TEST DRIVE
Nokia 8860 is one hot cell phone

By Simson L. Garfinkel, 09/02/99

Product: Nokia 8860

Manufacturer: Nokia

Price: yet to be determined

The hot cellular telephone this fall is sure to be the Nokia 8860. Weighing just 4 ounces, this tiny phone nevertheless runs for more than two days on a standard battery. The phone measures 41/4 inches high, 13/4 inches wide, and 3/4 inch thick - significantly smaller than Motorola's renowned StarTac, and not much larger than a Zippo light.

To make a call, you grasp the phone by its sides and pull downward. The phone slides open, exposing the keypad, just like the Nokia phone in the movie ''The Matrix.'' When you are done, just slide the keyboard cover back up: The phone hangs up automatically. The 8860 has a loud ringer as well as a vibrator. A small jack on the side lets you plug in a headset.

Nokia's 8860 is a tri-mode phone that runs on both conventional analog systems as well as digital TDMA systems in the 800 and 1,900 Mhz bands. Another version of this phone should be available for CDMA systems, such as Sprint PCS. The European GSM version of this phone, the 8810, has been one of the hottest phones overseas for the past year.

I tried the 8860 last month on the AT&T Wireless Network in Boston, Berkeley, and San Francisco. Reception was good, despite the fact that no antenna protrudes from the phone's case. I even had good reception in Monterey Bay - an area that Sprint omits from its coverage maps.

I used the phone heavily during the day and charged it at night, and the battery never failed me. Callers I spoke with said I sounded great, although I thought they sounded a bit clipped through the phone's tiny internal speaker.

My main complaint with this phone doesn't have to do with its size, but with its software. The user interface is similar to Nokia's other phones, except that the phone book holds 250 numbers. Unfortunately, that means the phone shares the failings that have existed on other Nokia phones for years.

Despite that the phone has both Caller ID and 35 different ring tones, you can't assign different rings to different callers. This is a handy feature on other cell phones, such as Sprint's TouchPoint.

Another problem is synchronization. Even though the 8860 has a 250 memory phone book, there is no easy way to synchronize this phone's memory with a desktop PC.

The second big problem with this phone is the Talk button. Click the button and the phone instantly makes a call, even if the sliding keyboard cover is closed.

The problem with this instant-call feature is that the talk button sometimes gets clicked when you leave the phone in your pocket and walk around, producing annoying phantom calls for the people on the other end. Traditional analog cell phones required the user hold the Send button for a few moments to start a call, which prevented phantom calls. Nokia should reimplement this feature.

Overall, I'm quite pleased with the 8860. The 8800 series should be available here later this fall. Pricing is promised to be under $1,000. How much under $1,000 will depend on where the phone is purchased and what calling plans are bundled with it.

SIMSON L. GARFINKEL

This story ran on page D4 of the Boston Globe on 09/02/99.
© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.