Introduction

The Nokia 7250 comes out a couple months after the popular 7210 model. Much of the two phones are similar: the 128 x 128 px 4096 color screen, FM radio, loudspeaker, and downloadable Java games. However the 7250 contains one exciting addition that us sure to please. The built-in digital camera.

Add to that the sleek curves and looks of the 7200 series and you've got a phone turns people's heads. With all the great designs and appearances, you might be wondering about whether its all looks and no substance.

Design

Nokia's 7200 series has always been known to be the stylish phones in Nokia's arsenal, and the 7250 follows suit. The 7250 looks quite different from its predecessor the 7210. The tapered keypad has been replaced now with a more traditional design. However, on the inside much of the 7250 is the same as the 7210, not that that's a bad thing.

Nokia has kept the great speaker phone capabilities of the 7210, as well as the dynamic FM radio. Unfortunately what has also stayed the same is the 4,096 color screen, and 4 note polyphonic ring tones. With Samsung's new phones coming out with 65,000 color screens and 40 note polyphonic ring tones, the 7250 is trailing behind in the technology. Granted it's still better than most phones on the market, its just 9 months behind the best.

On a bright note, the 7250 plays ring tones through its internal speaker rather than an ordinary buzzer. That means you'll get vastly improved sound quality for ring tones, alerts, and game tones.

What has been improved upon is the new addition of a built-in camera. With Sony Ericsson, and Samsung planning cameras in their new phones, Nokia had to follow. In terms of image quality, it's not the best. But what would you expect from a camera phone. It's main purpose is talking on the phone. It does it's job for taking quick snaps of some idea you jog a napkin, or taking pictures of people to stick as your background. But aside from that, don't expect to get printable photos.

Things that Nokia hasn't added since the 7210 are still voice commands. If you use this feature a lot, it'll be quite disappointing to you. Better get your thumbs ready, because they'll get quite a workout.

Screen

The 4096 color passive matrix display is similar the the Nokia 7210. It has a resolution of 128 x 128 px and shows 5 lines of text and a service line. When messaging, 8 lines of text and 2 service lines are displayed due to scaling.

The 7250's screen is slightly brighter and clearer than the 7210, but ghosts are still an issue. With games that change a lot, you'll see remnants of the previous screen when it changes to the new screen. It's not that noticeable when you're using slow changing menu functions, but a game like bounce makes it more noticeable. The screen is bright and clear in dim conditions. However in sunny weather, the screen becomes a bit washed out.

Controls

Nokia decided to change back to a more traditional keypad design. If many of you liked the look of the 7200 series but were turned off by the problems the 7210 would give you while text messaging, then this might be your alternative.

Clean, stylish design doesn't hinder functionality this time around. So text messaging should be just as you remembered. If you've gotten used to the 7210, I'm sorry. You'll have to relearn everything all over again.

The Nokia 7250 is also equipped with the usual 4 direction keypad. Will Nokia ever switch to a 5 way jog dial? We can only hope.

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