Nokia 6600

Nokia's 6600 is the third Series 60 Symbian smartphone after the innovative but brick-like 7650, and the eccentric-looking 3650. The tri-band, GPRS/HSCSD 6600 is a return to a more restrained design that wisely drops the circular keypad of the 3650.

At 58.2mm across it is wider than Sony Ericsson's P900 phone, but a reasonable 125g weight doesn't detract from day-to-day use. However, having the menu key on the left edge rather than centrally positioned is odd.

An impressively bright 65,536-colour 16bit TFT display of 176 x 208 pixels should bring a smile to your face. Flip the phone over and a large matt silver disc houses the VGA camera that has several settings, plus a video mode with audio. Video clips are restricted to about nine seconds before auto-saving.

Using the comprehensive PC suite you can link via Bluetooth to transfer video clips and images or to synchronise contacts and calendar, as there is no USB option. The support CD also has Nokia Media Player which plays the video files.

Nokia is targeting corporate users with the 6600. Its benefits include being able to control a Powerpoint presentation on the 6600 via Bluetooth with Nokia Wireless Presenter at a cost of EUR39 for the download. Generous support for eight Bluetooth profiles means that the 6600 can be paired with most Bluetooth devices.

The xHTML browser also supports secure email access via 128bit SSL encryption and a mobile VPN. There is also a full version of the Opera browser, which reformats web pages to fit to the scale of a mobile screen. A 32MB removable MMC (Multimedia Card) sits under the battery. This is a competent phone from Nokia, but far from outstanding.

Contact: Nokia 08700 555 777
www.nokia.co.uk

Specifications:

• Symbian OS
• 65,536-colour screen
• Real One Player
• Bluetooth, infra-red
• 6MB internal shared memory
• 32MB MMC card
• xHTML & Opera
• Java MIDP 2 support
• Battery: talk 2-4 hours, standby 150-240 hours
• 108.6 x 58.2 x 23.7mm (h x w x d)