| Nokia 6600 |
| General |
| Network | Gsm 900 / Gsm 1800 / Gsm 1900 |
| Announced | 2003, 4q |
| Status | Available |
| Size |
| Dimensions | 109 X 58 X 24 Mm, 113cc |
| Weight | 122 G |
| Display |
| Type | Tft, 65k Colors |
| Size | 176 X 208 Pixels, 35 X 41 Mm |
| | - 5-way Joystick Navigation
- Selectable Themes |
| Ringtones |
| Type | Polyphonic (24 Channels), Monophonic, True Tones |
| Amount | In Shared Memory |
| Customization | Download, |
| Vibration | Yes |
| Memory |
| Phonebook | 8 Fields, In Shared Memory, Contact Groups, Photo Call |
| Call Records | Unlimited |
| Card Slot | Mmc, 32 Mb Card Included, |
| | - 6 Mb Shared Memory
- Arm9 Cpu, 104 Mhz
- 25 Voice Command Slots
- Voice Memo |
| Data |
| Gprs | Class 6 (3+1/2+2 Slots), 24 - 36 Kbps |
| Hscsd | No |
| Edge | No |
| 3g | No |
| Wlan | No |
| Bluetooth | Yes, V1.1 |
| Infrared Port | Yes |
| Usb | |
| Features |
| Os | Symbian Os V7.0s, Series 60 V2.0 Ui |
| Messaging | Sms, Mms, Email |
| Browser | Wap 2.0/xhtml |
| Clock | Yes |
| Alarm | Yes |
| Games | Yes, Downloadable, |
| Colors | Light Gray |
| Languages | Major Europe And Asia-pacific |
| Camera | Vga, 640x480 Pixels, Video, |
| | - Mono Audio Player
- Java Midp 2.0
- T9
- Built-in Handsfree |
| Battery |
| | Standard, Li-ion 850 Mah (bl-5c) |
| Stand-by | Up To 150 H - 240 H |
| Talk Time | Up To 2 H - 4 H |
|
Nokia - 6600MMC with the Nokia 6600
Major features
Auto-switching tri-band EGSM 900/1800/1900MHz
Symbian 7.0s operating system
176 x 208 pixel 65,536 colour TFT LCD display
VGA camera (still and video)
Internal memory with MMC support
SMS/EMS/MMS messaging
E-mail sending and receiving (IMAP4, SMTP, and POP3)
Local and remote synchronization
GPRS/HSCSD data transfers
xHTML browser
Advanced PIM applications
Voice functions
Bluetooth wireless technology
Infrared
Java MIDP 2.0
Polyphonic and *.wav ring tones
Help files
Problems/Issues?
Key press delay
Delayed turn-on
MMC card location
Sales package (should contain):
1 x Nokia 6600 handset
1 x Nokia Boom headset (HDB-4)
1 x Standard travel charger
1 x Lithium-ion BL-5C battery
1 x 32mB MMC card
1 x User manual
1 x Nokia 6600 setup package containing:
1 x Product CD
1 x Ulead Photo Explorer 8 CD
1 x Getting started guide
1 x Add-on guide
1 x HP competition form
1 x Fuji film tokens
Overview
Introduction
The Nokia 6600 has been out on the market for quite a while, and it seems to have gone well with the general public. But what are its weaknesses, what does it lack? Not much, I can tell you that right now. The 6600 is the next phone in the Series 60 format and is out now at all retailers. Almost a year after being first announced on iMobile.com.au, a review is finally finished!
This handset has everything most users want, a great camera, friendly Symbian OS, MMC expansion card support, polyphonic and wav ring tones, the list goes on. The 6600 is a true multimedia device, but it also has PIM applications to keep everything organized and in sync. The huge TFT LCD display brings the 6600 to life in a rich 65,536 colours.
All of the digital standards make an appearance in this model from Nokia, like Bluetooth, GPRS, and HSCSD. All messaging formats, including e-mails are supported, and the 6600 even supports Java games and applications.
