Not much has changed in appearance from the 6800. The 6820 still retains the same revolutionary flip QWERTY keypad. A few additions and improvements have, however, been added. Since the 6820 was designed with text messaging in mind, it is chock full of text messaging features. Among other things, users can SMS to send standard text messages, or attach pictures, sounds, or video clips with their MMS messages. A fully functional email client contains POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP capabilities for receiving and sending email from 3rd party sources.
A built-in 352 x 288 px CIF camera with video recording and playback capabilities peers out from the back housing of the 6820. The phone has a variety of shooting modes such as Standard Mode, Portrait Mode, and Night Mode. Self portraits are possible with a self-timer delay function. As with most camera phones, users should not expect standalone digital camera quality. Pictures taken with the Nokia 6820 are great for capturing impromptu moments, or attaching images to caller information and business cards, but anything more is best served using a dedicated digital camera.
Improvements in the audio capabilities of the 6820 have lagged. Unfortunately, the 6820 only supports 16 chord polyphonic ring tones. More and more phones are supporting upwards of 40 chord tones or even MP3s.
The 6820 comes with about 3.5 MB of shared internal memory for contacts, text messages, multimedia messages, ring tones, images, video clips, calendar notes, to-do lists, and applications. Expandable storage slots are not present on the 6820, so deleting content is the only way to free up extra memory
Other features worth mentioning are the downloadable Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) games and applications. The versatility of this feature lets you install and delete software from the internet. J2ME is the most popular mobile programming language with hundreds of games and applications available for download. Some for free, others for a fee.
Even with the addition of new features, Nokia has managed to make the 6820 smaller than the 6800. At 107 x 47 x 20 mm, the 6820 is over 10 mm shorter. The less bulky design will make the Nokia 6820 much more attractive and easier to fit in pockets.
In the end, much of the 6820’s strengths lie in its messaging capabilities. The phone is geared towards a particular segment of the consumer market. For the serious text messaging user, the 6820 is the phone they’ve been waiting for.
A 850 mAh Li-Ion battery is used with the 6820. Nokia claims the battery lasts for 7 hours of talk time and 240 hours of standby. Realistically, however, the times are much lower.
Minimum Rated Standby Time: 145 hours
Minimum Rated Talk Time: 215 minutes