iPhone 4 vs Nokia 1200 Show Down
Posted by abutcher on 27th June 2010
For some years my better half has resisted all temptation of moving away from her tried and tested comms solution: a Nokia 1200. The phone may not look particularly jaw dropping, but it does offer some benefits. I’ve tried and failed to impress her with the previous iPhone incarnations, being met each time with unimpressed stares as I reel off the updated feature set after each keynote speech. There’s always something that the Nokia 1200 can do better. With the release of the iPhone 4, however, I think the Nokia may have finally met its match. I’ve put together this comparison to test the theory, choosing the criteria based on the arguments that have cropped up at home over the last few years.
Battery Life
This has long been a sticking point. How can a phone be useful if, after making a few calls during the day, it’s out of battery by evening when you want to head into town with your mates and hit the tiles? Boasting around 7 days of stand by time and “absolutely loads” of talk time I can confidently say, without any empirical evidence, that the Nokia takes the prize for battery life. The Nokia has gotten us out of some sticky situations simply by having a bit more juice, for which I’m grateful. I’ve noticed that the latest iPhone does seem to be slightly less thirsty. This could be due to better battery capacity/processor efficiency or simply a perceived improvement due to battery degradation on my last handset. Still, two days with moderate use is optimistic with the iPhone, meaning that if you leave town for the weekend without a charger, don’t expect to use google maps to get home on Sunday.
Winner: Nokia 1200
Illumination
Ever found yourself stuck outside your own house in the early hours? Fumbling to put a key in the lock? You need a torch on your mobile. This feature was sorely lacking in previous iPhones vs the Nokia 1200, but not any more. Let’s face it, the torch applications for iPhone are pretty pathetic. By contrast, the Nokia has a built-in LED torch on the top activated with 2 soft key presses. If you start up the video application on the iPhone you can activate the new flash unit, which serves as an excellent torch. It will take you 5 key presses to get there though…
Winner: Draw
Taken with a Nikon D70s, illuminated only with the iPhone’s Flash
Taken with Nikon D70s, illuminated with Nokia 1200 torch. Over exposure caused by low lighting of the Nokia 1200 torch.
Navigation
When planning a journey these days I operate a Just In Time planning system, so reliant have I become on pulling up maps on my phone to get to my destination. But it turns out that there is another way to navigate those last few hundred metres from the bus stop. With the Nokia, you can just call up one of your speed dials that has maps on their phone and they’ll talk you in. Kind of like Tank in The Matrix. I should start charging for this service.
This round goes to the iPhone.
Conclusion
It would appear to be a tie - the subject will continue to receive a healthy amount of debate in our flat, at least until the next keynote.
If you were looking for a more serious dissection of the iPhone’s features, there are a number of great blog posts already (try this). Early thoughts in the office are that the phone is a real step up from its predecessor. It’s extremely responsive to use, and the camera & flash combo make this the first iPhone to make your point and shoot camera redundant. Watch out for a more detailed post here once we’ve had a better chance to play with it, including a comparison with the HTC Evo.
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