It is hard for me to imagine that I am carrying around in my pocket a computer that is as powerful as my first generation Pentium powered AST desktop, I wrestled with back in 1995, typing out scintiallting stories about memory chip prices for Quick Nikkei News. It seemed breezy enough, running the now forgotten Windows 3.1. With some kicking around, the TCP/IP stack on it worked for me to get Internet access as well. Fast forward by ten years, and the new Nokia 6630 packs a mightier punch – a 200 MHz ARM 5 processor – in a small but lethal package.
The Nokia 6630 is based on Symbian OS. It is a tri-band phone for GSM 900/1800/1900, EDGE and WCDMA networks. Weighing 127 grams and measuring 110 x 60 x 20.6 mm, it is world’s smallest megapixel phone for GSM and WCDMA networks. It has everything you would normally want in a good smart-enough phone. Clearly, this is the best 3G phone on the market, especially given that how the others are so clunky and well ugly! It is light enough that sometimes I forget it is sitting in my pocket. (more…)
With 6620 and 6630, Nokia has put the strange design adventure behind it. Even though 6630 is a little quirky and reminds you of the roundish bottom of Nokia 3650, it still doesn’t feel too hip for an aging hipster. The brushed aluminium exterior has a solid and reassuring feel to it. It looks really nice next to my Powerbook. The keys feel responsive to the touch, and are easy for someone like me who would rather SMS than talk on the phone. I like the fact that Nokia has packed this tiny phone with a lot of features. The 1.3 megapixel camera is a delight, and photos are exceptionally nice and bright. Video recorder does a decent job of grabbing short clips. The bluetooth is exceptionally good, and easy to use. The screen is bright and colorful. The internal antenna is good enough to receive signal even in the farthest corner of my apartment.
In recent months I have taken a shine to Symbian OS, and have found it to be more nimble and responsive that either the Palm or the Pocket PC phones. That doesn’t necessarily mean I don’t like them. Symbian, it seems is more made-for-phone OS. The calendar, address book and even the clock has gone through a makeover to match the brushed metal exterior. The phone has new icons and in general feels like a serious enough upgrade from the Nokia 6620. (I also like the fact that I don’t have to do reset on the phone like with the Treo 650 and the Pocket PC devices.)
Now for the bad news. I ended up switching to AT&T Wireless and signing up for their UMTS plan hoping to enjoy DSL-type speeds on the phone.. Oops, for this phone is a not-for-US model and as a result, it uses a different frequency than the AT&T Wireless UMTS which uses the 1900 band. So really I have been getting EDGE speeds on this device, and overpaying for my data plan. Now that’s something I should have looked into it. However, as a phone, it will work across the planet, and that’s the upside of this device. If you are in Europe, it will also let you make video calls, though not sure how it works since I cannot make those calls here in the US.
The email client is rather limited and so is the inbuilt browser. I have to say, with NetFront and/or Opera broswer, I do find the surfing experience much nicer. Profimail is a much better email client, and I encourage all Symbian users to buy it. Rael thinks that as well! Wait… the bad news is not over. The phone while is discovered by my Powerbook, does nothing really except for sending files from the phone to the desktop. Reverse link, i.e. powerbook-to-phone does not work. Windows users, if you have bluetooth, have a better time dealing with the phone, and it syncs quite easily with Outlook. I have an Acer Ferrari 3200 Scream Machine sitting at home which is my test bed for the month for all windows apps. It has bluetooth built-in, and the pairing to transferring files and syncing outlook 2003 was a breeze. The Stinkpad with a D-Link USB bluetooth devices well did not do the trick and still having pairing problems. Lastly, Nokia switched the damn memory card standard on US again, and that means another $100 or so down the drain. Still, Nokia listened and now it is easy to remove the card, (see image) I like the music player, and the old headphones work with this device as well.
So what’s the verdict: got about $700 to burn, go ahead and buy this one. You will like the way you hold it! (More on this at Russell’s website!)
I find the lack of a full blown keyboard on these smart phones to be a huge drawback. What s the point of carrying a $300 smart phone, if all one can truly use it for is a Read only PDA Ķ the predictive text typing capability of such phones is a joke for anything longer than a typical sentence.
For a read only PDA, there are many cheaper alternatives, some as slim as a credit card (Fellows) that are typically priced at under $100.
The Smart Phones come on to there own when paired with a keyboard – refer to the Palm TREO 650 or the Sony P910. These are truly portable computers.
Clearly there is two ways of looking at the smart phone market. phone with smart features like enhanced mail, mms, sms and photo abilities, surfing and of course camera. or you can look at treo which is a micro portable pretending to be a phone. the world, and that means everyone outside of the US doesn’t need a keyboard. I think it is very PC centric view of the world most of us have here in the US. I think smart phones do phone stuff smartly.
700 bucks for a goddamn phone! Seems to be a bit overpriced to me. On one hand we have laptops being priced at $450 (Walmart) and on the other hand we have these cellular device prices going above the roof. What is the price point at which these manufacturers are going to stop? They keep adding more features and raising prices. Besides, I agree with Ranjit. These should come with a built-in keyboard.
once the voice recognition software apps are capable of being integrated into the OS of cellphones a keyboard will not be needed. that will solve this application problem. until then each manufacturer will use different price points, applied individually to various products across a spectrum of quality and applications to compete for different targeted markets.
How do you explain the RAZR’s popularity at that price point without a keyboard?. Blackberry has 10 different products all with keyboards but with different prices. should they all be the same price if they all have keyboards and all can be $700? There are many facets to product pricing and the inclusion of a keyboard is only one. It’s really what the user needs most often that is the most important consideration. If you are producing long emails on your mobile device you need a keyboard. this however is only one of the factors of the price. should a man of om’s status be speaking on a phone less than $500. i think not. as i said there are other considerations. As far as “They keep adding more features and raising prices” this seems to make complete economic sense. if the market decides the features are worth it they will pay. if they don’t they will not and the price will decrease.
It is hard for me to imagine that I am carrying around
> in my pocket a computer that is as powerful as my
> first generation Pentium powered AST desktop,
Very true, I bought Nokia 6600 few days back. My main purpose was to make Macromedia FlashLite enabled applications. When I realized its a complete OS capable of doing lot more than I used to think.
Now, I am playing with it and making different utility applications to make my life easier. Yeah, I am writing apps in FlashLite, J2ME & C++, depending what kind of app they are.
It’s really nice to hold such powerful devices
Apart from camera, what is better in Nokia 6630 than Nokia 6600? I guess, Nokia 6600 is not available in US?
– Abdul
I would have to disagree with the point about the keys having a good feel. I have tried this model at a couple of local stores and the keys feel cheap and poorly constructed (especially when compared to other models from the same line up, Vodafone 3G Japan).
As this model is being sold in all 3 major markets its features are probably more aimed at European and Japanese users so the “PDA” substitute is not as big a factor, not in Japan anyway. Nokia typically fares poorly in Japan as its models just dont stand up to the features and build quality of the Japanese models.
Notably the Nokia and Motorola models are the cheapest of the Vodafone 3G line up and the 6630 is currently priced at around $75 (subsidised by Vodafone) but will come down to around $25 within a few months I am sure.
To enable reverse link, i.e. powerbook-to-phone, open port 3006 on your mac buit-in firewall…
jerome
thanks for that tip – it worked. brilliant
sir i have problum in smart movie player install please send me install tips and send me smart movie playe i have nokia 6630 vodafone please solve it thanks