New/outstanding features
New features on the 6600 include a bright TFT 65,536 colour LCD, a VGA camera including video support and streaming video/audio support, and a number of other multimedia functions. Java applications and games are also supported, as well as themes, and personalized clock sounds.
The memory on the 6600 is expandable via an MMC card, a 32mB one is included in the sales package to keep you started. To give you an idea, I stored all my messages, several 5mB music files, applications, about a hundred image files and still didn’t manage to hit that 32mB mark. Even if you do and don’t want to buy an expensive MMC card you can fill up the 6mB internal memory.
The large display on the 6600 is brighter than ever and bigger than most mobile phone models in the same price/feature range, 176 x 208 pixels. The Siemens SX1 is 176 x 200 pixels, so it’s not that much bigger than that model but a lot bigger than those 128 x 128 pixel displays! It acts as the viewfinder for the VGA camera, and images/video look wonderful when viewed on this screen. The camera can capture still images at 640 x 480 pixels, so take a look in the Camera Performance section of this article for examples and a walkthrough of the camera application.
The Operating System on the Nokia 6600 is of Symbian 7.0s type, and hundreds of applications are purpose built for Symbian phones, and they are made to help you with little tasks around the place. Built into the phone already are PIM applications like a calendar, clock, synchronization application, voice functions and call management features. The 6600 can really aid in a busy lifestyle, or any lifestyle. :)
The 6600 has Bluetooth and Infrared data compatibility, and GPRS/HSCSD! In special networks you can connect at up to 43.2kbp/s, that’s almost as fast as most ‘56k’ dial-up modem connections. The 6600 is tri-band, so it works in most continents of the world.
Physical aspects
I’ve heard many nicknames for the Nokia 6600, my favourite being the ‘egg phone’. This is derived from the shape of the phone which is somewhat egg shaped. This isn’t a bad thing but, the sizing of the phone is big, but not bulky. It doesn’t weigh that much either, coming in at 125 grams - the P900 weighs about 160grams.
The 6600 doesn’t come with Xpress-on™ covers, but you can get the handset in two different colours Rose Pink or the normal Grey. The overall look of the 6600 is very nice though, black and white coming together as always to make a sleek look - and the silver/chrome sections like the camera lens add a bit of style.
The buttons on the 6600 are plastic, and aren’t tacky or hard to press, they’re quite soft. The joystick isn’t hard to move either, and after a bit of wearing in is fine to use. The on/off button works perfectly - you don’t have to hold it down for so many seconds before it comes on!
The 6600 measures 108.6 x 58.2 x 23.7mm and is a good looking phone. After all, looks are everything these days aren’t they!
User Interface & display
The Nokia 6600 runs on a Symbian 7.0s operating system, and that makes it very user-friendly, as well as expandable. The 6600 is in the Nokia Series 60 platform group of handsets - this platform has been licensed to well known companies around the world including LG Electronics, Panasonic, Samsung, and Siemens. You may recognize this user interface if you have used a Siemens SX1, they are very similar.
Take a closer look!
The TFT LCD display on the 6600 is 176 x 208 pixels, and utilizes a full 65,536 colours. It brings the whole phone to life from the moment you turn it on and are welcomed by the Nokia trademark of the two hands linking together (oh, and the Nokia Tune of course!). The phone then loads up and registers on the network, and everything’s done - you can begin to play around. The two selection keys underneath the display can be linked to almost anything you want, I like to have them as “New Message” on the left and “Camera on the right - but you can choose whatever combination you want.
The directional stick on the 6600 controls the phone mainly, you can basically do anything you want by only using it - pushing it in will double as an “okay” or “confirm” function with the soft keys. The soft keys are mostly for opening option menus (left key) and the right key is mainly for going back a menu level. The direction key can move in the four normal directions.
The “cancel” key for text purposes has been placed underneath the decline/hang-up button on the 6600, and you’ll have to make some changes to your memory because of its new placement and the fact that it’s a dedicated key, not like in other models where the right soft key was the “cancel” button. The little pencil icon on the left hand side of the phone, underneath the accept/pick-up button is used for messaging purposes - check the Messaging section of this article for more information. The button with the blue connecting dots is the menu key, and the two soft keys are used for other purposes in this model.
