The music player’s performance is, on the other hand, perfectly acceptable for a bit of occasional tune-playing. The stereo earphone set supplied is adequate for the job and delivers reasonable sound quality. It plugs into a 2.5mm socket on the base of the phone, so if you wanted to upgrade the listening experience with better headphones you'll have to invest in an adapter or try a Bluetooth set - the Evolve supports A2DP.
There’s only a paltry 9MB of user memory to play with, so you’ll need a Micro SD card to get any music mileage out of the phone. Unfortunately, there isn't one supplied with it.
Similarly absent from the standard package is a USB cable, something we’d normally expect. This is a tad frustrating if you want to transfer content from a PC immediately.
You can copy tracks across from a PC using a memory card reader or via Bluetooth. This phone also has infrared too. Even if you don’t want any music-copying hassle, you could still enjoy a bit of music thanks to the efficient integrated FM radio that is simple and straightforward to use.
Sing if you're glad to be grey
Of course, when it comes to socketry and the like, the 3110 Evolve in-box package does offer something different: a Nokia "high-efficiency" charger. This is one of the environmentally friendlier elements this phone delivers, and we expect it to become the standard Nokia charger before too long. The charger is designed to minimise no-load charging if it’s left plugged in when the phone’s removed, so cutting down energy wastage.
Illustrating why this technology is important for reducing energy consumption, Nokia estimates that if all its phone users across the world unplugged their chargers when not needed, it could save energy equivalent to that needed to power 100,000 average-sized European homes. So, more green points there, then.
COMMENTS
Nokia have already had solar panels!
Oh yeah of little faith.... "You'll be waiting a while" .... Not true at all. It happened 10 years ago!
The original Nokia 1610/1611/1630 range (circa 1998/1999?) had an optional battery which had solar panels on it.
Admittedly this was an early GSM phone and thus quite large by today's standards, but a benefit of that was the rear surface area of the battery (which just slid straight on/off the back of the phone and therefore was itself the rear panel of the phone) was a fair size.
Mobile manufacturers & retailers eco crimes
"Nokia estimates that if all its phone users across the world unplugged their chargers when not needed, it could save energy equivalent to that needed to power 100,000 average-sized European homes."
Oh great - so it's "our past designs are a massive contributor to global warming so that we could save a nickel on every model, but we're getting so go buy this overpriced low tech phone!".
The most ecological choice is naturally not to upgrade and just soldier on with last years model.
It's worth checking out Greenpeace's site which ranks electronics manufacturers by their "greenness". Last time I looked, Apple got a bad rating, and Sony was towards the top.
green?
"at least Nokia's acknowledging the need for environmental sustainability"
Not so, Nokia's acknowledging the consumer trend to snap up anything with the words 'green' and 'eco' in it's title. Now if only they could get away with calling it the iGreen phone, they wouldn't need to do any marketing, and it'd fly off the shelves 10x faster than ianything ielse i!
What about Frog's concept phone?
Fast Company did a piece on a much greener phone several months ago. It was a concept developed by Frog. No solar cells, but it has a hand crank that can be used for charging. That seems more practical to me.
I'm surprised no one has taken this concept and run with it yet (although the "food sniffer" component seems a bit kooky and could certainly end up on the curb).
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/120/at-frog-being-green-isnt-easy-its-essential.html
@Mark - solar panels
"Still waiting to see a handset with a solar power strip on the back so that it'll charge itself without being plugged into the mains."
You'll be waiting a while - and then a while longer for it to charge. With the efficiency of solar cells (about 15% max) and the environments mobile phones are used (indoors, in pockets, etc) this is totally impractical.
But no doubt someone *will* bring one out, to snag the gullible. I once bought a cheap bicycle computer which happened to boast it was solar powered. I concluded the "solar cell" was a fake - take the battery out even in direct sunlight and it died.
