Nokia 6260 Slide

Nokia 6260 Slide It is common these days to find Nokia re-using old model numbers. If you’ve been a follower of the industry for a while, you will surely have picked up on these. The 6210, 6220, or 6600, just for starters. To distinguish from previous handsets, Nokia have added descriptive names to the model number, so you find handsets with the descriptive Classic, or Fold, Navigator or Slide. Straight away you know what the handset design is going to be, or what the main feature of the handset is. This time up we have for review the Nokia 6260 Slide which is set to be a big handset for Nokia in the up coming months.

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Nokia 6260 Slide reviews

The Nokia 6260 Slide is not part of the Nseries, or Eseries, yet it is packed with the latest features commonly found on such phones. So we have a 5.0 megapixel camera, with dual LED, Autofocus, and Carl Zeiss lens. It seems the 5.0 megapixel camera is fast becoming the norm on mid-range Nokia mobile phones. For a while Nokia cameras were far ahead of the competition in terms of quality, thanks to their inclusion of a quality lens, along with a good processor. It is not just megapixels that make good pictures. However it seems as if the camera functionality on Nokia phones has become a bit stale, with Carl Zeiss lens, flash and auto focus now commonplace, whilst there is no option for face detection, anti-shake, smile detection, smart contrast, video stabiliser, etc, etc. However, despite the lack of some advanced features, the 6260 Slide will still produce some rather good snaps, that can easily be loaded up to your favourite picture sharing site, or straight onto your blog, if you prefer.

Alongside the camera the 6260 Slide will also record video, although disappointingly the capture rate is just 15 frames per second. With the option of a dual LED flash on the handset, you can make use of a light for video recording in low light levels, maybe at a music gig or in a club on a night out with friends.

The Nokia 6260 screen is worth a mention here, too. Normally Nokia screens are very good, offering clear views even in the most direct bright sunlight, and supporting on most phones up to 16 million colours whilst most other manufacturers can seem washed out in comparison, with the standard tending to be supporting up to 256,000 colours. With the 6260 Slide, however, Nokia have pushed the boat out once again, packing in an amazing 320 x 480 pixels, (HVGA) compared to the now standard 240 x 320 pixels (QVGA) found on most phones. This means clarity and reproduction on the screen is top drawer, and a pleasure to view.

The 6260 Slide also comes with GPS, which can be used with the excellent Nokia Maps software that comes pre-loaded on the phone. There is also support for A-GPS which helps get a quicker fix on your location than just relying on the GPS satellite system. With GPS built in, it is most likely the Nokia 6260 Slide will also support geo-tagging, which allows you to record the location information of a picture taken with the handset, which can then be viewed online.

Data-wise the 6260 does not disappoint, with support for WiFi built in, and also connecting to the net with super fast HSDPA and HSUPA technology, for faster download and upload speeds. If HSDPA or even 3G is not covered in your area then to back it all up the 6260 also uses GPRS, EDGE and HSCSD.

There is Bluetooth support for local connectivity, using the latest standard of Bluetooth 2.1. Usage of Bluetooth 2.1 offers some improvements to standard Bluetooth, including better power consumption on the device, and support for Near Field Communication. By utilising NFC, secure connections can be made when an NFC radio interface is available nearby. To those of us who do not speak geek, the general improvement you will notice is things such as a handset using NFC and Bluetooth 2.1 can automatically pair with a Bluetooth headset when they are brought into close proximity to each other (a few centimetres) or connecting to a digital photo frame, for transferring pictures. It seems as the technology that lies behind the items we use every day gets more complicated, at least the usage of the technology becomes simpler, which is definitely a positive thing.

One of the interesting points about the Nokia 6260 Slide is, with such a feature packed line up, the operating software used on the phone is standard Nokia S40. The 6260 is not a S60 smartphone. So we see Nokia’s vision of making even their mid range consumer devices as feature packed as their smartphone range become a reality with the 6260 Slide. By using S40, Nokia are bringing technology to the masses with a user interface that has been with us for the last 6 years or so, and found on many popular handsets such as the Nokia 6230, 6300 and 6233. Being a S40 phone all the usual features are going to be available, including the standard media player for music and video playback, the inclusion of an FM radio, a simple web browser, plus the usual excellent phonebook, call log manager and the option for themes to customise your phone.

The Nokia 6260 Slide is set to initially come in two colour variations – black and beige. Nokia are to be applauded for bringing such a feature packed phone to the mass market – it should allow for a competitive range of contract deals for consumers and eye catching low prices on pay as you go. Now the normal phone user can get to grips with a handset they will understand how to use with the familiar S40 layout, and benefit from top end technology such as WiFi and GPS. The Nokia 6260 Slide is sure to be a big hit with current Nokia fans and tap into the growing social networking trend of mobile phones.