The Symbian system has many applications that can be installed into it, like an application that won the Nokia Mobile Challenge for Symbian Applications Contest in 2002 that finds flight information and downloads it to your phone. Applications that perform simple functions like that are being released daily for Symbian Operating Systems, and they just make your life easier in the long run. The Symbian Operating System is very similar in most handsets, so getting used to the 6600 if you’ve used another Symbian-based handset before shouldn’t be a problem.
Making and receiving calls
Now onto the thing that mobile phones to best, making and receiving calls. The hang up/pick up buttons are located on the far sides of the handset, and are triangle shaped. They are slightly curved which makes them easier to press. They are primarily used for answering or declining calls, but do have other uses like in messages, and the pick up button sometimes acts as a yes button.
The ring tones on the Nokia 6600 can be in two formats, polyphonic, or in wave format. Wave is like an uncompressed mp3 file, so this means proper songs can be loaded onto the 6600 and used as ring tones. The polyphonic ring tones on the 6600 can be up to 24 chords, and the wave files on the 6600 are nicknamed True Tones by Nokia. There’s a definite satisfaction when your phone starts singing to you when someone is calling! Some *.amr digital ring tones are pre-installed on the 6600, along with a whole heap of polyphonic ring tones.
When someone calls, your ring tone sounds and the phone vibrates to make sure you know whose calling. The volume of the 6600 is reasonable, but it could have been louder. When in your pocket sometimes it may be hard to hear in loud environments due to the placement of the speaker. The call can be answered on the handset by pressing the green pick up button, or if you are using a Bluetooth headset you can press the appropriate button. Loudness on both ends isn’t a problem; I could hear and be heard during my trial. The speakerphone function on the 6600 is also loud enough and picks up your voice successfully. Hanging up is easy - press the red button!
The phonebook on the 6600 has heaps of features; you can add every single detail about the contact and store it in an easy format. The contacts need to be copied from the SIM Directory first so that you can use them to their full extend. They can be copied back to the SIM card (for example to update phone numbers and names) whenever you’d like. For those who can’t figure out how to copy contacts from the SIM Directory, here’s a little run through: Go to your SIM Director, and select options, “Mark” and then “Mark All”. All of the contacts will now have a little tick next to them. Then press options again, and “Copy to Contacts”. Repeat this to copy the contacts back to the SIM card from the internal memory.
All in all the 6600 went fine making and receiving calls.
Messaging
Message standards used by the digital community like MMS, SMS, EMS, and e-mail are all useable in the 6600. You can send and receive all of these types of messages, and when typing them out the English T9 dictionary function enables predictive text, which in turn means faster messages! One thing I particularly like on the 6600 is the fact that you can store all your messages on the MMC card or internal memory, an easy backup!
The E-mail function on the 6600 enables sending and receiving of e-mail messages like you would on a home PC - but only with POP3, SMTP, or IMAP4 protocol server. Once a GPRS or other wireless access point has been setup the mail server(s) can also be setup and then used immediately. E-mail messages that you would like to be send can be stored locally and then sent the next time a GPRS/HSCSD connection is established so it cuts down on separate connection costs.
SMS and EMS messages on the 6600 can be extra long, tripling the amount of next usually allowed in one single SMS/EMS message. EMS messages can also have formatting tags, like bold, underlined, and black and white images. You can send SMS messages to several people in one hit, by just adding more names to the recipient box at the top of the message window.
MMS messages on the 6600 can hold video, sounds, still images, and text in the one message. From the MMS editor you can jump straight to the camera and take a photo/video and then directly attach it to the message. These messages can then be sent to a MMS compatible handset, or to an e-mail address. Up to 1000 characters can be included, and the maximum size for MMS messages on the Nokia 6600 is about 100kB - sending and receiving.
