Nokia 6220 Classic review

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Nokia have used the 6220 designation before on handset which took ugliness to a whole new level, but thankfully the new 6220 Classic is far from ugly and is certainly not destined to fall by the wayside like its stylistically challenged forerunner. But the understated design of the Classic is not the reason this model is set for popularity, it's the amount of features it contains. In fact, the 6220 Classic does 90% of what the larger, heavier and more expensive N95 does!

Now, the Nokia N95 is without doubt one of the best mobile phones on the market and still enormously popular despite its advancing years; are Nokia risking sales by making the 6220 Classic so similar? No, as there are important differences between the two, but most of all is that the 6220 Classic will attract the less techy crowd who are put off rather than impressed by the N95's 'multimedia computer' tag.

In a departure from the normal review order, instead of first looking at what the 6220 Classic has, let's look at what it doesn't have in relation to its big brother, the N95, as this way it's clearer just how impressive this little phone is. Obviously it's not a slider, so no dual-slide functionality, and there is no accelerometer or Wi-Fi connectivity. That's more or less it in terms of functions which may be important to you the user! See, we told you it was impressive. Now let's take a look at the specification in full.

On the rear of the case you'll find the Carl Zeiss lens for the 5 megapixel, autofocus camera, plus as an added bonus, a xenon flash unit beneath it. Another addition is a manual lens cover which uses a small switch to open and close; perfect for keeping that great lens in the best working condition. The lens also shoots video at 30fps VGA and the handset has a TV out socket incorporated into the 2.5mm jack plug connection so you can watch your videos and anything else the 6220 Classic can display on the big screen.

The 6220 Classic is a 3G smartphone with HSDPA support and uses the Symbian S60 3rd edition operating system with feature pack 2 installed, plus it comes pre-loaded with plenty of useful applications, saving you time in downloading and installing the essential ones. The software runs quickly and efficiently and the Classic's 128MB of RAM helps it to multitask admirably, however with any of the different themes activated, the software does seem to creak a little more than without.

The phone also has a GPS receiver and the Nokia Maps program installed, which works with the camera for geo-tagging of your pictures. As usual, Nokia has paid attention to the multimedia side of the handset, with an FM RDS radio and their great music player providing entertainment. The larger, but still too small to be of much use, 120MB of internal memory can be increased with the addition of a MicroSD card up to 8GB in size and the battery is quoted as being good for 250 hours standby with 3 and a half hours of talktime.

This less than impressive battery life is ironically a by-product of the 6220 Classic's other advantage over the N95; it weighs 90 grams and is just 15mm thick. Besides this, unless you consider Wi-Fi essential, there is little to fault the phone and its only if we nitpick that we come up with slight issues, such as the irregular shaped bottom row of keys or the plastic casing not feeling very high quality. Overall, anyone sick of overly complicated phones supplementing the essentials with fluff will discover the 6220 Classic is a breath of fresh air.

If you are not sure what you are looking for but know that you would like something similiar to the 6220 Classic why dont you try the Samsung U900 Soul, the Sony Ericsson C902 or the K770i.

Nokia 6220 Classic specs and features

• 5 Megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics
• Quad Band
• 3G (HSDPA), EDGE, GPRS, and HSCSD
• Built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS function
• Symbian OS 9.3, S60 rel. 3.2
• FM radio and MP3 player
• microSD Card Slot (TransFlash) (up to 8GB)
• Office Applications
• TV-Out
• Dimensions: 108 x 47 x 15 mm
• Weight: 90 grams
• Standby Time: Up to 250hrs
• Talk Time: Up to 3hrs 30mins