Nokia 9300i Communicator

The Nokia Communicator 9300i is a PDA built from a mobile phone perspective.

It's slightly larger than a normal mobile, but still compact enough to fit in a pocket.

The basic phone functionality on the front belies the potential when the device is unfolded to reveal a wide colour screen display and a full keyboard.

The Nokia 9300i adds wireless and support for Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), which allows for faster data transfer and better voice quality compared to the previous version.

Aside from this, very little else has changed from its predecessor, the 9300 Communicator.

The screen is particularly good and the well designed Symbian 7.0S operating system, which runs on the Symbian 80 series platform, means that the lack of a touch sensitive screen isn't missed.

The keyboard is too small for proper typing, but a reasonable speed can be achieved using thumbs or a couple of fingers.

Battery life is claimed to be slightly improved from the 9300 with between 30 minutes, and an hour longer talk time and an additional day of standby for a scant extra 5g.

Using the wireless connection greatly reduces the standby time from a maximum of 230 hours down to around 55 hours.

The wireless feature can also be used for web access or email.

The office suite includes a good word processor, spreadsheet and presentation software.

The screen makes these a joy to use, although it's not comfortable for long text pieces.

The synchronisation software will copy email, contacts and calendar information to and from both Outlook and Lotus Notes.

A button on the dock will kick the synch process into action; alternatively it can be set to start at regular intervals.

The 9300i can also be set to lock both keypads with a password, essential given the amount of sensitive information that might be stored on it.

The 80MB of internal space combined with 128MB on the MMC card provides plenty of storage, although if you want to use it as an mp3 you'll need to invest in a bigger memory card.

We'd liked to have seen Nokia introduce more new features into the 9300i, such as a VoIP option but, thanks to its ease of use, quality screen and new wireless function, it's still a decent business phone.

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