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Neonode N2 Review
The stand-by mode is nothing special – a customizable wallpaper and service information which shows the battery and reception status as well as a clock. Opening any menu is done by a scrolling movement over the display. There are seven directions and the common thing is that all require scrolling from the one end of the display to the other. There are three directions from bottom to top, and four from left to right (two couples respectively in the bottom and the top). Sweeping from top right corner to bottom left one acts as "close application" command.
The main menu is arranged in four tabs. The first three house grid of 2x3 icons while the fourth is made as a horizontal list. This is list of shortcuts, which can be easy personalized by opening their tools menu. The phone supports (color) themes but our review unit didn’t have any preloaded.
Phonebook:
The Contacts are visualized as a vertical list with small name, similar to the fourth tab in the main menu. Each field is much smaller than the icons in the main menu and cannot be easily pressed with finger, which is the reason Neonode has done another type of selection. To select one you should scroll through list either by moving your finger on the display (very similar to the iPhone) or by using the uncomfortable joystick. In this type of lists, once you've marked the field (contact in this case) you want, taping anywhere on the screen will confirm the selection. This is pretty convenient once you get used to it, as otherwise it would be nearly impossible to touch only the row you want.
The strangest and most inconvenient thing is that option for searching through the contacts list is missing. Imagine scrolling through a few hundreds of names, looking for some of your contacts. This is absurd and should have been included in the options menu.
Options for editing, deleting or adding a contact are accessed in the menu that opens from the lower right corner. Here you will be welcomed by the various fields each contact can have, all with colorful icon. Similar to the Windows Mobile phones, there are fields for multiple numbers but their type cannot be changed. Additionally there are fields for emails, address, note and personal Caller ID image and ringtone.
Up to six favorite contacts can be added for faster access to them. Similar to the HTC Touch, they are allightned in a grid and are shown by the caller ID pictures.
The dialing screen can be accessed from the standby, choosing the middle of the lower part and scrolling to the top. A small numeric keyboard will appear but thanks to the haptic feedback (vibration when pressed) and the fact it is very responsive, dialing a number is just as easy as on a standard phone with good numeric keypad.
Organizer:
The Calendar can be previewed for the whole month, week or just for a day. When viewing the grid for the month, in addition to scrolling vertically, you can move your finger also horizontally to choose any date. Adding an appointment requires a few taps and offers fields for Subject, Duration and optional alarm. The entries can also be set as “All day event”.
Simple notes can be added and we were surprised that the Task menu is a task manager that shows the loaded applications.
A few alarms can be set to work simultaneously and each can have personal tone and text for alerting.
The Calculator will do the job but its interface is one of the most uncomfortable we’ve used and doesn’t take advantage of the touch-display-navigation by any means.
You won’t be really surprised by the options in the messaging menu and even email client is missing. At least MMS (multimedia messages) are supported. The text is input via the on-screen 3x4 numeric keypad, but T9 predictive text input system should help for improving the speed. We would have liked to see a QWERTY as in the iPhone and the Viewty, but considering the small display size it would have been too inconvenient to use.
Neonode N2 Review
Smaller than you expected ...Smaller than you expected ...
Published on: 05 November, 2007 by PhoneArena Team
Interface:Standby screen
The Neonode N2, like its predecessor, is based on Windows CE operating system but in order to differentiate from this OS uses a proprietary interface called Neno. The software it uses is loaded on the miniSD memory card in the box and without it the phone cannot start.
| The four tabs of the main menu | |
The main menu is arranged in four tabs. The first three house grid of 2x3 icons while the fourth is made as a horizontal list. This is list of shortcuts, which can be easy personalized by opening their tools menu. The phone supports (color) themes but our review unit didn’t have any preloaded.
Phonebook:
The Contacts are visualized as a vertical list with small name, similar to the fourth tab in the main menu. Each field is much smaller than the icons in the main menu and cannot be easily pressed with finger, which is the reason Neonode has done another type of selection. To select one you should scroll through list either by moving your finger on the display (very similar to the iPhone) or by using the uncomfortable joystick. In this type of lists, once you've marked the field (contact in this case) you want, taping anywhere on the screen will confirm the selection. This is pretty convenient once you get used to it, as otherwise it would be nearly impossible to touch only the row you want.
The strangest and most inconvenient thing is that option for searching through the contacts list is missing. Imagine scrolling through a few hundreds of names, looking for some of your contacts. This is absurd and should have been included in the options menu.
Options for editing, deleting or adding a contact are accessed in the menu that opens from the lower right corner. Here you will be welcomed by the various fields each contact can have, all with colorful icon. Similar to the Windows Mobile phones, there are fields for multiple numbers but their type cannot be changed. Additionally there are fields for emails, address, note and personal Caller ID image and ringtone.
Up to six favorite contacts can be added for faster access to them. Similar to the HTC Touch, they are allightned in a grid and are shown by the caller ID pictures.
The dialing screen can be accessed from the standby, choosing the middle of the lower part and scrolling to the top. A small numeric keyboard will appear but thanks to the haptic feedback (vibration when pressed) and the fact it is very responsive, dialing a number is just as easy as on a standard phone with good numeric keypad.
| Contacts list | Adding a contact | Favorites | Dialing a number |
| Calendar | Alarms | Preparing a message |
The Calendar can be previewed for the whole month, week or just for a day. When viewing the grid for the month, in addition to scrolling vertically, you can move your finger also horizontally to choose any date. Adding an appointment requires a few taps and offers fields for Subject, Duration and optional alarm. The entries can also be set as “All day event”.
Simple notes can be added and we were surprised that the Task menu is a task manager that shows the loaded applications.
A few alarms can be set to work simultaneously and each can have personal tone and text for alerting.
The Calculator will do the job but its interface is one of the most uncomfortable we’ve used and doesn’t take advantage of the touch-display-navigation by any means.
You won’t be really surprised by the options in the messaging menu and even email client is missing. At least MMS (multimedia messages) are supported. The text is input via the on-screen 3x4 numeric keypad, but T9 predictive text input system should help for improving the speed. We would have liked to see a QWERTY as in the iPhone and the Viewty, but considering the small display size it would have been too inconvenient to use.
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