Nokia 6210

Nokia chose not to take the smaller-than-a-matchbox route when styling its 6210 model, instead preferring a device that looks and feels like a phone should. It fits comfortably in the hand and reaches all the way from mouth to ear. Pronounced keys make dialling easy, but also mean that using the keypad lock is essential. Not even your mother is likely to be interested in listening to the inside of your pocket for any length of time.

Perhaps the most attractive, but least technical, feature of this phone is the internal aerial. This makes it much easier than the traditional style to slip discreetly into a pocket. However, the smooth, rounded contours of the casing - ergonomic, according to the company - mean the 6210 shoots all too easily out of clothing. Nokia phones aren't built so sturdily that regular trips earthwards can be easily withstood.

Scrolling through Nokia's justifiably well-respected menu, with most functions intuitively easy to find, the reasonably sized screen is more than sufficient for the purpose of navigating through phone calls and messaging. WAP users will be pleased with the contrast and clarity of the screen, although as with most WAP-enabled phones its 34 « 27mm dimensions proved too small for all but the most basic Net navigation. Indeed, with a phone of this size it would have been nice to see a larger screen, such as on the Ericsson R380s (reviewed issue 75, p184), which would make non-telephony functions appreciably easier to navigate.

Since text messaging accounts for an ever-increasing amount of communication, Nokia has incorporated an input system that aims to make creating messages simpler and less of a workout for the fingers. Dubbed 'predictive text input' by Tegic, this development allows users to key in words with just one touch for each letter. This leaves words looking uncomfortably and comprehensively wrong until you've finished them, when the software checks the dictionary for possibilities and (usually) the word you were aiming for pops up onto the screen.

It's actually horribly disconcerting during your first few attempts, and many people might be glad that the normal input method remains an option. However, after a few minutes' use we found that the system reduced message writing time considerably. It's not the first phone to adopt this technology, but is a feature that will impress SMS fans.

For the traveller, the 6210 aims to make life easier, with support for GSM 900 and 1,800 networks. Switching between the bands is automatic. While on the road, the busy executive will be pleased to note that Nokia's claims of 250 minutes' maximum talk time and 260 hours' maximum standby are fairly representative.

The 6210 from Nokia is everything you would expect from the mobile giant, offering good functionality without trying to stray too far from the traditional Nokia look. This is clearly a phone much more than it is an Internet device, and in this primary function it excels. However, comparing the high price with the cost of its numerous competitors makes it fairly difficult to recommend the 6210 as the leader of the pack.

Author: Stewart Mitchell