The message editor on the 6600 is one of my favourites, as like other phones it has a box where you can input a number or type in a name, and then later when you send the message the phone will match the name inputted to one in the memory and prompt you to select the right one (if there is more than one match). Underneath that box there are lines for your text to be inputted on, just like writing on lined paper! The character indicator sits above the number input, and if you’re creating an MMS the side (in kB) is shown in place of that.
You can change between T9 predictive text, and the old multi-tap input method by pressing the ‘#’ button, or by pressing the dedicated text button on the left side of the handset underneath the green pick-up button. To go to the symbols menu hold down the ‘*’ key. The predictive text on most phones tend to be really slow, and after you’ve finished your message you have to wait until the phone comes up - but finally, in the 6600 this does happen! Well at least while typing text, unlocking is another story.
Connectivity
Wireless connectivity is big in this model from Finnish giant Nokia. Bluetooth, Infrared, GPRS & HSCSD all make appearances and are utilized to their maximum potential. The 6600 can also perform remote and local synchronizations and keep everything up to date.
Bluetooth is the wireless technology that is taking over the world and becoming the de facto standard. Wireless headsets were the first to jump onto the Bluetooth bandwagon, but adapters for computers, cameras, and more are all incorporating Bluetooth. Devices can be paired with the 6600 in seconds using the connection folder in the main menu, and data can start to be transferred immediately. This short range radio link between devices is faster than anything else and removes the need for wires. Devices can be discovered by the 6600 if they come into a 10m radius of the handset, and that doesn’t have to be in the line-of-sight.
Infrared has been implemented into mobile phone handsets for a long time, and before Bluetooth was the mainly used connection option. Infrared involves having the two devices ports’ in line-of-sight with each other before a connection can be established. This method of connecting devices is still quite good, but most users get dropouts of some description. You can send and receive images, video, and business cards using the infrared port on the 6600.
GPRS and HSCSD are both over the air connections, enabling you to send MMS messages/E-mail, browse WAP pages and synchronize your data. A GPRS connection can reach a maximum of about 40.2kbp/s, and HSCSD connection can get up to 43.2kbp/s. SyncML can synchronize your data over a GPRS/HSCSD connection to a remote server, and local synchronizations can happen with a Bluetooth, or infrared connection.
The WAP browser on the 6600 has support for xHTML pages, bringing you richer media in an easier to navigate format.
Build quality
The Nokia 6600 is quite a sturdy and strong phone without making its way over to being a bulky phone. The outside is very firm and doesn’t creak, but there were a few problems I had with the back cover and the battery insert.
When you put on the back cover, the camera backing (the silver ring) doesn’t quite match up to the bit that is attached to the rest of the phone, and results in an ugly black indent between the two parts. The other thing was the battery and how it’s a battle to remove it without peeling off the sticker from the battery. There is an indent at the bottom of the battery to put your finger into and lever out the battery, but it’s only very shallow and your nail usually gets stuck under the battery sticker. You might think that you don’t remove the battery lots, but because I was constantly downloading data from the MMC card I had to remove the battery to get the card out (this is where hot-swapping would have come in handy!).
Other than those two things, the battery, SIM card and MMC card fit in nicely, and it’s a good idea to have the plastic support for the SIM card also lock in the MMC card too.
Battery life
Two words: Very good! No excessive battery loss when using the camera or other multimedia rich applications like the sound player, and a good talk time. The battery will take a good hour and a half to fully charge according to the Nokia website.
The 750 mAh battery powers the 6600 for around 2-4 hours talk time, and a good 240 hours of standby time. That works out to around 10 days.
Major features...
Auto-switching tri-band EGSM 900/1800/1900MHz
Be confident that wherever you travel your phone will work with the 6600. Auto-switching between EGSM 900/1800/1900MHz bands doesn’t involve the changing of settings or anything like that, it all happens in silence. Most continents other than the Americas use these three frequencies, so you and your 6600 can travel together to almost anywhere.
Symbian 7.0s operating system
The Operating System of the Nokia 6600 is Symbian 7.0s, the most widely used systems in mobile handsets. The Symbian platform can be built on using applications of any description. Software developers are building Symbian Software to tackle the things that a handset may have left out, in the long run making the users life easier.
