The Battle For Middle-Ground - Nokia 7250 vs. SE T610

by Chris "ngws"

26th June 2003

The Games & Java J2ME

    Mobile entertainment is the rage right now. Everything from the classic Space Invader to the action packed Splinter Cell, it's pure fun on the move. While most of these games are based on Sun's Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) technology, some on the market are written for platform like Mophun, BREW, In-Fusion etc that will only work for specific brand or their licensees. Others like the Symbian-based NK 7650, 36590 and SEP800 support Epoc softwares with the .sis extension. 

    The T610 supports two gaming/application platform, Mophun and J2ME. Games and applications for the T610 are pretty limited as at time of writing but SE has bundled a 'considerable' amount of games like DeepAbyss, Fivestones, MiniGolf to name a few. To tide over this barren period, I tried installing some J2ME games written for Nokia Series 40 handsets on the T610 and they failed to install outright or ran incorrectly. After some sourcing and emails, I was told that machine-specific instructions are to blame. Although the games share a common language, developers will optimized their works for the target hardware, may it be a Nokia, a Motorola, a Samsung and so on. Hence the compatibility issue.

Mophun (MiniGolf) and J2ME games supported.

J2ME games (for NK 7XXX) doesn't run on the T610. Bundled J2ME games, Q*bert.

    In the other camp, Nokia Series 40 (NK 7210, 6610, 7250 etc) has a formidable library of J2ME games with over a hundred titles (different genres and prices) to choose from. From what I gathered, there are lots more in development and I expect them to flood the market by the end of the year. Current favorites include Splinter Cell, Mahjong, Puzzle Bobble etc .. games that make you come back for more.

Default J2ME games and one of my fave - Mahjong!

Themes & Alerts

    Modern phones have the capability to 'morph' at will. Nokia started with the Xpress-on^TM covers should you need to customize the appearance of your compatible handsets. The popularity of Nokia phones and the success of Xpress-on^TM, combined to create a business of imitation goods that has everything from Arsenal FC to Tom Cruise gracing the covers. With the influx of color screens, you can use built-in themes to change the color of the scrollbar, battery/signal bar etc to better match your uploaded wallpaper. However, you cannot assign any other sound files as your message alert other than those installed by default on the T610. This is disappointing as the default set of 8 tones (7 melodies + 1 Silent) is hardly appealing and I would loved to preset my own. Good news for those with the NK 7250, you can set ANY ringtone as your message alert.

Simple color scheme on the 7250. Default set of message alert on T610.

    The T610 goes a step further when it comes to creating your personal themes. You can assign different backgrounds for different menus, a top, color of scroll bar, texts, texts' effects. You can also upload an animated GIF as a screensaver and assign a startup picture.

Default set of themes and Customizable themes!!

    Not one to disappoint its legion of fans, SE added 32 polyphonic sound to sweeten the deal on the T610. Even the flagship model, the SE P800, pales in comparison when it comes to the quality of midi playback. The NK 7250 has the same 4 polyphonic engine from its predecessor, Nk 7210/6610.

sd_P800.mpg    sd_PC.mpg    sd_T610.mpg   

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