The Mobile Phone Saving Network

Nokia Shorty

Wireless/Mobile Phone/Cell Phone

Rated 3.0 out of 5

With a sleek design that is sure to turn heads, plus a built-in flashlight, polyphonic ringtones, a speakerphone, and more, the Nokia Shorty is one cool companion. Plus, you'll get the most out of your Virgin Mobile service--including cool stuff like VirginXtras content--with this handset.

Take a closer look at the Nokia Shorty's functions.

Design
The phone features a candy bar design with a 96 x 65 monochrome display and an internal antenna. Most of the phone's features and on-screen menus are controlled by a center toggle on the control pad. You can also choose from optional, interchangeable faceplates to dress up the Shorty to match your style or mood.

Calling Features
The Shorty's built-in address book can store up to 250 entries for quick and easy management of your contacts. The phone comes with built-in polyphonic ringtones plus a vibrating alert, while a built-in speakerphone lets you talk hands-free while you're on the go. There's even a voice dialing feature that lets you call up to 25 people by simply speaking their names.

Messaging, Internet, and Tools
The Shorty covers the messaging basics with support for sending and receiving text messages easily and quickly (Virgin Mobile text messaging charges apply). T9 text entry, which is a technology that makes it easier for people to enter words and text on handsets, is built into the unit--a plus for mobile e-mail and text messaging users.

The phone fully supports Virgin Mobile's wireless content service, VirginXtras. Use the pay-per-use service to download ringtones, vote in TV-based polls through the MTV area of your phone, or get jokes and updates from Comedy Central. Pick a celebrity voice to answer your voice mail, or get a SpongeBob thought of the day. Need to jog your memory? Use Virgin's song ID service. Press the Song ID command, point your Shorty toward a song that's playing in the room, and within minutes a text message appears identifying the song's title.

The Shorty ships with a number of handy tools, including a calendar, a calculator, and an alarm clock. There's also a voice memo application for recording short notes (up to 60 seconds per note).

Entertainment
Three preloaded games come with the Shorty, and more are available from the VirginXtras service. You'll also get a kick out of the phone's built-in flashlight--great for getting in the door after nights on the town.

Vital Statistics
The Nokia Shorty weighs 3.1 ounces and measures 4.03 x 1.66 x .85 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 4.6 hours of digital talk time and up to 211 hours of digital standby time. It runs on the CDMA 1900 frequency. The phone comes with a one-year limited warranty.

What's in the Box
Nokia Shorty handset, AC charger, lithium-ion battery, user's manual.

Features of Nokia Shorty:

built-in functional flashlight
interchangeable faceplates
limit 5 phones per customer.
polyphonic ringtones and 3 pre-loaded games
talk handsfree with the integrated speakerphone

Reviews:

Good No-Frills Phone Plus: No External Antenna

Rating: 4

I don't use a cell phone much. This phone is great for light users. The phone is cheap but functional. The Virgin prepaid plan allows light users to pay essentially $20 every three months, less than $7.00 per month. Every now and then you can find a sale on prepaid cards and get them below face value.

If you're shopping for this phone on sale, look for deals with free airtime. You can usually find a deal.

I've had no problems with the Virgin service area. I'm told they use the Sprint network. My family had Sprint for years, and we found their coverage area was good. For light users, Virgin is cheaper.

I don't use the features very much. I have used the built-in light a few times. There is a silent mode. There is a key guard. It's not perfect, but it's better than my previous phone. I'm a guy, and I often carry the phone in my pants pocket. For those occasions, the recessed antenna is a plus. Some places you just don't want to get poked.

Very good phone	Rating: 4
I only had this phone for 3 weeks, but those 3 weeks were very good with this phone.Its so small and portable, but I was offered the Snapper, which I did switch to. I like the flashlight, its useful and a unique idea. The phone gets a good signal in most places, and only had 1-2 dropped calls. This phone is very reliable and easy to use.

The Phone Dies About Once a Week

Rating: 2

With a fully charged battery, the Nokia Shorty dies about once a week. I have to open up the battery cover, take out the battery for just a second, and then replace it, at which point the phone will power back on. I actually returned the phone once to get it replaced because I thought I just had a bum one. Then my replacement kept doing it and I realized there's just some sort of general problem with this type of phone. I searched the internet and have found many other people saying the same thing about it suddenly dying. I'm not a big chatter and use this phone solely for receiving important emergency-like calls from family members. And in saying that, it's very frustrating to know while you're walking around with the shorty in your pocket, the phone might be dead at that very moment.

Besides that, it's a really cheap seeming phone. It's kind of embarrassing to use because of how it looks and mostly it's embarrassing how child-like the company is. When you call customer support you are greeted with a recording that's all "hey what's up!" instead of just a regular professional environment. And the phone doesn't offer any free 'normal' ring-tones. There's only a couple crunked out ghetto ones. I just keep the phone on vibrate anyway but it'd definitely be nice if they could have the decency to throw in a normal ring-tone for free rather then only low-rider crunky music.

It's a good phone if you're dirt poor like I am. If I had any money I'd get rid of it in a heart-beat.

Oh, I have one more complaint. There's no volume scroll thing or anything, so you have to press the keypad during conversation to turn up the phone. But if you've been dialing numbers (like if you're calling your bank "press 1 for checking account" etc, then because you've entered numbers into the phone, you have to clear them all out before you can turn up or down the volume. So if you've just pressed 9 different digits, you have to sit there and hold clear for ten seconds before you can utilize the volume control. It's super stupid.

great but not great	Rating: 5
i love this phone at sometimes but it so dull and boring make it colorful instead of black and white

By Nokia