My Nokia 6220

My Nokia 6220

It may not be the best looking phone on the market, but the Nokia 6220 Classic has just about everything I need from a phone. This phone ticks all the boxes. A 5MP camera with a Carl Zeiss lens, 3G internet, GPS Navigation and a MicroSD slot, all squeezed into the sleek, ergonomic design. This is clearly a business-oriented smart-phone, but I believe it’s greatest strength lies in it’s incredible camera and instant photo-sharing ability, making a digital camera virtually redundant!

Not only do you get all these gadgets, you get them in a neat little package weighing only 90g and measuring just 108x47x15mm. Not bad for a smart-phone! Because of this, you won’t have a problem handling it, especially with the matt backing and logical key placement. Beware however, the placement may be logical, but the material certainly isn’t! It looked great in the box but after just one use the front of the phone was awash with smudges and streaks. I can’t imagine trying to text whilst enjoying a greasy meal!

As for the buttons themselves, they’re a little plastic-y and cramped, it often takes several tries just to unlock it! Texting is relatively comfortable, but as a lefty, I often find myself pressing the camera shutter whilst typing. However, this is only a minor annoyance as the button isn’t active when the lens has its sliding cover over it, which is operated by a small switch on the back. Apart from this, the overall physical design is sleek yet robust, and gives a professional feel.

The actual menu interface is simple but unresponsive, with regular “lag” and freezing. Nevertheless, when It is working, it is easy to navigate, with the more important things such as its built in browser and music player being higher in the menu structure. Also, the screen fades from menu to menu, making it not as snappy as it could be, but adding to its professional look.

As you probably guessed, all these features and add-ons come at a price – the battery life. According to Nokia, the talk time is 2.5 hours, and the standby time is no less than 250 hours! I beg to differ, the best I could manage was a few days, maybe 3-4, or normal usage before having to charge it up. That’s good… but not as good as it should be for a phone of its type.

So, what’s the conclusion. Well, I think it does its job sufficiently, a business-oriented smart-phone. But I don’t think you should look at it as just that. It can do much much more. The camera is stunning and with its great browser and GPS capabilities, you should be quite capable of telling your friends where you are, taking a picture, and posting it on-line; all within a matter of seconds. This is why I believe the Nokia 6220 Classic is not just for business, it is a great casual phone for hanging out too!