Nokia's first handset sporting a 1.3 megapixel camera and high-resolution screen has arrived; Sindre Lia takes a look at the new and feature-packed 6230i.
Review summary of the Nokia 6230i:
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 Price: $300.
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Full review of the Nokia 6230i:
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Three new high-end handsets will soon emerge from the new Nokia N Series: the N91, N90 and N70. Nokia has still decided to offer a successor to the popular EDGE enabled Nokia 6230, which was introduced a year ago. Sindre Lia takes a look at the new Nokia 6230i, sporting an improved display as well as a 1.3 megapixel camera.
A Nokia classic
Heavily influenced by classic Nokia design in areas of shape, colour and design, the Nokia 6230i is a very slender and compact handset at 10.3 x 4.4 x 2 cm and 99 g. Its centerpiece, a 65K colour TFT display, is placed far up on the front of the phone, offering crisp colours and a resolution of 208 x 208 pixels which causes text to render more smoothly than previous offerings from the handset maker.
The 6230 lies well in ones hand, with a numerical keypad which emits a minimum of noise, harbouring appropriately-spaced keys which are pleasantly comfortable in use. The five-way navigational button is also quite muted, however comes across as rather mediocre in terms of usability due to the ease with which accidental button presses can occur.
Based as it is on Nokia's Series 40 platform, the Nokia 6230i is both user friendly and agile, while text input is a breeze due to the excellent interaction between keypad and operating system. We did however miss the opportunity to select and de-select files and items during file transfers and when cleaning the inbox.
Finally, a megapixel camera in a Nokia handset
As previously mentioned, the 6230i is equipped with a 1.3 megapixel camera. Image quality is - as we've come to expect from Nokia - very good, with the 6230i producing excellent results under both poor and favourable lighting conditions despite slightly-less than ideal contrast. Furthermore, the Nokia 6230i plays host to a music/video player, which is also why it comes with an MMC card expansion slot located under its battery.
A 32 MB MMC card comes bundled in the sales package, and the phone also has a non-volatile internal memory of 32 MB. The main format supported for playback is MP3, with the 6230i also offering up an integrated FM radio. In terms of audio quality the Nokia 6230i is however not on par with recent handsets such as the Sony Ericsson K750i, and furthermore does not provide an integrated 3.5 mm jack for connecting ones favourite headset, clearly indicating a less-than stellar focus on audio performance.
Tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz connectivity isn't all the Nokia 6230i has to offer: there's also support for EDGE and GPRS Class 10, HSCSD, and a range of applications such as an XHTML/WAP 2.0 browser, support for Java MIDP 2.0, a Java-based e-mail client, voice commands, polyphonic ringtones, a voice recorder and spacious phone book with Wireless Village instant messaging support well in place. The Nokia 6230i also offers USB support through its proprietary Pop-port, however for this purpose users must disappointingly purchase a quite expensive data cable.
Reception and voice quality for the Nokia 6230i both proved outstanding. Battery-wise, the 6230i is listed by Nokia as offering up to 5 hours of talk time and 12.5 days of standby time. During our test period, we experienced a talk time of 4 hours and a standby time of approximately 7 days.
Availability
The Nokia 6230i is now available in most European countries, selling in the 300 EUR range without subscription at the time of press.
Price and availability
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