Review of GSM/UMTS-handset Nokia 6600 Fold

Mobile-review have posted their review of the Nokia 6600 fold. Here is their final impression.

Impressions
As far as reception quality goes, the 6600 Fold is pretty good – overall it’s no different from other Nokia-branded solutions. The loudspeaker’s volume is average, even lower than that of some other Nokia’s offerings, and occasionally it falls flat in really noisy environments (but, it really depends why tune you currently use for your ring tone). The 6600 Fold’s vibro alert, on the contrary, is nothing to complain about.

With its price tag of 275 Euro, the 6600 Fold is an affordable, yet very likable (as far as its looks go) solution. Plus, it’s more of a feminine handset, so the audience ratio will revolve around 80 to 20 not in favor of men, and while in some regions the ratio may well shift back and forth, that’s what the big picture will look. Its tap commands add some special flavor to the phone and effectively put it in one boat with the Nokia 8800 Arte – using this feature you can disable the alarm clock, mute incoming calls and so forth. Speaking for myself, I must say that I liked the way the 6600 Fold is built, it feels like a very robust device, even though the materials it employs are nothing out of this world. Compared to the Motorola U9 materials-wise, the Nokia 6600 Fold stands strong and trumps the former hands down. But as far as other fronts are concerned, the 6600 is no match for the Motorola’s solution, all thanks to the latter’s mind-blowing screensavers for the secondary display, lighter price tag and comparable functionality (since there is no GPS, we’ll discount the maps in the 6600 Fold). However, on the downside, the U9 is more exposed to wear and tear, plus the plastic on its face is softer and more fragile. But still, with its lighter price tag, the U9 is more than an appealing choice; nonetheless there are enough users out there who are in the market for this type of phone and some of them need only Nokia, so both handsets will enjoy some sales.

Among the letdowns of the Nokia 6600 Fold is the outer display’s poor performance in the sun – it gets completely washed out; so, it turns out that the maker has gone for style over substance, which is not a rare thing these days.

On the upside, it comes preinstalled with a good roster of games, Flikr support (first time ever on an S40 device, although few will really use it – most of those who really need it already have S60-powered phones in their pockets) and Windows Live Messenger (for some markets it’s a decent offering with no counterparts out there).


We can’t say the 6600 Fold has what it takes to produce a WOW-effect, even the electromagnetic opening mechanism is usually met with no hype or enthusiasm. But, on balance, it’s a well-rounded fashion-conscious solution. As its price goes down, its popularity index will soar, or at least, substantially increase. Fitting the mold set by other players Nokia is heading towards highly specialized devices in an effort to divide the market up into small niches. This gives other makers a chance to come up with strong offerings too, since “all-in-one” solutions don’t have a wide range of price segments to hope on and by definition can’t be widely adopted, so step by step they are forgoing this device class. Which is certainly a pitty.