Nokia 6820

Posted by T3 Online on Wed 31 Oct 2007

A funky handset for the email-pounding, suit-wearing business users

Continuing Nokia's determination to release more phones than all its rivals put together, here's yet another Finnish take on the phone keypad = except this time it's actually quite useful. Underneath the pretty normal (for Nokia) number keys lies a full qwerty keypad that cleverly folds lengthways out for speedy finger-tapping. It's the same design as featured on Nokia's earlier 6800 (T3 88, 3/5), but this time the designers have managed to cram it into a phone no bigger than a standard handset. It's the best of both worlds - cool Nokia styling mixed with sober business efficiency.

And that mix of business and pleasure is evident right from the start. The full-length keypad is clearly designed to take advantage of the builtin email client (which also includes the BlackBerry "push" service), but it's just as useful for typing out text or multimedia messages. Unless you're a champion multi-tapper, you'll find the qwerty keys far easier for typing even the shortest of messages. Amazingly, given the tiny shape, there's also a camera and Bluetooth crammed in.

All over the phone there are hints that this model is aimed at a wider audience than just the business executives that the earlier, uglier 6800 was targeted at. There are five games on board - Chess and Backgammon for the more refined, mature user, plus Bounce, Bowling and Water Rapids for the trendy young professionals that the company is also hoping to snare. The 3.5MB of memory ensures there's room for plenty of Java downloads, while the fold-out keypad is put to good gaming use. With the phone in landscape mode, the central five-way controller is well positioned as a right-hand joystick with a soft-key lying under your left thumb for use as a fi re button.

Given all this functionality, it's a real let-down that it turns out the screen is pathetic, lo-res, standard Nokia fare. It's the same 4,096-colour screen that the Finnish giant has been chucking into every handset under the sun (bar its Series 60 smart phones). It may be just passable on a budget model, but here it looks dreadful. The colourful icons of the menu look like a muddy mess, and games play at a snail's pace while the blurry screen attempts to catch up. Nokia has clearly missed a trick here. A sharp hi-res display would have been perfect for lengthy emails. Instead, they've undermined what is otherwise a fantastic, compact handset.

FEATURES:
4,096-colour screen. 352 x 288-pixel camera. Bluetooth. 7 hours' talk time, 6 days' standby. Weight: 100g.