Why is the 6340 so chincy?

I have read up on the Nokia 6340/i and I'm not impressed. It has a
tendency to crash when you least expect it, turns itself off (to save
power?), and the menu leaves very few extra options, from a standard
Nokia phone, other than to run a field test (providing you remember to
turn the test option off when you want to use your GAIT features again).
On top of that there are no easy ways to tell if you are in GSM or TDMA
mode.
Some posts suggest that it is due to the lack of trust from the
providers, but if this is true than the T62U would also be lacking in
those features. So why is it that the 6340 seems to have been so
chincly set up?

[posted via phonescoop.com]

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[email protected] (William Bray) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> I have read up on the Nokia 6340/i and I'm not impressed. It has a
> tendency to crash when you least expect it, turns itself off (to save
> power?), and the menu leaves very few extra options, from a standard
> Nokia phone

While I haven't owned one, I played with them and thought they were
decent. It IS a "standard Nokia phone" so I don't know what features
you want? It has IR for phone book updates and CSD data, which makes
my short list of must-haves, and uses most Nokia 51xx and 61xx
accessories making it an ideal upgrade path for owners of those phones.

As to the locking up/powering off, some phones have the problem, some
don't, so I'm guessing buggy software in some.

>, other than to run a field test (providing you remember to
> turn the test option off when you want to use your GAIT features again).
> On top of that there are no easy ways to tell if you are in GSM or TDMA
> mode.

Realistically, there's no compelling reason to know what mode the phone
is in- it's not like you have any say in what carrier or service the Cingular
pre-programmed IRDB selects! Sure, the geek in me would be interested,
but frankly I'm enough of a geek that I can usually tell TDMA and GSM by
ear anyway.

Besides, keep in mind that the 6340 lacks GPRS capability, so there
are few, if any, features that work in one mode and not the other. The
original concept behind the "D"igital indicator on TDMA phones was to
explain why certain features of the phone were or weren't working
(voice-mail indicators, caller-ID, text-messaging, etc. usually functioned
differently, if at all, in analog mode.) With no significant feature
differences between TDMA and GSM modes on the 6340, I suspect the
decision was made not to "confuse" users with "unimportant" info on the
display.

> Some posts suggest that it is due to the lack of trust from the
> providers, but if this is true than the T62U would also be lacking in
> those features.

The T62 has GPRS, which will not work in TDMA mode. The need for
mode display is certainly more pressing on the 62!

> So why is it that the 6340 seems to have been so chincly set up?

I think (hope!) you were going for "chintzy" and not an Asian slur...

The Nokia, IMHO is simply a GAIT version of the 51xx/61xx series
which were solid, if slightly featureless, phones even a grandmother
could operate. The T62u follows the typical SE philosophy of "let's
blind 'em with features so they won't notice what a shoddily
constructed piece of excrement it is." (Pardon my obvious Nokia
bias- I got burned by Ericsson consistantly way too many times in
my years as a Cingular dealer to trust anything they'll ever put out.
If they started building toasters, I'd skip breakfast from now on!)

Just wanted to clarify something on the 6340.... if you are familar with
the way your phone operates on a TDMA network, you will realize quickly
that a 6340 will "behave" differently on GSM. One of the easiest ways
to tell is that when you are in a call, the mute button nows says hold
instead. TDMA=mute GSM=hold. Not to mention, many things sound
differently. The beep you get when you have a call coming in sounds
completely different also. There are a lot of little differences you
will notice.

[email protected] (William Bray) wrote in article
<[email protected]>:
> I have read up on the Nokia 6340/i and I'm not impressed. It has a
> tendency to crash when you least expect it, turns itself off (to save
> power?), and the menu leaves very few extra options, from a standard
> Nokia phone, other than to run a field test (providing you remember to
> turn the test option off when you want to use your GAIT features again).
> On top of that there are no easy ways to tell if you are in GSM or TDMA
> mode.
> Some posts suggest that it is due to the lack of trust from the
> providers, but if this is true than the T62U would also be lacking in
> those features. So why is it that the 6340 seems to have been so
> chincly set up?
>
> [posted via phonescoop.com]

[posted via phonescoop.com]

Thanks for the correction Tod. In no way do I mean a slur phrase on
this one. I have heard an awful lot of negative comments about this
phone & am wondering why. I got the t62U because of the repeated
reports of power failures with the 6340/i.
I do understand your frustrations with SE. Personally I think the joy
stick idea sucks, it becomes a point of confusion for many users. At
the same time I can tell you that the T62U is a vast improvement over my
old Nokia 3390.

