Nokia 1208

The Nokia 1208 is a small candy-bar style phone offered in Canada by 7-11 Speakout Wireless. Despite its small size and lack of high-end features, the 1208 is actually a very competent phone that I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone interested in a no-nonsense model. The most obvious phone to compare the Nokia 1208 to is the Nokia 1600 (also sold at 7-11). Unfortunately I did not have access to a 1600 during the review process, and so I couldn’t compare them side-by-side.


Based on my review of the 1600 however, it seems that it and 1208 are very similar in many important respects. What I did have on hand to compare with was my Nokia N95, which may at first seem a bit unfair. However, the 1208 actually compares very favorably to the N95 in important aspects that they both share (like RF and audio qualities). There's not a lot of icing on this particular cake, and I'm really making a stretch here. The phone has no MP3 player, no camera, no multimedia aspects what-so-ever.


What the phone does provide is an LED flashlight, which of course is absolutely nothing new. The light can be turned on momentarily using a sequence of keys, or you can turn it on using a menu command. In virtually all of the categories that matter most to people who need just a phone, the Nokia 1208 is a clear winner. It has pretty decent audio, more than enough earpiece volume, and great outgoing audio. It falls down a little on ringer volume and speakerphone performance, but neither of these is a deal-breaker.


Is it better than the 1600? In some ways it most certainly is. If I had to choose between the 1600 and 1208, I’d definitely go for the 1208. I like its keypad better, I like its speakerphone better, and I like the louder earpiece volume. If someone asked me what they should buy for a using ONLY as a phone, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the Nokia 1208.