NOKIA 6600i

The Nokia 6600i Slide is an upgraded version of their older 6600 cell phone. These phones employ the slider form factor, where the screen doubles as the cover and is moved to reveal the keypad underneath. The 6600i Slide is a 3G phone with 2.2 inches of screen real estate, at 240x320 TFT pixels and 16 million colors. The 5 megapixel autofocus camera has dual LED flashes, but video recording is limited to only 15 fps in VGA resolution or 30 fps in QVGA resolution. The 6600i Slide can connect over quad-band GSM, UMTS, EDGE, or 3G networks for video calls. A novel feature of this phone is its tap control capabilities, where the phone may be controlled simply by being tapped! Just tap the phone to activate its accelerometer and wake it up, or disable the alarm, or mute the ringer, or reject incoming calls.

The 6600i Slide is compatible with Bluetooth 2.0, and offers USB connectivity as well. In common with most Nokia phones these days, there is also a built-in FM radio player. MicroSD cards are supported up to a maximum of 16GB for additional storage space. The standard 6600i box includes a 1GB microSD card, the Nokia WH-203 wired stereo headset, and a data cable in addition to the phone and its battery and charger. This phone is available in silver or black brushed metal color schemes.

Though it comes with a host of features, including a standard set of Symbian Series 40 applications and Nokia Maps pre-installed, the 6600i is not a smartphone, so the option to download additional software is of rather limited utility. It also doesn't support 3.5G speeds. The 1000 mAh lithium-ion battery allows for fourteen days of standby time; talk time is officially rated as up to four hours via GSM and three with UMTS. The Nokia 6600i Slide is a stylish upgrade from the old 6600, with improved battery life over the previous model, which occasioned user complaints of abysmal performance in that respect. The keypad should also prove more scratch-resistant, another common observation of the older model. This is an entry-level cell phone with smartphone-like features that should bridge the gap between cell phones and smartphones, which seems to be Nokia's long-term strategic vision (as evidenced by their other releases concurrent with the 6600i). It is stylish and fairly powerful but priced for the middle range of the market, at casual users who want something very small and handy.