Nokia 7900 Prism review

Average user rating

6.5

good

Average user rating from 2 users

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Nokia 7900 Prism user reviews

April 11, 2009

Posted by: twellve

"Almost, but not quite"

What I like:

customisable keypad lights, 1GB memory

What I don't like:

phone crashes, battery difficult to remove, difficult to type, poor photo quality

Review:

I've had this phone for a year and a half. During this time, it has crashed perhaps half a dozen times. In order to fix this, one must remove & replace the phone battery. However, the phone is so efficiently designed, that this is not easily accomplished (has to be leveraged up with a pin). This was the solution offered to me by Nokia's support staff who were equally baffled, initially, as to how to remove it.

Contrary to the editorial review, my phone has no FM radio support, nor could I find reference to this in either amongst the phone's applications or the provided user manual. The included earphones are clumsily attached to a lanyard of sorts, as such, they have remained unused to this day.

As mentioned by others, the keys are somewhat difficult to type with due to their shape and feel somewhat cheap and plasticky compared to the rest of the metal housing. They are flush with the rest of the faceplate making typing difficult, raised buttons might've worked better.

The camera is slow and, despite sporting a flash, picture quality is fairly poor unless you're in a well-lit area and can take your time.

It is somewhat on the heavy side, weighing over 100g, and the battery life is slightly on the low side. The mains charger emits an irritating, high-pitched buzz when the phone is charging. The chargers connect via a mini USB port on the top of the phone, which makes it slightly awkward for talking whilst charging.

Web browsing on the 7900 is rather slow-going and the built-in browser's user interface isn't the best. The Instant Messaging and MMS features have never worked for me, but I attribute that to the service provider, not the phone.

On the plus side, the phone itself is good-looking design-wise and a number of people have commented on its attractiveness. I was definitely sucked in by the ability to change the colours of the keypad lights and do use this feature occasionally. The top surface of the phone 'breathes' at you in the form of glowing lights; it glows more urgently when you have received a message.

The loudspeaker feature has good sound quality and works well.

The metal housing has proved sturdy and protective. Despite being dropped many times, it has only a couple of superficial dings and is otherwise no worse for wear. Unfortunately, the back has started to slide off more easily, sometimes unintentionally, over time.

The USB charger works quickly and takes up less space than then mains charger. It also conveniently allows you to store files on the phone if you find yourself short of a flash drive in a pinch. Additionally, stored music files can be used as ringtones.

It is definitely a unique phone; I have yet to see another 7900 Prism in the wild.