Nokia 2720 Fold – Clamshell handset with good features
Thumbs Up:
Simple and traditional navigation. Better call quality and support for send/receive emails with attachments. Affordable budget phone having FM Radio and 1.3 mega pixel camera.
Thumbs Down:
It doesn’t have 3.5mm standard headset jack and has a weak music player. The body has a smudge-prone surface and the phone tips backward on setting it down.
Inside The Trunk:
Technology: GSM Dual Band
Band: GSM 850/1900
Caller ID: Yes
Phone Design: Folder Type
Other Features: Bluetooth, FM Radio, Music Player, Video Player and Video Recorder, 1.3 mega pixel camera, support for POP3/IMAP4/SMTP to send/receive emails with attachments, GMail
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
Nokia 2720 Fold is a dual band phone, which works with T-Mobile and AT&T service providers. The basic feature set includes vibrating alert, polyphonic ringer, 32 polyphonic ring tones, eight alerts, call timer, text and photo caller id, and speakerphone. The wireless interface is Bluetooth 2.0 and four speech codec are: EFR, AMR, HR and FR. The additional features are Class 10 GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), Class 6 EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution), RDS (Radio Data Service) and Opera Mini browser. It supports Java MIDP 2.0 platform and has six java games.
Messaging features include Multimedia Messages (MMS), Text Messages (SMS), Picture Messages and Email. The camera has a 1.3 mega pixel camera, which has CMOS optical sensor. The camera stores images in JPEG format up to 1024×1280 pixel resolution. The video recorder resolution is 128X96 (sub QCIF).
There is 1.36-inch external black and white display on the phone. On opening, the phone shows 1.6-inch TFT Display, which has a resolution of 128X160 and supports 16 bit (65k) colors. 860 mAH Lithium Ion battery has a battery life of 5 hours and idle stand by time of 12 days.
The bundle package contains Nokia BL4CT battery and Nokia AC-3 charger. The phone can be connected to the computer using a cable.
Razzle Dazzle:
Nokia 2720 Fold is the clamshell form factor and flip handset. 3.2 OZ weighed cell phone looks glossy and has a dimension of 3.7”×1.8”×0.7” (height×width×depth). The phone comes in deep red and black on T-Mobile’s service for $19.99 with two-year contract. The dark blue Fold comes on AT&T for $9.99 with two-year contract.
Inside Dope:
Nokia is one of the leading mobile manufacturers. The company has made different mobiles suiting to different people around the world. In the past few years, Nokia has rarely produced the clamshell form handset, Nokia has launched Nokia 2720 Fold in the same range. FM Radio, Bluetooth, video recording and a music player are some of the features of Nokia 2720.
Nokia 2720 Fold has a very sleek and stylish design. The phone is very light and pocket-friendly too. Front face of phone acts as a mirror. There is endless number of smudges on the plastic coat of the phone. The Fold flips easily and it gives a thick hinge.
1.36-inch black and white external display shows keypad lock status, date/time and caller ID; however, it does not show a photo. The backlight time cannot be adjusted which is bad but clock will flash on touching the volume rocker. Nokia charger port and volume rocker are located on right spine, whereas 2.5mm headphone jack is on left spine. The 2720 Fold has a music player but there is no 3.5mm standard jack. The music quality is better when heard using a Bluetooth stereo microphone.
On opening, the Fold shows a 1.8-inch monochrome screen, which displays the date/time, signal strength, unread messages, battery and missed calls. Font Size can be adjusted; however, backlight time and brightness cannot be changed. Four-way navigation toggle with a central OK button is located just below the internal display. The toggle square button is similar and occasionally clumsy to other Nokia phones like 2320.
Soft keys, call key and end key surround the traditional navigation array. Well-organized numeric keypad is located just below. The keypad has flat button keys. The backlit keys on the dial pad are flush and large. Fold’s two keypad shortcuts start the music player and silent mode. Keys can be mapped to more shortcuts through settings menu. There is no dedicated key for the camera on the phone, so we have to start the camera from the menu options.
As soon as the phone is set down on a table, Nokia Fold rocks back on its head instead of remaining on its base. It clearly shows the imbalance for top-heavy Fold.
The phone book stores 500 contact in the address book. Each entry can store five numbers and email address. These contacts can be paired between groups with a photo. The photo caller ID is only displayed on internal display and not on the external one. Unfortunately, the 32 preinstalled polyphonic tones and eight alerts cannot be paired with contacts.
Internet browsing is available with Opera Mini in some regions. The organizer includes a timer, stopwatch, memo pad, to-do list, calendar, clock and alarm clock. The Game folder has six inbuilt Java games including The Oregon Trail, Pacman and Tetris.
The advanced features of Nokia 2720 Fold are Bluetooth, GMail, voice recorder, speakerphone and support for IMAP/POP/SMTP to send/receive emails with attachments. The phone can be connected with the computer using a cable. It also has a feature to sync and backup the data to computer and other phone.
There is a 1.3 mega pixel camera without flash, which is capable for still image capture and video recording. The 2720 Fold’s camera can also capture a sequence of images. The camera has a self-timer and 4x digital zoom which are easy to use. The captured pictures can be saved to phone memory and can send through MMS or email attachment. The picture quality is quite good for this range. Nokia 2720 gives 10MB space, which is very low.
The shifting from photo to video mode is done through the press of a button. The camera can record 3GP videos maximum up to 2 minutes long. It can also playback the MP4 and 3GP files. The videos churns out at a rate of 15fps.
There is in-built music player for MP3 and AAC songs. It has setting for mute, volume, repeat and shuffle mode. The Nokia Fold is not a good music device, as it does not offer any dedicated store for buying music.
We tested the Nokia 2720 Fold using AT&T. The call quality was acceptable and better than that of other phone in same the range. Although the voice sounded strong, clear and natural, yet some voices sounded distant and a bit tinny. Some callers on the other line also reported that we were on a cell phone; however, they have reported solid call quality.
The volume was loud for some callers who described that we were speaking too close to microphone, whereas, some callers reported the volume to be a bit low. The speakerphone worked good at our end; however, some callers on the other end had trouble hearing us through it.
Nokia 2720 will not work outside North America as it is a dual band phone. The Fold has a battery life of 3 hours talk time and idle stand by time of 12 days. FCC radiation tests give the Nokia 2720 Fold a digital SAR of 0.96 watt per kg.
Nitty Gritty:
Despite of some drawbacks in design, the advanced features like send/receive email with attachments, FM Radio and Video Recorder make the Nokia 2720 better than other phones in same range. We recommend this phone for those who are looking for basic service.
