Despite the best efforts of its competitors, Nokia still holds the fort in terms of phones as fashion accessories. And we're not even discussing Nokia's ridiculously expensive Vertu brand here. No, even though Motorola has the dubious Dolce and Gabbana licence and LG Prada, Nokia is the brand for simple elegance.
The Nokia 6300 was the first of this new understated wave, and it's been followed by two new phones -- but which is the pick of the pair?
Design
Sure to cause confusion is Nokia's naming convention for this phone -- this looks nothing like the Nokia 6500 Classic. The only similarity we could find on first blush is that they're both "style" phones based on a 3G platform. However, there is one finish that's used on both -- a (dreadly) piano-black keypad!
The phone is also pretty solid, with its brushed steel jacket, but it can get pretty sweaty in your hands on a hot day.
Putting in a new SIM card is an experience, and you may need to consult the manual on first try. There is a small, and easy to miss, 'Eject' button on the top of the phone which loosens the backplate. Then, by hooking your fingernails into the groove between the plate and the phone you pop it out.
Unlike the Motorola ROKR Duo, once you are inside both the SIM card and memory card slot are easily accessible and ready to upgrade.
Features
The Nokia 6500 Slide is a 3G phone with a simultaneous multimedia and business focus. This has been tried before and looks too much like a company is hedging its bets rather than make a highly targeted (and more useful) device.
You get a tonne of video features, including video call capability, a video-out cable, and a really quite useful camera. Firstly it features a 3.2 megapixel capture with a Carl Zeiss lens. The camera has an autofocus, and a built in flash. As an addition to video calls -- and helpful while on hold during voice calls -- there is a speakerphone option.
The video camera even has a white balance control, and a selectable resolution up to 640 x 480, with an added choice of three different quality modes.
Storage is courtesy of a 256MB mini-SD card, which is pretty small for a multimedia phone, but the slot will handle up to 4GB.
Performance
Though it looks very nice, we found the phone could be quite frustrating in use. Our first problem arose when we tried synching the phone to our PC. Nokia's PC Suite kept losing the connection between the two, and the only reliable way we could connect them was to forgo the software and rely on Windows Explorer.
Our second largest bugbear was using the phone for messaging. We found predictive text could be more annoying than most -- there appeared to be no way to spell a word unfamiliar to the dictionary until it specifically asked you to. Until that point, you were stuck with the word it gave you unless you entered the menu and turned predictive off.
Thirdly, locking the phone was also difficult unless you had just finished a call or were already in the main menu. Shutting the slide on most phones will lock it, but not in this case -- and there's no option to change it.
Otherwise, the phone was quite a decent performer: call quality was good, and battery life was good at up to five days between charges.
The camera worked well in daylight, with clear images and little of the "digital" look of other phones, but night-time shots were generally noisy and blurry -- even with the flash on.
Meanwhile, the music player is easy to use, and the sound is acceptable via the included headset -- if seriously lacking in any real presence. No challenge to the iPod here! Of course, if you invest in a 2.5mm-to-3.5mm adaptor you can use whatever headphones you wish.
Like a lot of Nokia's new "style" phones, the 6500 Slide generates an initial "wow" reaction -- but unlike the Nokia 6300 in particular this quickly wears off. What you're left with is a fairly good phone -- if a little clunky -- that is only relatively useful and user-friendly.
Prateek Singhal
23/07/2008, 06:28 PM
rating
3/10
Plz itz ma request 2 Nokia..give dis phne as a gift 2 me..
Pros: 4
Cons: 7
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odeliska
23/07/2008, 04:39 PM
rating
2/10
I have had two replacements so far and would like to replace the 3rd as it is not connecting with the keypad from time to time, same as first bad phone. Second bad phone scrambled the memory of contacts. Can't seem to sync it with Mac OSX.
Pros: Has an awesome user interface. Good digital photos
Cons: hit keys, during a range of different functions, and nothing happens - REGULARLY!!!
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Etonica
15/07/2008, 04:37 PM
rating
4/10
the very first day I used the phone, it doesn't recognize the memory card. I was wondering if this is a defect or just a normal operation for the phone. I am planning to take it to my nearest nokia center the soonest time possible. performance does not convey the way it looks.
Pros: - looks good
- camera looks pretty good
Cons: - slow
- doesn't recognize memory card sometimes
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subhasis
15/07/2008, 01:43 AM
rating
4/10
not even used the phone for 1 day.
from the 1 st day the back cover was not fitting.
on the second day it was not detecting the memory card.
Pros: look good
sound good
picture good
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mwa-xox
12/07/2008, 12:26 PM
rating
6/10
i have had my fone going on two months a until recent days had minor issues with it such display pic an ring tone changing bak to default settings... but a few days ago i was moving a song from memory card to fone an the whole fone kept freezing an delaying it was horrible.... i have since worked out that it is the memory card slot that was causing the changing an delays everytime the card moved the fine changed... i have taken memory card out an no delays changes nothing... im very disappointed that i have to choose this option to make mu fone work as its ment to...:(
Pros: good battery
good picture
good sound
Cons: delays
freezing
changes
due to memory card slot
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yediyildiz
29/06/2008, 09:06 PM
rating
8/10
I am using it for a week now. So far no problems mentioned above. I checked mine and it was made in Hungary not China. Maybe Chinese products sause all the problems
Pros: Nice camera, clear images, easy to use for taking pictures
With 2 GB memory card, all my mp3s are in the phone
Good quality voice on calls
Cons: No wi-fi
Battery life short
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billywilly
26/06/2008, 10:02 PM
rating
8/10
Great phone. easy to use. great camera. good for playing music. good looking.
Pros: good camera. big screen. loud speaker for calls and for playing music.
Cons: screen broke within 3 days. screws on inside just wore away when trying to replace screen. so had to force the frong slide off to change screen. now the phone is all bent. but still works great.
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Shikhar
22/06/2008, 11:58 PM
rating
8/10
I am replying to Mishka_16 and another guy who said when changing ringtones it changes to original Nokia tune. This is normal. You must first change to Nokia tune, and then put your desired tune, to stop your problem. (This can get frustrating sometimes)
Pros: -Cool Design
- Nice interface
- Scratch resistant
- Nice menu
- Cool choice of not locking the phone when sliding down
Cons: - Hangs for a few seconds, but its ok for people who have this phone for moe than a month.
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elexti
22/06/2008, 06:45 PM
rating
9/10
I'm very happy with this phone, even though I've had it only a few days. It has a bright. clear display, is nice and loud, and the picture quality is brilliant.
Not sure how the battery is going to cope in the long run - I did a 12 hour charge for the first charge, and it lasted about two and a half days, with general use + bluetooth on + transferring files from my mac to phone via bluetooth.
I've found that there is a bit of lag between pressing buttons and the phone response, but it's nothing too serious - yet. Not enough to bother me though!
Pros: - Bright clear display
- Fairly straightforward to use
- Sexy little phone (I have the silver)
- Clear, loud speaker
- Music player is awesome
-Expandable memory
- Camera = awesome
- great value for money! ($20 on the virgin cap)
Cons: - The silver version fingerprints very easily (very hard to keep clean)
- button/response lag
- shutter lag (not good if you want to take photos instantly)
- loudspeaker shouldn't be on the back, but ah well
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ibrahim
21/06/2008, 02:20 PM
rating
6/10
Good Phone
Pros: carl zeiss optics
3.2 mp camera
Cons: weight
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