Another day, another Nokia phone. But among the deluge of mobiles the company releases each year you'll occasionally find a real nugget. The Nokia 6300 is one of these.
Design
The 6300 is one of the most pleasantly tactile phones we have ever used. It's a slim-line candy bar wrapped in a layer of stainless steel. Add piano-black accents, a large seamless screen, and you have one phone that feels great just to simply hold. It's cool to the touch -- thanks to the steel coat -- and gives off a satisfying sense of solidity. The product photos simply don't do this phone justice.
The controls should be instantly familiar to users of Nokia phones, but first-time converts may have benefited from the old-school "Phone" pictograms rather than the red and green dots here. Navigation is easy thanks to the sensibly-spaced four-way rocker switch and Enter key -- which are easily better than most competitors' solutions.The screen is large and perfectly legible, and the keypad is sufficiently sized for heavy-duty texting.
Features
There has been a push for phones to be everything to everybody, and most times this doesn’t work. While the 6300 may include features such as 2-megapixel camera and MP3 playback, it is undeniably a phone first. There are no perfunctory Play buttons, or shutter controls. The Nokia makes and receives telephone calls.
If multimedia is a consideration, then there are some concessions to your media hoarding ways. Yes, it will play most music files, including WMA, MP3 and AAC, and there is also an FM radio and Web browser.
The phone supports what was destined to be the next killer app, Push To Talk (PTT), but an overly convoluted sign-up process and the fact that your "walkie talkie" could go off at the most inappropriate time meant that it never took off. The Nokia does nothing to change this, as you have to set up PTT for every contact manually -- plus your network needs to support it. Our Optus plan doesn't.
Performance
Battery life on the Nokia 6300 was very good -- considering the phone is so slim -- with the phone lasting five days on one charge, with occasional use.
Call quality was also good, if not quite up to Nokia's own high standards, with a very slight muffling of the user's voice. And if you do feel the need to listen to music, the supplied earphones are quite good, but if you have a 2.5mm headset adaptor you could potentially use your own headphones.
There seems to be two camps of people: those who prefer Nokia's menu system, and those who like Sony Ericsson's. The 6300 should appeal to both sides. Most menu options are within one or two clicks, and there aren't too many vertical menus to scroll through. Most of the regularly used functions can be accessed by pressing a certain direction on the four-way rocker -- pressing up, for example, opens the camera application.
It's actually a good camera too. Our test shots of the Sydney streetscape came out clearly, if a little "digital". Portraits come out perfectly, while night-time shots aren't as successful -- they are very grainy due to the lack of a flash. Still, the camera's better than a lot of other onboard models.
One of the only minor problems with this phone is its tendency to mark. The piano black section on the rear will scratch itself sooner than look at you, while the stainless steel backing doesn't survive drops all that well -- it will either come off completely and go skittering across the room, or cause a small nick in the steel.
Sam
03/07/2008, 11:05 AM
rating
7/10
Yea good phone, had it about 7-8 months, i have had to send it in once for repairs, keypad stopped working
Pros: Good phone all round,
Music player works well, can eb slow on start up
Loads fairly quick,
Cons: Doesnt play back any 3gp video's over 1mb, nor 500kb to be honest
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CheekyMinx111
01/07/2008, 11:07 PM
rating
9/10
Stopped using Nokia for almost ten years due to its boring nature. But now that I'm using this model, have rediscovered that it's quite user-friendly, however, still quite boring.
If people are worried about getting scratches on the phone, may I recommend to buy a silicone skin case? It doesn't cost that much from eBay (AUD10 at the most), and once the case is on, it looks even better!
Have expanded the memory to 2GB, so the music player is great. However, if the phone memory is full, it sometimes might not received incoming MMS, which is really dumb.
The camera is a bit of a let down compared to other mobile phones.
Pros: Slim, user-friendly interface, expandable memory, screen resolution is brillant.
Cons: The Nokia proprietary headset, why can't they have the normal headset socket?
Improve the camera and add a flash!
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NokiaPerson
30/06/2008, 10:01 PM
rating
7/10
Had Nokia 6300 for a whistle now, pretty sub-standard USB cable-which is good, but very grany camer for 2 megs.
Pros: Very slimline, comfortable fit in hand, and music play ok.
Cons: Grainy camera, uses alot of battery when on media player. keypad little small {Yet controlable...just}
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uberbear
26/06/2008, 06:02 PM
rating
1/10
Dumb phone. Wish i never had it
Cons: scraches so much and gets dust alotman! Dumb PHONE!!!!!!
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EmmaMay
24/06/2008, 12:35 PM
rating
9/10
I've had this phone for about eight months now and I think it's a great phone. I've never had a problem with it at all and I've dropped it so many times.
Pros: Everything, all round great phone.
Cons: Doesn't have the best camera, but I'm not looking for a phone with a good camera.
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wawa
16/06/2008, 03:19 AM
rating
6/10
hi can anyone tell me how to down themes on nokia 6300 by cable. am trying to download but it does not appear on my mobile.
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Favorit Cell Phones
13/06/2008, 11:27 PM
rating
7/10
I Myself cant decide, 6300 or K550i !!!!!!!!!!! I do like SE Abit More! iv got 6300 but i think im getting bored of it, iv had 2 of them already i still Love it, but i Crave for more So i think its time for my 6300 to go, im going to SELL I...
Pros: Blue tooth is good.
Stylish, slim and smart.
Cons: No protection of dust.
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Scotty
12/06/2008, 03:53 AM
rating
8/10
Great looking phone, slim fit, clear screen, and great MP3 player
Pros: Blue tooth
MP3
mini SD
Cons: no GPS
Horrible media player (Nokia should really do something about that! any updates, Nokia?) All other Nokia phones support sis, but not the 6300
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piyush
11/06/2008, 06:05 PM
rating
6/10
The phone is definetly stylish and looks great specially becoz of its slim design. The company has not done justice to its slogan regarding the phone "Slim yet Powerful" since the battery which gives power to the phone is virtually powerless. The company must develop a good battery to compliment this good phone.
Pros: -Slim design
-Great price
-Good reception
-Good Screen display
-Simple Executive looks
Cons: -Poor Battery life (Specially if u r using the multimedia functions)
-Speakerphone could have been louder
-Phone requires delicate handling (will not be appericiated by youngsters)
-No Flash
-Camera quality is average
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uberbear
10/06/2008, 08:01 PM
rating
9/10
Have had this phone for ages and has never crashed and never let me down. AWESOME
Pros: Doesn't have the stupid new nokia interface that they seem to be introducing.
Cons: Music player not awesome
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