Nokia 7500 Prism

release date: October 2007

colours:

black

red

white

Review
Features
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RATING

Pros

Unique design
Lightweight

Cons

Battery life
Memory card slot under battery

SUMMARY

Unique mobile phone design. Made of plastic and "adorned with geometric patterns, bevelled surfaces and vibrant colour effects" and "turn heads with an iconic look". A fashion phone.

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Review

The Nokia 7500 Prism is a tri-band fashion phone with a decent number of features. It is a decent enough mobile phone - you just have to decide if you like its design. The 7500 is a cheaper version of the Nokia 7900 prism. The 7900 has an aluminium back cover, 3G and 1 GB internal memory.

Design

Meowwwwwwwwww. A unique mobile phone design. Made of plastic, and "adorned with geometric patterns, bevelled surfaces and vibrant colour effects" and "turn heads with an iconic look" - so says Nokia's copywriting gonks. Lots of triangles, paired-up to form diamond shapes. Nokia emphasize "cut like a precious stone".

The 7500 has a black plastic body. The front is glossy - the keypad keys, selection and call/end keys are all triangular. The back also features triangles - both glossy and matt (not shiny) triangles. A diamond surrounds the camera lens and the LED flash is triangular.

The build quality is good. The 7500 Prism is made of plastic and feels solid - it weighs just 83 grams. Fingerprints/smudges are noticeable on the shiny surfaces.

Keypad: The keys are big enough and easy to press. Their triangular shape didn't bother us, although we think it can take a little more thought when texting fast - the diagonal lines and different vertical alignment of the middle key numbers can take some getting used to.

Prism keypad

Navigation keys: The start and end call keys, selection keys and navigation joystick are above the keypad. The joystick is a little stiff, but worked fine. It might loosen up a bit after frequent use.

Back cover: Slide the release button at the bottom of the back cover to release it. The SIM card slot and memory card slot are beneath the battery - thus no hot-swapping the memory card. The Nokia 7500 Prism comes with a 512 MB microSD memory card.

Volume keys, camera key: Located on the right side of the phone. The keys are a little flat, and a little stiff to press.

The on / off button is on the top and the bottom features all the connectors - strap eyelet, charger connector, 2.5 mm connector and a mini USB jack. A USB cable was not provided in the box.

Change the accent colour frame: The coloured frame adorning the Prism's perimeter, can be changed. Take off the back cover and remove the plastic "accent", and place a different colour in. The box comes with 2 exchangeable colour accents. Colours include pink, blue and green.

2-inch screen: Decent. 16-million colours, 240 x 320 pixels.

Interface: Simple Nokia interface. 3 x 3 icon grid. S40 software.

Features

2 Megapixel Camera

The camera is OK. Pretty average, nothing special. The LED flash is somewhat rubbish - low-light shots won't look great. There's no auto-focus - blurred shots can be a problem. Keep your hands as still as possible when taking a shot. There's no camera lens cover.

Camera options include: flash, white balance, burst, colour effects, self-timer, night mode, camera sounds, 8x digital zoom, image size and quality, video size and quality. 2 MP offers 1600 x 1200 pixels.

Camera

Capture video at 176 x 144 (QCIF) or 128 x 96 resolutions. Pretty low, but on par with many other mobile phones.

Music player

Works fine. Simple interface - the same as other S40 mobile phones. Playlists, artists, albums, genres, equalizer, stereo widening, change music player theme and playback options. Watch video clips too.

The supplied earphones are fine. The speaker volume is good (speaker is on the back) and quality is OK for a mobile phone.

Web browsing

2-inch screen. OK browser. No QWERTY keyboard. No touchscreen. So browsing isn't good, but it's OK for downloading stuff and dipping into mobile-formatted sites. There's GPRS and EDGE, but no 3G - data transfer speed is not fast. Stating the bleeding obvious, if you use email and/or mobile phone Web access a lot - buy a 3G phone with a bigger screen.

Other features

FM visual radio, voice dialling, recording, Push-To-Talk (walkie-talkie style communication), audio messaging, flash messages, Nokia's Sensor application and Bluetooth 2.0 (supports 12 profiles, including wireless stereo headsets), organizer tools (notes, calendar, calculator and a few games (can vary between networks).

Battery Life

Not great. Nokia claim 2.8 hours talk time. Below average for a 2G mobile phone.

Nokia 7500 vs 7900 Prism

The 7900 is a more expensive version of the 7500 Prism. The 7900 has 3G, 1 GB of memory (the 7500 has 30 MB), an aluminium back cover and is quad-band.

Summary

The Nokia 7500 Prism has average features. The features are similar to other mid-range Nokia phones. The 7500 Prism is well-worth considering if you want a unique design. Something different.

Buy Nokia 7500 Prism online - free on contract, £145 SIM-free / PAYG (launch price).

You might prefer some of Nokia's other stylish mobile phones - Nokia 6500 Classic or Nokia 6300. Or perhaps the nifty Sony Ericsson K770i.

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Features / Specifications

* confirm features at manufacturer's Web site.

Release Date

October 2007

Size

109.0 x 43.9 x 14.4 mm
4.3 x 1.7 x 0.6 inches

Weight

83 g
2.9 oz

Colours

black

red

white

Screen

2.0-inch TFT
240x320 pixels
16000000 colours

Memory

30 MB phone memory
microSD memory card (2 GB max)

Networks

Tri-band (GSM 900, 1800 and 1900 Mhz)
EDGE

Battery Life

Talk time: 2.8 hours
Standby time: 280 hours

In The Box

Nokia 7500 Prism, 2 exchangeable colour accents, battery, charger, headset, strap, quick guide, user guide, 512 MB microSD memory card.

Connectivity

Bluetooth 2.0
USB 2.0

Camera

2.0 MP Camera
features: flash, white balance, burst, colour effects, self-timer, night mode, camera sounds, 8x digital zoom, image size and quality, video size and quality
QCIF video resolution
15 FPS video capture