Nokia 1650 review

Here is the review of Nokia 1650 mobile phone, which I have recently purchased and have been using for past couple of weeks.

The main reason behind buying Nokia’s 1650 mobile phone was the fantastic battery backup, Nokia claims for this phone, 8 hours of talk time or 17.5 day standby time to be precise.

Let’s see whether or not, 1650 can even come close to Nokia’s claim and can impress a long term K700i user like me, a phone which used to cost 10 times as much as the 1650!

Nokia 1650 review: First thing that strikes you when you pickup this phone is the weight, weighing at a mere 80g (2.82 oz), it is almost weightless and quite easy to carry in shirt’s pocket.

Second thing that strikes you is the beautiful color screen Nokia 1650 processes (sorry for poor quality photograph), the 128 x 160 pixel screen can reproduce 65,536 colors and is extremely bright. Making the task of reading the screen even in harsh day light a breeze, add that to the fact that characters are quite large (though not really smooth), it makes operating the phone, fun.

Then comes the disappointing part, the keypad. It is rubbery and people with large fingers, often end up pressing two keys or the wrong key while operating it fast. Nokia 3310 and 3315 had better keypads and it would have been better if Nokia had used them instead!

FM radio’s reception is good and one has the option of saving up to 10 radio channels. Accompanying headset is ok for generic listening; however the sound quality isn’t that great and the loudspeaker sounds a lot better and louder.

Flashlight (yes it has one of these as well) is powerful enough to show the way in dark and is certainly a good feature to have, especially since top navigation button can be configured to turn it on in one click!

Network reception is top notch and call quality is quite good as well, typical Nokia. Typing a sms can be pain due to the rubbery keypad; however one does have the option of sending the sms in 18 languages.

One of features I found pretty useful for travelers like me is the basic and easy to use spreadsheet program. This can be used to keep track of daily expenses during a trip, and does away with the need to take out diary and pen each time you stop for food or petrol. With the facility of storing the expenditure of different days date and month wise, it can be a handy feature for non-travelers, who want to keep a tab on their spending.

Nokia 1650 battery performance: Even though Nokia claims up to 8 hours of talk time and up to 17.5 days of standby time, I wasn’t really expecting it to last that long. However after 7 and a half days of moderate usage, which included 2 hours and 46 minutes of phone calls, 40-50 minutes of FM usage, 15-20 minute game play and 5-6 minutes of flashlight usage along with general fiddling with features and reading sms’s etc. it finally needed a charge. This is really good backup, especially considering the phone was charged for the first time and it takes at least couple of full charges for the battery to start operating at maximum efficiency. This effectively eliminates the need for me to carry the mobile phone charger on majority of my trips!

Ending note: Overall I am quite satisfied with my purchase of the Nokia 1650 mobile phone and like I have written above, its battery backup is absolutely fantastic and a godsend for travelers like me, who are often staying in camps where there is no electricity.

The fact that it costs almost one tenth of the cost of my earlier mobile phone (Nokia 1650 = Rs. 1750, K700i = Rs. 17,000) is icing on the cake, especially considering it has better battery backup, screen, signal reception, is lighter and has all the useful features that I need and then some more and is the best value for money mobile phone currently available in the market.

If you are looking for a mobile phone, which will let you make phone calls, send sms, has good battery backup, is sturdy, operates fast, has good network reception, has FM and doesn’t burns a hole in your pocket, then go for the Nokia 1650, you will fall in love with it, just like I have!

Nokia 1650 Specifications:

Operating frequency: GSM Dualband EGSM 900/1800 MHz
Weight: 80 g
Length: 104.2 mm
Width: 43.8 mm
Thickness: 17.8 mm
Display: 65,536 colors, 128 x 160 pixels CTSN display
Ringing Tones: MP3-grade, 32-chord polyphonic MIDI ringing tones
Text messaging: Supports concatenated SMS, picture messaging, SMS distribution list
Large SMS storage on phone – up to 250 SMS
Easy to create and send SMS with local input method
Integrated FM radio
Multi Phonebook – Up to 5 individual Phone books
Speaking clock and alarm
Analogue and digital clock screen saver options
Calculator
Spreadsheet
Panchangam
Convertor
Calendar
Organizer
Reminders
Integrated handsfree loudspeaker
Time Tracker
Call Duration Log
Sales Package Contents: Nokia 1650 phone, Nokia Battery BL-5C, Nokia Compact Charger AC-3, Nokia Headset HS-47 and User Guide
Battery: BL-5C
Talk time: Up to 8 hrs (company claimed)
Standby time: Up to 17.5 days (company claimed)
Tested battery backup: 7+ days with 2 hours and 46 minute talk time

Nokia 1650 Price: Rs. 1750 (with bill and one year warranty) (Rs. 2009 MRP)

Ps. I’ll keep updating this Nokia 1650 review from time to time and will let you know how it is doing on a long term basis.