O2 Cocoon review: Music can be cool

Excellent web browser

As we already mentioned, with the O2 Cocoon you can count on EDGE and 3G/HSDPA for browsing internet on the go.

The O2 Cocoon web browser of the O2 Cocoon is excellent - it renders web pages with a nice system font that is readable almost throughout the whole range of zoom levels. Plus, it offers fullscreen view mode, which we found to be our preferred setting.

There are several rendering modes - the Text wrap deserves pointing out, as it proved a great combo for the fullscreen setup. It fits web pages so that the whole text paragraphs are visible and readable. Some of the other rendering modes are Text only and Screen optimized.

Browsing GSMArena.com in standard mode, text wrap mode, screen optimized mode

Further, the Cocoon web browser offers several Navigation modes, which make browsing a bit easier. We found that we preferred to switch between two of them - "4-way navigation" and "scrolling". The 4-way navigation mode jumps along hyperlinks highlighting them one after the other. The scrolling mode neglects the hyperlinks and instead scrolls around the webpage as on a desktop browser. Scrolling is way faster with it and using the volume wheel for scrolling up and down was a real treat.

And finally, the web browser offers a mini-map of the web page so that you know your way around elaborate web pages.

The mini-map allows you to navigate around complex web pages

In conclusion, the O2 Cocoon web browser is among the best ones we've seen on a feature phone and smartphone web browsers are within reaching distance. It's safe to say that it's on par with the Netfront 3.4 web browser, so highly pitched by Sony Ericsson lately. And you've got to remember here that the O2 Cocoon is a last-year's model, which makes its web implementation even more impressive.

Organizer is nice too

The O2 Cocoon sports a calendar capable of storing up to 100 scheduled events - the week starts on Monday.

Additionally, a single alarm slot is available in the Clock application. There are no special settings for the alarms, such as repetition or snooze time. You can have a music track or the FM radio alert you when the alarm goes off.

Calendar • clock & alarms • setting an alarm: there are no extra options

The phone also offers a Notes application (stores up to 20 notes), voice recorder, world time application (besides the dual-zone clock), calculator and a unit converter. A stopwatch will cater to sports-minded users. A countdown timer is not available.

Voice recorder • world clock • notepad

Java playtime

O2 Cocoon, like the majority of feature phones, relies on Java MDIP 2.0 for mobile gaming. There are three games pre-installed but you can download some more of course.

The first game is a demo version of the popular title Sims 2. Next, there is a demo of a Tetris game and, finally, a full version of the EA Air Hockey game.

EA Sims 2 (demo) • EA Air Hockey • EA Tetris

Final words

The O2 Cocoon offers a good feature package and some sweet design decisions. It boasts a number of niceties such as the 2GB of on-board storage, worldwide GSM support, the HSDPA data transfers, the 2 megapixel auto focus camera and the nice display. The excellent web browser also scores a mark. The intriguing design, the external LED display and the rich retail box do add bonus points too.

When it comes to day-to-day operation, the O2 Cocoon file browser is something to really put us off. If you add the relatively large size and the high price tag, the O2 Cocoon might just not seem that sweet a deal as it did in the beginning. That being said, there are some O2 plans that can get you the device for free and thus tip the scale in favor of the Cocoon. After all, the final choice is always yours. The good and the bad of it is here for the taking.