Day 2
The sliver-grey outfit on the 9500 doesn’t do it justice; Nokia could have come up with a better colour scheme. This phone is much better than the 9210i Communicator in terms of weight and ergonomics. I found the full QWERTY keyboard a pain to operate: the keys were cramped. I thought I’d get used to it over time. Typed in an SMS proclaiming I had a 9500, and sent it to all my friends. In the evening, they were drooling all over the thing.
Day 4
Used the device to take some photographs, and wanted to transfer them onto my PC. Went through the menu looking for the Bluetooth and switched in on. Transferring files was a piece of cake. Later on, I found you can activate or deactivate Bluetooth, IR, etc. using a shortcut on the keyboard-how thoughtful of Nokia. The phone part of the 9500 is a usual series 40 Nokia phone. The keys are large, however, the round five-directional rocker is quite dodgy-you end up getting into the wrong menu when you press the centre of the rocker.
Day 7
Decided to try out the PDA functionalities. The menu structure is easy to grasp, and applications are properly grouped. Synchronising the phone with Outlook means you first need to install the Nokia PC Suite from the CD. The Nokia PC Suite places an icon in the system tray, and one can select the appropriate module. Using the software is simple: just select, click ‘Next’, and voilà -all my contacts were in the phone. I also copied some MP3 files and other data to the phone.
Day 13
Went to the Orange centre to activate GPRS on my SIM, and was politely made to wait for a half-hour before they did the needful. It cost me Rs 500. I tried some browsing, and though I’m not accustomed to a small screen, I found it reasonable. Filled in the mail server settings and got all my mails delivered right to my palm. Fantastic!
Day 21
Attending a press conference at the Taj, I decided to check out the WiFi; however, despite my best attempts, I wasn’t able to configure the device to connect to their network, and discarded the idea. Back at the Test Centre I got it working in about three hours. (Frankly speaking, I am not good at networking.)
Day 23:
The 9500 Communicator is a great device, loaded with features, easy to use, and the best thing to show off with. Though the keys are small, getting used to them is a matter of days; in my case, 15 days!
Day 30
What everyone’s got to say about the 9500 is, it’s a great device if you don’t mind keeping it gripped in your palm all the time.