Nokia 7380 review

Nokia 7380 Review

Reviewed by: Andrew Lim

Reviewed on: 21 March 2006

The Nokia 7380 is the upgraded version of the Nokia 7280 art deco, harmonica-shaped handset. This is a truly fashion-conscious phone that was designed to attract attention. It combines faux leather, brown and beige plastic and mirrored surfaces to create a unique style. However, the small internal memory and lack of keypad are flaws that might make even the most stylish of people turn their noses up at it -- not since the shell suit have fashion victims been so horribly victimised.

We found the 7380 SIM-free online for around £350.

Design
First and foremost, the Nokia 7380 is a fashion phone and its kitsch novelty appeal will attract plenty of curious glances. The second we took this phone out of the box, people wanted to touch it and use it. This is definitely not your typical phone.

The 7380 has a mirrored front section that houses a scroll wheel, with a glowing orange select button in the middle, to navigate through the interface. Around the wheel are two rubber semi-circles, which are the soft keys and the accept- and reject-call keys. As you can see from the images, there isn't a keypad, which means you have to scroll through letters and numbers to input data (see Features).

The handset weighs 80g and measures an unusual 114x30x20mm. It feels light in the hand and due to its shape slides easily into your pocket, but it doesn't feel compact because of the length.

The power button doubles up as the red reject-call button and has to be held down for about five seconds before the phone turns on. When the 7380 does turn on it glows like HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The 65k-colour, 208x104-pixel display is hidden behind the mirrored front. When the phone is being used, the screen appears from underneath the mirror. This means that in sunny conditions the mirrored surface of the phone creates too much glare to see the screen underneath properly. Unusually, the phone is designed to be interacted with sideways, like a camera, so the screen is at a right angle to the chassis. Obviously you use it in the vertical manner of a normal candybar phone when you're making a call, which feels exactly right.

There are no volume buttons on either side of the phone, or even a shutter button. There is, however, a silver cover for the SIM card on the bottom left and a hole on the top left (in the vertical position) that contains the loudspeaker. On the top right there is another silver cover that has the Nokia logo on, but serves no practical purpose. Further down there is a material label on the right side with a petal logo -- another novelty fashion feature.

If you're in the mood to show off your 7380, Nokia has added a stylish metal lanyard that you can attach to the top of the handset. If you want to snap some pictures, there's a 2-megapixel camera -- with flash -- on the back of the phone, surrounded by faux leather.