Review: Nokia 6300 mobile phone

This is the kind of phone Nokia does unbeatably well – beautifully styled, great to use and with strong specifications. And yet, it’s not one of the flagship N-series phones that everyone's talking about. This is a conventional non-3G phone, so what makes it shine so brightly?

First, the Nokia 6300 is impressively thin and, with its smooth and strokable brushed metal casing, very tactile – two reasons you won’t want to put it down.

It’s not unlike the excellent 3G phone, the Nokia 6233 released last year, except it’s noticeably thinner. The fact that the screen stands proud of the main body only heightens the effect of svelte good looks.

The understated styling is immediately pleasing, and includes a screen which is bright and colourful (capable of 16 million colours, where most others manage 262,000 at most). And the screen is large, easily big enough for surfing the net and sending a long text message.

Texters will be happy for the simple and accessible keypad; the rectangular keys tightly packed but large enough to be accurately hit. Nokia’s easy menu system has always been one of its strengths, though some models became over-complicated.

With the 6300, it’s straightforward without being simplistic. It also includes games and a more-than-decent music player. Music is stored on micro SD memory cards and, to change these, the back of the phone has to slide off, though thankfully the battery can remain in place.

The Select button with four-way direction pad works flawlessly, without the annoying quirks of some phones which refuse to do exactly what you tell them to.

The Nokia 6300 is a phone to be brandished, so repay people's adoration by taking their picture. The 2-megapixel camera is not top-of-the-range, but more than adequate and takes good shots.

Battery life is exceptionally good, plodding on for days of medium use with barely a dent in the battery icon. And, unlike some of the more complicated Nokia handsets, this has an enjoyably speedy start-up time. Also, while most phones take up to a minute to launch contact information, the address book is ready to go within 2 seconds of the Nokia handshake animation.

Individually, all these factors are good but not earth-shaking. Together, they add up to a sleek, highly usable handset that is bound to have very wide appeal because of its simplicity and outstanding efficiency. Oh, yes, and the fact that it looks great, too.