Nokia 6700 Classic Review

The 6700 Classic has smart looks, a quality metal finish and a high specification, and has been one of Nokia's biggest selling mid-range phones in the second half of 2009. Top features include a-GPS, a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash, a music player, an FM radio with RDS, Bluetooth, HSPA and a memory card. But it isn't a reliable phone. Things to watch out for include freezing / shutting down and breakable screens.

The Nokia 6700 Classic is the 5 megapixel replacement for the Nokia 6500 Classic. Almost the same size as the 6500 Classic, but slightly thicker and quite a lot heavier, the 6700 feels like its been hewn from solid steel! There are few handsets that have such a quality feel as this one. It's a traditional classic-style mobile, but it doesn't look or feel like the ugly duckling, even when placed next to the latest generation of touchscreen beauties. Nokia are at their very best with this classic style of handset, and they look like they've pulled out all the stops for this one.

The keypad is flat, but very easy to use, with no mis-keyed digits. You'll be able to text quickly and easily with Nokia's tried-and-tested T9 predictive text and easy menus. The navigation button is also a joy to use. The display is the same as the one on the 6500 Classic - 16 million colours and 240 x 320 pixels, but with the size increased to 2.2 inches.

The camera has been seriously upgraded to 5 megapixels, with autofocus and an LED flash, making this above average for its class. The video camera is a decent one too, able to record at up to VGA resolution. You can also make video calls with a secondary video camera.

The phone has an MP3 player that can handle a limited number of formats, including AAC and MP3. There's also an FM radio with RDS, so you can see what station you're listening to. Sadly there is no 3.5mm audio jack on the 6700, but you can use the Nokia stereo headphones supplied, or an optional Bluetooth stereo headset. The phone can also play MP3 ringtones and video ringtones, as well as 64-voice polyphonic.

A bonus feature that not many phones in this price range currently have is assisted GPS. We should also note that the 6700 is one of the first phones to feature HSPA (a faster kind of HSDPA) giving super-fast download speeds of up to 10Mbps and uploads of 2Mbps. This is perhaps an over-specification for this kind of phone, which doesn't major on internet functionality, but we're not going to complain.

The phone is well endowed with memory: 170 MB of built-in memory, which is enough for around 40 MP3 tracks, and a microSD card slot which supports cards up to 8GB. A 1GB card is supplied in the sales package and this is enough for around 250 MP3 tracks.

Now, the 6500 Classic was plagued with problems, including poor battery life, a poor keypad and buggy software. The keypad problem has been more than adequately fixed in the 6700. Battery life has also been improved by replacing the old 830 mAh battery with a more powerful 960 mAh one, increasing the quoted standby time by approximately 50%. But the software problems still seem to be lurking. Many of our users have reported a variety of firmware errors, including freezing, switching off and worse. Also, although the metal case feels very solid, there have been reports of screens cracking, and we have witnessed this ourselves, so if you buy this phone do take care of it - it's not as robust as you might think.

Why can't Nokia get this stuff right? They are the biggest phone manufacturer in the world, and this is not some high-end smartphone. This type of product is Nokia's bread and butter and they ought to be able to get it right. Don't buy this handset unless you like to live dangerously. What to buy instead? Maybe a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic or treat yourself to a Samsung Jet. If you want the features of the 6700 but you don't like touchscreen phones, you might consider the Sony Ericsson W995.

Features of the Nokia 6700 Classic include:

• 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash
• Video camera (640 x 480 pixel resolution, 15 frames per second, MPEG4, 3GP formats, 4x digital zoom)
• Display: TFT, 16 million colours, 240 x 320 pixels (2.2 inches) with ambient light sensor
• Music player (AAC and MP3 formats)
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Integrated handsfree speaker
• Ringtones: AAC and MP3 & Video ringtones / 64-voice polyphonic (MIDI) ringtones
• Voice recorder
• Voice controls
• Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email with attachments (POP3, IMAP4 & SMTP protocols), Nokia Xpress audio messaging
• Integrated A-GPS
• Java games
• Themes: wallpapers, sounds, screensavers, and backgrounds
• Calendar, To-do list, Notes, Alarm clock, Stopwatch, Countdown timer, Calculator
• Nokia web browser, Opera mini web browser
• Memory: 170 MB plus microSD card slot (up to 8GB)
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1, micro USB 2.0
• WAP 2.0, GPRS, EPGRS, 3G HSPA (max download 10Mbps; upload 2Mbps)
• Quadband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) plus triple band 3G HSPA
• Size: 110 x 45 x 11 mm
• Weight: 117g
• Talktime: 4 - 8 hours
• Battery standby: 300 hours