Mobinnova ICE Review

Given no one's really heard of the company, Mobinnova could have named its ICE anything – yet that's the best it could do. Hopefully, as far as making phones go, this isn't the best Mobinnova can do – especially as Sony Ericsson has apparently signed on to have the Taiwanese firm make their handsets.

The Mobinnova isn't a bad phone, it's just not that spectacular and has a few interface issues.

Featuring a three-inch touchscreen, as well as a mini-touchscreen for navigation, the Mobinnova ICE looks like a high-end phone – at first glance, anyhow. The dual screens are set in black glass and trimmed in shiny silver, giving it quite a posh look. Pick it up, however, and it's plastic back makes it more Jordan than Mrs Beckham – it just looks a bit cheap.

The plastic back keeps it light though, and it weighs in at 120 grams without the battery, Mobinnova claims. While it won't weight you down, it's not exactly slim-line, coming in at 13mm thick.

Using the phone isn't as intuitive as other touchscreens – say, the iPhone. When the Mobinnova is locked, it's hard to figure out how to turn it on. Tap the screen and the navigation touch pad does nothing; pressing the red and green keys along the bottom does nothing, either. Pressing the camera button along the side quite handily brings up the time, battery remaining and network status on the small screen, but doesn't open up the camera application.

Press the silver on/off button on the top, however, and the super-bright screen finally kicks in. This might sound obvious, but it's strange that the touchscreen can't be used until it's unlocked.

The Mobinnova ICE uses Microsoft's Windows 6.1, so users of that operating system will find the mobi version familiar. Along the top of the screen is the familiar looking Windows logo, with some rather confusing icons. Tapping them with the stylus shows they're for wireless and SIM cards, but don't bother tapping them with your finger – they're too tiny.

Missed phone calls, messages and a calendar are all available on the main menu, which is named “today”. Direct access to the phone and contacts book are also immediately on the screen, while logos to the phone, applications, multimedia, settings and the main menu run along the bottom of the screen. Selecting the icons was easy enough with my tiny fingers, those with larger digits would need to stick to the stylus. The touchscreen navigation pad at the bottom of the phone is largely useless on the main screen, letting users toggle between the clock and the location city – neither of which are particularly useful.

Indeed, input on this phone is much easier with the stylus. Finding contacts or typing out text messages in the Windows OS is difficult with fingers, and the keyboard features two letters per key, so quite a bit of tapping can be involved to get a small message out.

From the main screen, which shows missed messages and a clock, tapping “today” flips you to a scroll window full of options. The thin scroll bar and small font make it hard to select the right thing, but most of the pages aside from that are okay to navigate with fingers.

The Mobinnova is responsive, in that anytime you successfully touch a button, it vibrates to let you know it's worked. On one hand, it's nice to know you don't have to keep tapping; on the other hand, it vibrates quite nosily, and my flatmates probably wondered what I was up to with all the buzzing coming from my room. Scrolling through several options creates a series of buzz, buzz, buzz noises, that are more audible than they really should be.

Connecting to the internet was impossible. While this very same SIM has been used to test mobile internet on a handful of other devices, the ICE asked me to make a new connection setting, offering me all sorts of options. Normally, phones just connect and give me the web; this one couldn't figure it out on its own, and asked me to “select a modem.” Thankfully, when you do manage to access the internet, it's fast with either HSDPA or Wi-Fi connections.

The rear-mounted three-megapixel camera is solid, taking decent pictures even in low light, as well as video. The front also features a video camera for making video calls, in case anyone actually opts to do that.

While the documentation promises the accelerometer will automatically kick in, on our model this only worked in the picture and video mode. Hopefully – for Mobinnova – this is a flaw in the demo version, and is worked out before it hits shelves, not least because the tiny font is near impossible to read on the vertical screen.

The ICE features an easy-to-access microSD slot, as well as built-in GPS. It also features a TV-out accessory cable, so the phone can be hooked up to a TV or projector to show off photos or presentations, giving it some more business credibility. Headphones and charging cable hook in using miniUSB, which could be an annoyance for those who want to use their own earphones, but it helps to keep the body of the ICE slick and clear of much clutter. It also works with Bluetooth.

Mobinnova promises six hours of talk time and 160 hours on standby on the battery; it definitely seemed to easily last the day without any trouble.

All in, it's a decent looking phone – people will ooh and ahh when you pull it out to make a call. It features decent specs, especially at the price point, and for a first phone from Mobinnova, it's not a bad start. That said, there are simply better touchscreens on the market right now.