two SIM at once Quadband phone!

[Stu]

Does the v90 use real Symbian? What about Nokia accessories? Will they work with this Nokia inspired phone?

[Bossman]

Have never used a symbian phone, so I am not sure. I have a 3120 (S40 I think) and the interface is similar to it. Again, I am not sure if other nokia accesories will work. The charger is definitely not the same as my 3120s.

There are several threads (mostly questions actually) related to the phone forum here:

http://www.dealextreme.com/forums/Forums.dx/Forum.13014

Originally Posted by Stu

Does the v90 use real Symbian? What about Nokia accessories? Will they work with this Nokia inspired phone?

[schuster]

Originally Posted by Stu

Does the v90 use real Symbian? What about Nokia accessories? Will they work with this Nokia inspired phone?

No. The OS is no doubt proprietary and simply mimics the Nokia menu structure. The hardware too is proprietary; nothing that directly plugs into a Nokia phone will work on this (or most Chinese) models.

I just returned from a 10-day international trip with the V90+. It has performed very well. The only additional negative that I discovered is that the microphone has poor ambient noise immunity. Our first call was from the arrivals area of the airport and it was so noisy it was impossible for the person I was calling to distinguish my voice.

It's kinda cool watching two roaming different SIM cards (Mobal, TravelSIM) determine which carrier to use simultaneously. Sometimes they used the same one, sometimes not. The TravelSIM always chose the bargain carrier whose coverage in remote areas was not great. The Mobal (O2 UK) SIM always chose O2 or Vodafone and had great signal everywhere.

[bbob]

schuster was battery life did you get during your trip

[Bossman]

I am currently using this phone in Nigeria with my yackie and UM+ sims in it. I am quite satisfied too. Same experience...sometimes they both show the same network and sometimes not. The battery life is quite good too. So far 2 - 3 days before it drops to 2 bars. It's for moderate use, since I also have a local sim in another phone for local calls.

[bbob]

thank for the info bossman, mine drops to 2 bars after 24 hours, this is consistent. When in remote area it's a bit less otherwise a bit more, but after 2 to 2.5 days, battery is dead.

This happened to both battries so they must be poor quality. I mailed dealextreme several times with a complaint but till today no response. Which is really sad.

[schuster]

Originally Posted by bbob

schuster was battery life did you get during your trip

The phone wasn't on all the time, so I'm just estimating based on the assumption that the battery meter is approximately linear.
I'd say about 4 days using the fat battery.

[Stu]

I just got my very own "Zoho" v90. My observations are based on just a couple of hours use. First, I don't love the sound of the speaker on the phone. I'm going to try it with a Bluetooth headset and see if that improves things.

Second, charging this thing up is interesting. The USB cable will plug upside very easily. Second, I'm not getting an indication that the battery is charging. I accidentally plugged the cable in upside down and fear that I may have screwed something up.

I think this isn't a bad phone, but whoever made it cut a couple of corners. A slightly better speaker and mike, couple with a slightly smaller/thinner size would be more impressive than a touch screen.

The other thing I noticed is that the clock does not automatically update from the SIMs

[schuster]

Originally Posted by Stu

I just got my very own "Zoho" v90. My observations are based on just a couple of hours use. First, I don't love the sound of the speaker on the phone. I'm going to try it with a Bluetooth headset and see if that improves things.

Second, charging this thing up is interesting. The USB cable will plug upside very easily. Second, I'm not getting an indication that the battery is charging. I accidentally plugged the cable in upside down and fear that I may have screwed something up.

I think this isn't a bad phone, but whoever made it cut a couple of corners. A slightly better speaker and mike, couple with a slightly smaller/thinner size would be more impressive than a touch screen.

The other thing I noticed is that the clock does not automatically update from the SIMs

It is lacking somewhat in volume (paradoxical considering how deafeningly loud it can play music through the rear speakers) but nowhere nearly as bad as, say, my Nokia E61i. Certainly corners have been cut to make this cheap (notice the fake camera lens on the front?). I think the thickness is to accommodate the battery.

In plugging the USB cable you have to match the metal surfaces - the plug goes in so the shielded side mates with the shielded part of the socket on the phone. If you force it in backwards, you might mess up the tiny contacts inside. If it is charging you should see a huge batteyr gauge on the screen with a flashing lightning bolt indicating charging.

[Stu]

Then I screwed it up, but force is not a fair term for what I did. I'll play with seeing if there is an easy way to charge the spare battery, otherwise, I screwed up big time.

With respect to the rear speaker, I powered it for the first time in an office and it disturbed half the office. I suggest taking it home and reconfiguring your profiles there. It has the loudest powerup that I've ever heard.