; however, we did hear the beginnings of some squeaks. The occasional lubrication, perhaps with graphite powder, might be necessary.

In the aerospace industry, titanium is commonly used for its lightness and toughness. The 110g phone is no featherweight, but it feels solid enough to withstand a few hard knocks. We don't recommend that you try that out, though, given the sticker price.

Our review unit came in the natural matt tones of titanium. A limited Midnight edition is also available. In an informal poll, colleagues and friends were mostly thrilled with the 8910's appearance, although opinions were equally split over which color to favor.

Jerky SMSing
Looks aside, the usability of the 8910 is pretty average. The top and bottom row of buttons are rather difficult to access, no thanks to design issues which require the keypad to be recessed. The key slits are responsive if tiny; bigger hands will have to be dexterous enough to avoid hitting two buttons are a time.

Furthermore, operating the spring mechanism can get tiresome after a time, but there's no alternative. When someone sends an SMS to you, you have to slide the phone open just to read it. There's also no way to answer calls with the case closed.

When the 8910 is extended, the outer shell is not connected as firmly to the main body as we would have liked. As you grip it by the outer shell, the extended portion of the handset has a tendency to rattle as you type out an SMS message.

The display holds up to four lines of text, and is washed in a white backlight that is far less intense than the 8310's. The keys slits, being metallic, are not backlit but instead are illuminated by the side.

No Airhead
Contrary to comments that the 8910 is a basic and feature-less phone, it's no airhead. You don't see this in commercials, but the 8910 is actually one of Nokia's first Bluetooth-integrated handsets to be available here. However, its implementation of this wireless connectivity technology is limited. While the procedure for matching up, also known as pairing, two Bluetooth devices is straightforward in theory, it can be cumbersome in reality.

When we tried pairing the 8910 with a Bluetooth-enabled Compaq iPaq H3870, the process failed five times before we got it to work. Even after pairing, we could not send contacts from one device to the other. The error message on the iPaq indicated that the 8910 does not fully support the Object Exchange (OBEX) protocol. OBEX defines how files, calendar entries and business cards can be exchanged between devices.

If you look inside the Sony Ericsson T68i, another Bluetooth-capable phone, you can send address book entries via a number of ways, including Bluetooth. But with the 8910, you get to choose between only infrared and SMS--as if this were a non-Bluetooth-enabled handset.

On the upside, the Nokia 8910 has been tested to work with Sony Ericsson's Bluetooth headsets. At the same time, Motorola has shrewdly begun selling its own wireless headsets, which retailers claim are compatible with the 8910. Ironically, Nokia's own Bluetooth-enabled headset has yet to get to market.

The 8910 also sports General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), voice command functions, as well as a classy analog clock screensaver. Up to 500 names can be stored in the phonebook (independent of the SIM card), while a maximum of 150 text messages can be kept on the phone.

SAR Rating
According to Nokia's official Web site, the 8910 measures 0.52 W/kg on Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) tests. Based on the recommendations of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), this is well below the limit of 2.0 W/kg. You can find Nokia's documentation here.

Battery Life, Reception And Package Content
The 8910 comes with a BLB-2 Lithium-ion 750mAh battery, which Nokia expects to offer up to 4 hours of talktime and 300 hours on standby. In our real-world tests, it gave us a credible four days.

We also found the reception of the phone very good. Only on rare occasions did the 8910 fail to register network signals. The speaker on our review unit was especially impressive. Even at a volume setting of four out of 10, the other party's voice came across loud and clear.

The 8910 comes with a few accessories, as can be expected at its price, which includes leather case, desktop charger, wired headset, as well as an extra battery.

Conclusion
Status symbols thrive on exclusivity. Nokia's 8850, for instance, caught the public's eye when it arrived to market at an audacious S$1,388. When everyone ran out to buy one, the phone quickly became just another cellular.

The titanium-color 8910 is on sale now at S$1,068 (with a two-year contract), while the Midnight edition goes for S$100 more. When its price decreases after a few months, how much of its magical aura will remain? Add to that the feedback on the 8910's weaknesses, and it won't be so easy to dismiss the critics. But for its target market--suits who need an elegant mobile companion--this phone will be irresistible.


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[ This Message was edited by: orang3 on 2002-07-30 17:34 ]
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Posted: 2002-07-30 18:32:00
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I WANT ONE!!! This post was posted from a Nokia
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Posted: 2002-07-31 01:58:00
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This phone suckz. I used it for 2 days and was totally disappointed. Dont get it.
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Posted: 2002-07-31 04:08:00
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i have tried the 8910 and it sucks! the is not that good, i have been pairing it with my T68 and iPaq3850+ expansion pack but it can't seem to find it.

frankly, it looks like an overprice phone witha condom.....
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Posted: 2002-07-31 04:21:00
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Soo.. basically it's an overpriced heavy 8210 with bluetooth.. big deal...
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Posted: 2002-07-31 04:33:00
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I think the 8855 is much better, but the functions are still the same as the 8*** models.... apart from WAP....


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Posted: 2002-07-31 09:49:00
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I think the titanium idea is pretty cool... Ericsson had the R320 Titan before... looked just like the R520.

But it's pointless to have a titanium phone that's just as fragile as the plastic counterparts... It's not like I can drop it and expect it to survive. It'll probably break the spring thing.

It's a nice idea... should've used aluminum instead. Or magnesium.

Would've liked to see a T28s in titanium black, with the screen and features of the T39.
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Posted: 2002-07-31 10:11:00
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8910 looks like a droid with its hands over its ears... This post was posted from a T39
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Posted: 2002-07-31 10:36:00
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yeah dont like it too
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Posted: 2002-07-31 11:47:00
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This is definitely a prestige fashion phone for this niche market, the white display suits the materials and the look better than (a more useful) colour one would.

It doesn't have MMS (which is a shame) but that's not what it's about. The Bluetooth element of the phone is designed more to work with the luxury car kit than data communications with a PDA.

Let's not try and compare it with a T68i because Nokia have positioned other phones like the 7210 and 6610 to do that.

That said, I think the Nokia 8910 will not be as classic as the 8850/8890/8855 models, as they still look good (and feel good in the hand), and will continue to be so for a while to come.


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Posted: 2002-08-01 14:11:00
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