Nokia 9300 (AT&T)

This phone is pretty good over-all, I will not be discussing the pros since they are well-known, however let's speak of the cons.

First of all, the phone doesn't have a vibrating function. I really don't understand why Nokia didn't include this in this handset. So basically its virtually impossible to use this phone in a "work" or "school" environment since you have to put it on silent mode in such places and it will not vibrate to tell you who's calling or who's texting you.

Second of all T9 anyone? You'd think that you will be able to text using the T9 dictionary with the front cover closed, but no! Nokia decided to take the T9 dictionary out of this phone... Again I have no idea why... Does it really hurt that much to include it? This makes texting one handed really hard (since I am a T9 addict).

Third of all, firmware upgrades!!! They cannot be done via your computer or over-the-air, you actually have to take it to a Nokia service center or a third party shop who will perform this for you and, yup, you guessed it, it's NOT FREE! Honestly, I've never seen a firmware upgrade that is not "free" ... So it's about 30 bucks to get it updated...

Fourth of all, the keyboard is not back-lit, So if you are trying to type at night and the screen is too bright, you cannot see the keys... Well I guess you can take the brightness down, but that's yet another task to perform...

The form-factor through of this phone is very good, it's well designed, and it's shaped very well, I just wish it didn't lack the above stuff, otherwise it's an absolute keeper. It doesn't have a camera, but heck, it's supposed to be a "business" tool. It is pretty fast, much faster than many Nokia phones, there is plenty of RAM on-board, and the QWERTY is pretty good, although it's hard to press at times.

If you own this phone, do yourself a favor and install Opera Mini web browser, it's very easy to use and much better than the built-in one. If you plan to buy this phone and you love the form factor look for the (i) model (Nokia 9300i) The 9300i is a 100 folds better since it has WiFi and T9!

The IM application also doesn't support Windows Live (hotmail) you will have to install Agile-Messenger or Fring or something.

Overall I would keep it for a long time if it at least had a vibration function and a T9 dictionary.