Nokia 6600 review
As soon as it arrived, this brand-new smart-phone triggered a real rush to buy it, just as has always happened with the flagship products of the Finnish company.
It must be said, this time, that we are not looking at a revolutionary handset, but rather a successful update of the equally successful 7650 and 3650, all of which, as is well known, belong to the family called Series 60.
What sets the 6600 apart are basically the very bright 65,000-color TFT display, the internal memory increased to 6 MB, and the version of the Symbian operating system, 7.0s, which offers some substantial and formal improvements, such as more effective multitasking management (that is, the ability to run several applications at the same time), an instant messaging program, a file manager, compatibility with TCP/IP data protocols, MIDP 2.0 for Java, and SMIL for MMS, all things that are completely transparent to the average user, but which broaden the possibilities of use of a device like this, while still guaranteeing backward compatibility with software developed for the previous generation (Symbian 6.0). In addition, it is now possible to choose different themes for the graphic interface, and there is the Mobile Wallet function, for m-commerce, in its 2.0 version.
For the rest, we are looking at a phone with a compact design (and consequently light, only 120 grams, while still offering good build quality), rounded and elegant, characterized by the large 178x208 pixel display, the central joystick and the standard keypad (this time Nokia stuck to the classic approach, abandoning the somewhat uncomfortable originality of the 3650); technologically it is still a triband GSM, GPRS 3+1 and HSCSD, with an 850 mAh Lithium battery, built-in speakerphone, SMS with T9 (including concatenated messages and with pictures), e-mail client, vibration, 24-tone polyphonic ringtones and TrueTones (that is, AAC and MP3 files can also be used for all the various system sounds, from calls to the alarm), WAP 2.0 browser, SIM Toolkit, games, Bluetooth audio and data, IrDA port, voice call, memo and voice commands, RealOne player for audio/video streaming, remote synchronization via SyncML, MMC memory expansion (a 32 MB one is included in the package) and a camera with 640x480 pixel resolution, 2x digital zoom, night mode and self-timer, capable of recording short video clips with audio.
As always, the personal information management section is very complete: the multi-field phonebook with numbers and addresses, caller groups and photo association with contacts, the calendar, the alarm clock with network time setting, backup to MMC and synchronization with the computer (via a dedicated version of the PC Suite) cannot fail to delight the most demanding users, who will always have their sensitive data safeguarded.
For the first time, moreover, Nokia is applying to one of its products the concept of "Try and Buy," meaning it has included on the CD-ROM that comes with the 6600 a series of demo applications that can be used 3 times before deciding whether to uninstall them or purchase them: there are time zones, a multilingual dictionary, a video editor, a memory compressor, an e-book and Word file viewer, a photo editor and a flipper, not to mention the by-now well-known Wayfinder, a navigation system that can be paired with a Bluetooth GPS receiver and with map downloads via GPRS. In full version, on the other hand, there are the Opera HTML browser with page-adaptation technology for the screen size, the program for uploading your own photos to a remote server made available by Kodak, and the application for printing any file with a compatible HP printer, via IrDA or Bluetooth.
At this point let's talk about the 6600 from a practical point of view, to discover that early users are enthusiastic about the display and the joystick, as well as, of course, the operating system, one of the best and most stable in the smart-phone sector, a little less so about the audio quality, which seems to be crackly in some conditions of use. Battery life, meanwhile, is average.
In the end, who do we recommend the 6600 to? Simple: to anyone who wants one of the best multimedia phones of the moment, at a price, moreover, at which you can find products that don't come close to matching it in terms of functionality, compatible with the most innovative services offered by our carriers (video messages, video clip downloads, TV, etc.), an excellent companion at work and in free time, fully customizable, able to interface without cables with PDAs, PCs, other phones and headsets, and capable of keeping in touch with the world in all the ways that GSM technology allows today, from internet to WAP, from MMS to e-mail. And then it's a Nokia, so it's easy to use and to update as the software evolves, and rich in accessories, both original and third-party.