Quad Sim Quad Band phone now being sold

[rfranzq]

Well, are you happy or sad with your purchase?
Does it work as expected?
Are there performance differences between SIM slots? [verified, highly confident, anecdotal]
Would you buy it again?
Are there any other quad SIM phones out there?

Thanks for responses.

[rfranzq]

Originally Posted by PhotoJim

The user interface requires a bit of learning. Right-menu * is the lock/unlock key combination, which I didn't see documented anywhere but managed to figure out by accident.

Had that happen to me today. Luckily, I kind of knew where my fingers were before it happened.

[rfranzq]

Some observations about the K160 a latter model. It comes with a 1500 and a 1800 mAh batteries. When I put a Tru SIM card in slot 4 it would say nothing for the network or SIM 4. When in slot two it says T-Mobile. When an ATT MVNO SIM was in slot 2 it said the name of the SIM card MVNO but in slot 3 and 4 it says AT&T.

Some other stuff in response to comments by GadgetKen:

Originally Posted by GadgetKen

(occasionally get a repeated phantom reboot of some phones with the ekit sim; get it to disappear by just shutting off the phone fully and restarting it; don't have a clue why).

Not using an ekit card, I get a 'soft reboot' where the screen goes white and then black and then starts searching for the networks.

Originally Posted by GadgetKen

Found out why the dual IMSI sim ekit card didn't work that well and an easy solution. The third and fourth sim slots are more for just plain 2g voice and sms cards. The first and second sim card slots support full USSD commands, gprs web and system selection. Just moving the sim cards around (ekit into slot 2 instead of 4) suddenly made the ekit card much more stable, and could also get balance check/expiration date USSD commands working on my Digicel card.

That might be true on this one also. The SIM1 slot has 4 pairs [8] of electrical contacts vs. the other 3 have 3 pair [6]. What does that mean? Does one have to use menus to dial out with SIM 3 and 4?

Just got it today. Not much time to play with yet. Please look carefully at the SIM card holders before you break them trying to figure out how they work. It says lock and unlock on them.

The instructions are terrible. And not very well done.

[PhotoJim]

I'm not aware of any way to tell what bands are in use, or what bands a carrier is on while using this phone, unfortunately. And I can't tell very easily here in Canada what band I'm on, because every Rogers tower (to my knowledge) that has 850 MHz 2G coverage also has 1900 MHz 2G coverage. (The reverse is likely not true.)

The best way I can tell (unless I happen to find myself in a US location that has 850 but not 1900 - I wonder if some of the former Alltel roaming GSM in western North Dakota might fit that description) will be to find some fringe Rogers coverage. If I can find places where SIMs 3 and 4 won't work but 1 and 2 do (with weak signal), I've probably confirmed it. I'm in Saskatchewan, so there are locations that have rural coverage from distant towers where 1900 MHz won't perpetuate far enough but 850 will.

Unfortunately the weather is a bit brisk at the moment so this won't be a tomorrow project, but I'll keep it in mind in case I find an opportunity.

[rfranzq]

Originally Posted by PhotoJim

Unfortunately the weather is a bit brisk at the moment so this won't be a tomorrow project, but I'll keep it in mind in case I find an opportunity.

I almost asked you on the weather thread if the quad SIM phone kept you warm enough!

[PhotoJim]

Originally Posted by rfranzq

I almost asked you on the weather thread if the quad SIM phone kept you warm enough!

Heh. Actually I haven't noticed it getting all that hot, but I haven't made any long calls on it yet.

[meir]

Finally I have received this phone too. Works nicely. Quite surprised how well its build. So far all well. TV is not working in my current location, coz we have here now only DVB-T.

[GadgetKen]

No, it was a different Nokia battery number I ordered a clone of from China. Connector correct, but battery wasn't wide enough.

I'll try ordering a BP-4L and see if it fits. Phone is a bit thirsty so would like a bigger battery pack. Plus will have a source for batteries if they stop selling Fly-Ying accessories for that phone.

[rfranzq]

Does the F160 have a touch screen??

The K160 does not.

[GadgetKen]

Yes it has a touch screen but I hardly use it. Easier just to use the keyboard for me (particularly since it's alphanumeric). They shipped the phone with a little stylus with a screw on cap.