gadgets and technology devices: OG Review: Nokia 6700 Classic

OG Review: Nokia 6700 Classic

6700c-front

Over the years Nokia has had some real classics in the 6000 series. Starting from the Nokia 6600 (that sold like hot cakes) to the 6610, 6233 and 6300. The 6700 Classic is an ideal upgrade from the 6233 or the 6300, both of which were pretty popular devices in the mid-range segment. We saw a few more devices like the 6208 and the 6303 classic, but the 6700 appeared to be the best bet, which is why we picked the 6700 to review.

Here is a quick look at the 6700 Classic’s features:

2.2″ LCD screen (16M colours)
3G HSDPA 10mbps, HSUPA 2mbps
5MP autofocus camera
FM radio
170MB internal memory + micro SDHC support
Accelerometer densor
AGPS / Bluetooth / micro USB 2.0
Weight = 116.5 gms

The 6700 Classic is no smartphone, and running on the Symbian S40 platform, this is a good common-man’s phone with an impressive feature list. If you have used the 6610 and then the 6300, you will surely appreciate the slim and sturdy feel given to the 6700 Classic. Compared to the 6233 or 6300, the screen feels much richer and the added size (2.2″ vs 2.0″) helps. Though (probably) the space used to write NOKIA under the LCD would have been put to better use with a little larger display. You will find the 5MP camera + flash along with the loudspeaker on the back, the charging port and headphone slot – bottom & camera button + volume control on the right.

The microSD card slot rests under the batter cover. The 6700’s battery cover can be bit of a little pain to open when new, but after a few takes, it was smooth enough. The metal buttons for camera and volume are not the best that we have seen, but with a little practice and you get used to them.

The major design disappointment for me is with the keyboard. Years after Motorola produced the V3 Razr or the L6/L7 with a nice flat metallic keyboard, Nokia fails to create something upto the mark. The keys are hard and rigid, and by the end of punching out 2 or 3 messages it becomes really painful to type on the 6700 Classic.

The device also has a complete metal finishing and comes in three colours. We didn’t find the Matte metallic colour in stores yet and the silver metallic looked pretty ordinary and attracted fingerprints very easily. Our pick is the Black metallic color that gives the best look.

charging-port-6700c

The contacts manager in the 6700 Classic can hold 2000 contacts, with 5 fields each. This should satisfy the needs of any user within this segment. The Classic also features Ovi Share, Ovi Maps and an inbuilt email client. The lack of WiFi turns me off when it comes to anything about mobile internet; if you have 3G network you would be able to better utilize the email and Ovi features. The OVI powered IM functionality and GPS aided maps are welcome features on the 6700 Classic. This seems to justify the handset’s price. The 170Mb internal memory is also a healthy addon.

Nokia has added an accelerometer to the 6700 Classic and the device also has an amusing motion sensor feature. Once activated, you can just double tap the device on the table to silent an incoming call and double tap again to reject it. Not something out of the world exactly, but these little hidden features will appeal to non-power users.

While the overall upgrade from a 6300 is good, the 6700 Classic lags behind in music experience that the 6233 delivers. Not sure if this is because of the headphones that ship along with the device, the lack of a standard 3.5mm headset jack hurts (though it does feature FM radio). The 6700 uses a microUSB headphone jack and it can be really expensive to find a replacement. The same port is used for data transfer and the devices charges when connected to a system (unlike the 6300/6233/6610). The cable provided in the box is really small though (works well for notebooks, didn’t for my desktop).

Photo Samples from the 6700 Classic camera (click to enlarge):

Using the auto-focus in macro mode (dim lighting)

Some greenary shot from close, with flash

Some greenery shot from close, with flash

Outside my windows, without flash

The video capture is 15fps but still offers decent clarity and zooming. We have a sample video, which will be added to this post pretty soon.

Priced roughly around INR 15000 in India, the 6700 Classic is currently almost as expensive as the Nokia 5800. While touchscreen lovers would go for a smartphone like the 5800 or even consider the upcoming X6 or 5230, this is a simple sleek phone with some good features that an average user asks for!

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