nwhitfield
Member
Registered: Feb 2000
Location: London, UK
Posts: 92 |
 VisorPhone impressions
I've had the loan of a VisorPhone for a while now, and used it quite a lot on a recent trip to Berlin, so I thought I'd write up a few impressions.
Since I live in the UK, and normally used the Orange (GSM1800) network, I was a bit restricted with the VP. I did try using it with a friend's Cellnet (GSM900) SIM, and while it worked, its ability to hold on to a signal was dismal. I know my flat is in a bit of a poor spot for Cellnet, but VisorPhone was far worse than the Nokia 7110 that SIM usually lives in.
In Germany, I was able to use it with my own SIM, roaming on the D1 and D2 networks. Voice quality was good, especially with the headset, but it's a bit annoying that there's no volume control.
As with many american designed phones, I don't think they've quite got the hang of SMS yet. Sure, it's great to be able to compose long ones using graffiti, and have them automatically split. I daresay if you're the sort of person who sends lots of similar messages, then boilerplates would come in handy, but I didn't find any need for them.
What was missing from SMS.... I had a couple of messages come in that it didn't seem to match correctly to the phone book, for starters.
But more annoyingly, there's no way to request a delivery receipt, which is something that's terribly useful. For example, a friend of mine is quite ill; he turns his phone off at night. By sending him an SMS that says 'good morning' and requesting a delivery report, I'll get that report when he turns his phone on in the morning, so I know he's awake and it's ok to phone or visit.
There's also no way to send an SMS newsflash, which appears directly on a phone's screen - not everyone will be using a VisorPhone. And a simple way to extract a number that someone's sent you in an SMS and use it for a new call would be handy - so when you call Directory Enquiries and they SMS you the number, for instance, you can call it or save it to the phone book easily, without cut and paste. Choosing the SMS alert would be helpful too.
Frankly, when it comes to alerts, I don't think VisorPhone does terribly well, with just the choice of two. And that's a long way behind the profiles and groups features you'll find on modern GSM phones. For instance, with my Nokia I can choose a profile called 'Personal' when I go to bed, so the phone stays on all the time, but only callers in specific groups will make the phone ring. It would be good to see that sort of feature - and perhaps more ring tones - in the Treo.
All in all, it's a pretty reasonable phone. I wouldn't carry it round with me all the time, though - it's a little bulky for that. It did fit in my coat's inner pocket easily, though. And while it's deficient in some areas, it's still better than having to use some junk GSM like a Motorla.
Still, though, nowhere near as flexible and straightforward, in my opinion, as my usual Nokia 8210. In fact, after some serious fiddling on my first night in Berlin, I put the VP to one side, except for when I wanted to make data calls.
What made me use it on the last day, and all the way home on the journey from hell (thanks Lufthansa!) was that I visited the Reichstag on Monday morning and dropped my Nokia down the toilet. Thankfully it was a freshly flushed toilet, but the phone wouldn't work until I got home and dried it. No problem with GSM, of course - I just took the SIM out of the phone and popped it into the VisorPhone then carried on as normal.
So, it's pretty good. But could do better, especially with SMS and alert functions.
Nigel.
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11-21-2001 10:58 AM
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