The Symbian operating system on the 6600 is very much like the OS on the Siemens SX1, if you’ve used either you will notice the similarities.
176 x 208 pixel 65,536 colour TFT LCD display
The large display on the 6600 brings everything to life. The full colour LCD is bigger than most in the 6600’s price range, being 176 x 208 pixels. The display acts as the viewfinder for the camera, and images that have been shot show up clear and crisp.
Nothing is cramped in the menus, in part thanks to the width of the display. Well done to Nokia for this large, colour rich display.
VGA camera (still and video)
The VGA camera on the Nokia 6600 produces great quality still images and video (with sound!). The still images that can be captured are up to a maximum resolution of 640 x 480 pixels, and has three modes - standard, night, and portrait. The video capture on the 6600 can be two sizes, 176 x 144 or 128 x 96 (QCIF/subQCIF) and both still images and video can make use of the 2x digital zoom. Video is produced in 3GPP format. You can read more about the camera in the Camera Performance section of this article.
Internal memory with MMC support
The internal memory on the Nokia 6600 is around 6mB, which in my opinion isn’t enough by itself, so this moderate internal memory with MMC card support make the perfect combination. A 32mB MMC card is included in the sales package for you to use, and it sits underneath the battery adjacent to the SIM card. Some 512mB MMC cards are supported on the Nokia 6600, but the limit is usually 256mB. Either way that’s a lot of memory to fill up!
MMC cards are great if you have an all-in-one reader for your PC, as you can transfer your data to the MMC card from the handset and then get what you want onto your computer easily without the possible problem with IrDA disconnections.
SMS/EMS/MMS messaging
Messages galore! Whichever format you like, full colour images and video with sound and text MMS messages, long SMS messages, or EMS messages all corners are covered with the 6600. You can both send and receive EMS/SMS/MMS messages, and MMS messages even have support for video files.
E-mail sending and receiving (IMAP4, SMTP, and POP3)
When you’re not near a computer and have to check your e-mails for important details or send an e-mail immediately, the 6600 comes to the rescue. It supports three e-mail protocols, IMAP4, SMTP, and POP3 - the most common ones.
E-mail messages will be downloaded via your active GPRS settings, and then displayed for you to read and if you want, reply to. If you are replying to several messages and don’t want to start a new GPRS connection for every outgoing mail message, you can set the 6600 to send in one big hit, saving on GPRS costs.
Local and remote synchronization
To ensure that your PC and phone are in sync and on time, all the time, the Nokia 6600 is able to synchronize over the air to remote synchronization server, and locally with a computer connection. The PC Suite that comes in the sales package of the 6600 has all you need to do a local sync, and then you can set up remote synchronizations on the handset it self.
GPRS/HSCSD data transfers
GPRS enables over the air data transfers of data that enable a user to send MMS messages, or connect to their favourite WAP sites. GPRS is getting faster and faster, so streams of data can be seamlessly accessed any time of the day or night.
General Packet Radio Service and High Speed Circuit Switched Data are both over the air services and HSCSD is around four times faster than some GPRS connections. Whichever you choose GPRS or HSCSD; you’re guaranteed high speed data transfers.
xHTML browser
xHTML MP is another step in the mobile telecommunications world towards 3G. xHTML gives users WAP pages in richer colour that are easier to navigate around. Together with faster GPRS speeds, WAP is becoming more like the fixed internet that you use at home or work on a PC.
Advanced PIM applications
PIM applications, also known as Personal Information Managers take on board important dates and meetings to remember, and almost remove the need for a hand written date-book. The calendar is only one of the applications on the 6600; there is a to-do list, call logs, alarm clock, notes, currency converter, e-wallet, voice memos - all available from the “Extras” folder in the main menu.
Voice functions
Voice commands make the phone perform selected functions without you having to manually go into the menu. The voice functions are easily set up and can be used immediately. Some things you can command the phone to do include changing profiles, starting the camera, Bluetooth and other connection options.
