In the run up to the release of the first Nokia smartphone running Windows Phone 7, Nokia are keeping themselves busy with a range of devices running Symbian, the mainstay of Nokia smartphone devices over the years. The Nokia 600 is a recent Nokia announcement, and amongst some interesting features the handset offers the latest version of Symbian, Symbian Belle.
Symbian Belle offers a bright new lease of life for Symbian, which for all the negative press in recent times is actually a very stable OS. With Belle, the user interface is totally refreshed, and offers users more options for customising their phones. With Belle on board, Nokia users can now access up to 7 standby homescreens, which can be populated with widgets and shortcuts to frequently used applications.
The bright new look for Symbian is a welcome, long overdue update, and matches in well with the bright colour options of the Nokia 600, which will be available in a variety of colours including Black, White, Pink and Lime. The 600 is a compact device, measuring in at 111 x 53 x 13mm, and weighing 100g. The display is a 3.2 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen, which is considered rather small for a modern day smartphone. Supporting up to 16 million colours, the display has a pixel resolution of 360 x 640, which presents sharp, clear images onscreen.
Music is an area where the Nokia 600 excels, with the device having a powerful built in speaker giving excellent audio clarity on music playback. The device also includes an FM transmitter, which allows you to play music to a nearby stereo by selecting a suitable FM frequency. This feature is useful in a car, where you can listen to the music stored on your phone via your in car stereo, but also works just as well at home via a home stereo unit.
An additional feature on the Nokia 600 is the inclusion of an FM antenna. This allows you to tune in to FM radio stations without needing to plug in a headset, making it easier to tune in to your local radio station on the move.
Another notable feature on the Nokia 600 is the inclusion of NFC. An emerging technology that is finding its way onto a range of new devices, NFC allows users to interact with other NFC enabled devices, exchanging information wirelessly and quickly. NFC can support a range of service, including the facility to make micro payments from the handset, or download information from interactive menus, movie posters, and so on.
Imaging is usually a strong element on Nokia phones, and that is also the case on the Nokia 600. The handset has a fixed focus 5.0 Megapixel camera, with LED Flash, and support for geotagging. The inclusion of fixed focus is a cause for discussion amongst users, with some preferring the greater flexibility offered by devices that support autofocus. The main benefit of fixed focus is a greater speed of shot, and in a large majority of cases the focus on the captured image will be more than adequate for most users. The camera is enabled for video recording, capturing 720p HD Video at 30 frames per second.
Ample memory is provided for storing all captured images, as well as music and other media, with the Nokia 600 offering 2 GB internal storage, which can be expanded with Micro SD memory cards, up to 32 GB in size.
With an updated web browser part of the new Belle look, the Nokia 600 is a capable web browsing handset. Support for high speed data is included with HSDPA and HSUPA onboard, backed up by WiFi 802.11 b/g and the inclusion of GPRS and EDGE. Bluetooth 3.0 is included, supporting A2DP and EDR, and a Micro USB port acts as a connector for a data cable and doubling up as the charging port on the phone. The handset includes a built in GPS receiver, with aGPS support, and includes Nokia OVI Maps, which provides free mapping software with full voice navigation, providing turn by turn commands, setting the Nokia 600 up as a very capable SatNav device. All map software is provided free of charge, and can be downloaded via the Nokia OVI site.
All round, then, the Nokia 600 is a more than capable device, and if it didn’t have to carry the baggage of previous Symbian efforts, it would easily be a very desirable handset. Although the Nokia name no longer carries the weight it did within the mobile industry, the Nokia 600 is a device that is worth a closer look.
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