Nokia has a real gift for coming up with classy but simple phones. This one is the successor to the hugely popular 6300, and like that it leaps into life quickly: contacts are available in seconds. It’s got lots of features, a shiny exterior, is light and very impressive.
What we like
There’s a lot to like here – from the moment you pick the phone up, the gleaming chrome finish is dazzlingly attractive and feels good. It’s certainly upscale enough for a smart evening out. The screen is big, bright and colourful (16 million colours) with some of Nokia’s neat trademarks: double-tap on the display when it’s sleeping and it buzzes back at you and shows the time.
Features include an effective, fast GPS and a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus, both good on a phone which isn’t premium-priced. There are also plenty of animated wallpapers to choose from – our favourite is a wide-eyed monkey by a duck pond. Battery life is strong and call quality unsurprisingly very good. It also manages fast web browsing and squeezes all this power into its sexy-and-slim casing. It’s fast and responsive, and is both accessible and deeply attractive.
What we don’t like
Given the attractive music player software it would be nice to have a 3.5mm headphone jack instead of the micro USB connector – there isn’t even an adaptor in the box. Sure, this isn’t a music-oriented handset but Nokia got everything else so right.
The camera has a flash, but it’s LED rather than the more powerful xenon. That glitzy chrome finish collects fingerprints like nobody’s business – but as you can see, we’re struggling to find negatives with this handset.
Conclusion
Looks great, works great – what’s not to like? This is the kind of thing Nokia does best: a phone that’s simply designed, even down to the unfussy, efficient keypad. It’s highly accessible making it easy to take photos or use the GPS. Stylish and effective.