[email protected] (Todd Allcock) wrote in article
<[email protected]>:
> [email protected] (William Bray) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> > I have read up on the Nokia 6340/i and I'm not impressed. It has a
> > tendency to crash when you least expect it, turns itself off (to save
> > power?), and the menu leaves very few extra options, from a standard
> > Nokia phone
>
> While I haven't owned one, I played with them and thought they were
> decent. It IS a "standard Nokia phone" so I don't know what features
> you want? It has IR for phone book updates and CSD data, which makes
> my short list of must-haves, and uses most Nokia 51xx and 61xx
> accessories making it an ideal upgrade path for owners of those phones.
>
> As to the locking up/powering off, some phones have the problem, some
> don't, so I'm guessing buggy software in some.
>
> >, other than to run a field test (providing you remember to
> > turn the test option off when you want to use your GAIT features again).
> > On top of that there are no easy ways to tell if you are in GSM or TDMA
> > mode.
>
> Realistically, there's no compelling reason to know what mode the phone
> is in- it's not like you have any say in what carrier or service the Cingular
> pre-programmed IRDB selects! Sure, the geek in me would be interested,
> but frankly I'm enough of a geek that I can usually tell TDMA and GSM by
> ear anyway.
>
> Besides, keep in mind that the 6340 lacks GPRS capability, so there
> are few, if any, features that work in one mode and not the other. The
> original concept behind the "D"igital indicator on TDMA phones was to
> explain why certain features of the phone were or weren't working
> (voice-mail indicators, caller-ID, text-messaging, etc. usually functioned
> differently, if at all, in analog mode.) With no significant feature
> differences between TDMA and GSM modes on the 6340, I suspect the
> decision was made not to "confuse" users with "unimportant" info on the
> display.
>
> > Some posts suggest that it is due to the lack of trust from the
> > providers, but if this is true than the T62U would also be lacking in
> > those features.
>
> The T62 has GPRS, which will not work in TDMA mode. The need for
> mode display is certainly more pressing on the 62!
>
> > So why is it that the 6340 seems to have been so chincly set up?
>
> I think (hope!) you were going for "chintzy" and not an Asian slur...
>
> The Nokia, IMHO is simply a GAIT version of the 51xx/61xx series
> which were solid, if slightly featureless, phones even a grandmother
> could operate. The T62u follows the typical SE philosophy of "let's
> blind 'em with features so they won't notice what a shoddily
> constructed piece of excrement it is." (Pardon my obvious Nokia
> bias- I got burned by Ericsson consistantly way too many times in
> my years as a Cingular dealer to trust anything they'll ever put out.
> If they started building toasters, I'd skip breakfast from now on!)

[posted via phonescoop.com]

[email protected] (William Bray) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Thanks for the correction Tod. In no way do I mean a slur phrase on
> this one. I have heard an awful lot of negative comments about this
> phone & am wondering why. I got the t62U because of the repeated
> reports of power failures with the 6340/i.
> I do understand your frustrations with SE. Personally I think the joy
> stick idea sucks, it becomes a point of confusion for many users.

My problems with SE were always about reliability, not form or features.
The SE feature sets are generally impressive. The SEs just seemed to
fail more often, and Ericsson was a bear to work with about repair.

Frankly Nokia has been getting a little full of themselves as to repairs
in recent years as well. Too many of their failures simply get blamed
on "liquid damage", which handily (for them) voids your warranty.

Basically I now work under the assumption that my Nokia phone
has no warranty, so the inherent reliabily of the brand is important
to me. (In my experience the best cell company to deal with WRT
repairs is Motorola, hands down. I just wish I liked their phones
enough to own one!)

> At the same time I can tell you that the T62U is a vast
> improvement over my old Nokia 3390.

I've long believed Nokia intentially guts their low-end phones
on features to con you up to a higher model. Their low end
never has decent data connectivity (the 3390 and now 3595
lack IR for tethering a laptop, for example.) Only a market
dominator like Nokia can get away with that strategy - a
"lesser" player has to compete on features, but Nokia can
bank on their name and then use features as a value-added
step-up strategy.