Bluetooth wireless technology
Bluetooth is the wireless connection of the future here and now. No silly line-of-sight infrared business, Bluetooth works over short-wave radio frequencies and doesn’t restrict data communication with wires. Bluetooth enables connections to all sorts of additional hardware, like headsets, other mobile phones/PDA’s, and your PC too. You can transfer data like you would with a data-cable or Infrared adapter using Bluetooth with a Bluetooth adapter.
Infrared
Infrared is the most common data-transferring standard used today by anyone wanting to transfer data from a computer to a phone, or from one phone to another. The 6600’s IrDA port is located on the left hand side, behind a black shield. Once activated it can be picked up by any IrDA adapter or phone, and you can transfer data immediately. The PC Suite software can recognize and IrDA connection and start up the software.
Anything can be transferred via IrDA, so pictures, ring tones (polyphonic and wav), Symbian programs, Java games and applications are all supported, along with much more.
Java MIDP 2.0
Java games and applications have always been supported on Nokia phones, and the 6600 isn’t any different. Games that are installed onto the 6600 are moved into the dedicated “Games” folder in the main menu, and applications are moved to the end of the main menu and have their own little icon.
They are easy to install directly onto the handset using PC Suite software, or you can install them on the phone by transferring the correct files and then moving them to the internal memory or MMC card.
Polyphonic and *.wav ring tones
Polyphonic ring tones are always fun, but are they growing out of fashion? More and more handsets support MP3 or WAV files, which enable full vocal ring tones. The 6600 supports both the polyphonic format, and WAV file format. Polyphonic ring tones come pre-installed, but WAV files must be transferred to the phones memory or MMC card manually.
MP3’s on your computer can easily be cropped into small segments and then converted to WAV files, and then put onto your 6600 as a ring tone. I did this to several of my favourite songs, and people were amazed when someone started singing from my pocked when I got a call!
Help files
Not many handsets around have this feature, and I must admit when I come along it I’m quite impressed. So you don’t have to whip out the manual and find what you’re after, most of it has been put into the handset, and you can search it as you would help files on a computer operating system. You can search the help files by keyword, or you can browse through the categories.
When you go to the options on most menus, a little “Help” selection is available for you to select and be taken to the appropriate help file.
Problems/Issues?
Key press delay
Finally a phone that doesn’t have a key press delay in writing messages; but instead it has been moved to the menu and keypad unlocking. When the phone has its keypad locked and you try to unlock it, you have to press the key sequence at least twice to get it to unlock. And then trying to open the menu straight after - be prepared to wait a second for it to load.
We can’t ask for everything, but one day when key press delay of all sorts has disappeared I’ll be a happy reviewer! =)
Delayed turn-on
When you press the on button, most past Nokia users will like to hear this, the phone comes on immediately; you don’t have to hold the button down for very long at all. This is good, but then the white screen with “Nokia” in blue down the bottom stays on for a good 40 seconds before anything visible starts happening and you are prompted for your PIN.
Maybe I’m a speed freak, but as I recall even the P900 ‘booted’ up faster than the 6600.
MMC card location
Probably the biggest thing that got me aggravated with this great handset was the location of the MMC card. Who knows what brought Nokia to place the MMC card behind the battery, but it was a bad idea. Having to turn off the phone, remove the battery, slide up the holder and then remove the MMC card takes a bit of getting used to every time you want to get data off the card.
Now wouldn’t something like hot-swapping in the new N-Gage QD be much easier? I think so.
In Summary
For someone who’s looking for a phone that can keep them up to date with everything happening around them, including work appointments and other special occasions, as well as being contactable where ever you are via e-mail, SMS, MMS, or EMS the 6600 is something they should think about!
This handset from the Nokia Series 60 range has Bluetooth, Infrared, GPRS and HSCSD, and a full range of PIM applications. This phone has it all in a stylish package without the bulkiness of some handsets on the market today.
All in all, the 6600 is a great looking phone with all the standards of messaging, communicating, and data. You can expect the 6600 to come under the $650-750 mark, which is a cheap price when weighed up with all the features and benefits of having a phone like the 6600! It’s out now at your nearest dealer. |
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