Design and Looks
The Nokia 1202 has one of the slimmest profiles from the Finnish manufacturer. Derived from the 1200, it is easily the cheapest phone available today. This is evident from the cheap yet robust plastics that are used for the phone's outer body. Despite being quite inexpensive, the Nokia 1202 is surprisingly stylish and features rounded edges, a flat front and a ribbed back for easy gripping.
The phone's keypad is made of rubber and is of the single, unbroken format. Like the Nokia 2600 classic, the centre column of keys is surrounded by a ring, but unlike the 2600c, this ring is made from rubber that emerges from the same rubber pad. Tactility and feedback is shockingly poor, so texters beware! The keypad is not the best around which is definitely a deal breaker for some.
It seems that quite a bit has been sacrificed in a bid to make this phone slim. For starters, there have been reports that the phone vibrates during calls. This is clearly a structural problem and is probably because the phone is so slim; the speaker's diaphragm movement disturbs the vibrator causing unwanted vibrations. However, on checking we did not find any such problems. Also, the phone's interface can be slow at times and this is noticeable when you browse through menus quickly or type long concatenated messages. Not that such problems have never existed before, but an earlier model with the same user interface, like the Nokia 1112 responds much more quicker to the touch.
As regards telephony, the phone features better call reception and voice quality than that of older generation basic phones. It is as good as the telephony of mid-range phones. Nokia have been wise to focus on telephony seeing that the 1202 is a basic phone and making calls is always an important function on such models- this is where the phone makes up for its few shortcomings.
The phone features all the basic phone applications like reminders, clock, calculator, and convertor. There is also a flashlight that comes in handy every now and then. Battery life is the same as on earlier basic phones and can last for several days under moderate usage.
Being a basic handset, it is important that the 1202 performs the most basic of phone functions, calling and texting, well. While calling has been duly taken care of, texting suffers thanks to the bad keypad. If your budget does not stretch over a few thousand rupees then you have little choice but to purchase a phone such as the Nokia 1202- at-least you get what you pay for.
Features
- Slim and robust design
- Excellent voice quality and reception
- Good battery life
- Simple and popular Nokia basic-phone user-interface
- Dust and splash proof keypad
Accessories
- Nokia Travel Charger AC-4
- Nokia Extra Power DC-8
- Nokia Stereo Headset HS-47
