Firstly, I’ll give you a brief background to the reason why I picked this phone. I needed a camera phone through which I could check my office email and which has a radio.
The 6230 was the top-of-the-line model with these 2 features and obviously lots more. I would have picked up the 6600 only and only if it had a radio. That phone is much much better for GPRS usage and other applications. Not to mention it’s Symbian OS, which is at least 5 times better that the series 40 OS used in the 6230.
Let’s take a look at the positive aspects of this model:
Great display!! Probably as good as a notebook screen.
Feature packed (this one’s got it all)
EDGE technology (only if your service provider is EDGE compliant) - Clear voice reception
Awesome keypad (may not be for people with bigger fingers though)
Fast OS. No waiting for menus to open
Camera clarity is good (not 1.3 MP!!!). Much better than other non Nokia camera phones
Memory card compatible, which takes this phone to the next league.
MP3 player. A very very good thing indeed
This one’s got an equalizer as well
Small, sleek and sharp styling. Looks much better than a bulky 6600
Well those were the pros. Now the cons and believe you me... there are loads of them!!
Phone shell is flimsy, loose. Does not fit properly over the phone.
Screen is prone to getting scratched... and I’m talking NASTY scratches!!
Email - The biggest upset in this phone is the email. One can only download upto 50 emails at a time. The email software does not read an email sent in HTML, which means I can’t read 75% of my mail as it is sent in HTML!! Moreover, for some reason, some emails are not downloaded and all that I can see is ’’Header downloaded as message too large.’’ Irritating to the core!!! And any file with an attachment cannot be seen... not even the message. For this problem with the email, one must reconsider purchasing this phone.
Software problems - Sometimes the phone just goes off or hangs. Not too uncommon a problem.
The On-Off button is a disaster. It does not respond if pressed once. One has to give at least 3-4 tries.
Headset - Pathetic!!! Don’t really know if it’s a problem with my phone only but there seems to be some major loose connection within the headset or the connector which keeps switching one of the headphones on and off repetitively while walking with the phone in your pocket. Added to this is the extremely low volume of the phone. I compared mine with a 6100. At max.volume on both phones, the 6100 sounded at least 3 times as loud as my phone. Disgrace!!
The OS is a Series 40 OS, which cannot be customized. Tends to get a little boring and when compared to the things that one can do on a 6600, this one is dwarfed.
No browser - Can you beat that?? I can’t browse HTML sites from my phone. However, software is available for the 6600 and the same will be the case for this phone as well.
Overall I would give this phone a 3.5 out of 5. Unfortunately for me, the 2 reasons I bought the phone for are not functioning properly. However, this phone is eye candy and is a very good candidate to make others envy you. And it fits well as a work phone as it’s got that corporate feel to it. My recommendation is that if you can do without a radio, please buy the 6600. I couldn’t and I don’t regret buying this phone.
-Lal.