14 DAY TRIAL // Just above the 10 mm thickness barrier, Nokia 6300 continues the design line of its older 6xxx predecessors. While unusual for Nokia to imprint such a slim look to one of its terminals, Nokia 6300 is an important milestone in Nokia's vision over the future designs of mobile phones. Look and functionality are perfectly mixed in this handset to offer users a smooth experience with both. The phone counts as one of the latest additions to Nokia's S40 3rd Edition platform handsets, as well as one of the best in its class created in many years. Attractive and versatile, the phone strides for a higher spot in selling charts. Placed somewhere between mid and high-end class, Nokia 6300 surely wins both category fans.
Announced at the end of November 2006, Nokia 6300 has been available on the market since Q1 2007. The price of the terminal may vary between USD 300-320.
Design
One of the fewest Nokia handsets to be created with so much heed for detail, Nokia 6300 attracts through its slim look. Simple and small, robust and compact, the phone has much to offer in terms of design and functionality. The big display occupies most of the front of the phone, while the back of the phone is steel plated. Nokia 6300 measures exactly 106 x 43.6 x 11.7 mm and weighs only 91 grams (battery included).
From the bottom to the top, its slimness could vary because of the display which gives the phone almost 1 mm in thickness. Still, the phone nears the "10 mm" ideal thickness that made so many handsets sell better than it was anticipated. The phone has been pretty simply designed and features only 2 external keys: the volume key on the right side and the power button on top. The bottom of the handset is richly populated with a miniUSB port, a 2.5mm jack port and a charger port. The back of the phone features the 2 MP camera, just above the stainless steel cover and the external speakerphone.
The keys of the phone are made of a shiny silver colored plastic which feels great to the touch. Not too big, neither too small the keys are "crowded" only on 1/3 of the phone. You'll be able to navigate the menu of the phone with the help of a 4-way control key and 2 contextual keys. The usual accept/end calls keys complete the "command panel". The blue backlight gives users the ability to perform "night calls".
The merge between the glossy black plastic and the silvery steel material gives an ergonomic touch to the terminal. Even if "glossy" could mean grease and fingerprints, Nokia thought well about it and only used the black glossy compound on the upper parts of the phone, which are less exposed to frequent use or visibility.
The sales package of the phone includes only one interesting accessory ? Nokia Stereo Headsets HS-47 with the answer/end button.
Display and Camera
Nokia 6300 features a top-notch display which supports no less than 16 million colors. The big TFT screen (QVGA, 240 x 320 pixels resolution) measures 31 x 41 mm, which is almost half the phone. Perfectly visible in the shiny light, the display can be customized and features the active standby function. You won't be able to change the display's brightness, but you can use screensavers, sleep mode and power saver mode. Fonts are also customizable and you are able to choose from 3 different sizes: small, normal and large and a whole range of colors.
The 2 megapixel camera, while not the worst, it doesn?t attain the high tech value of the display and design, either. Rather mediocre, the camera shoots in 6 different resolutions ranging from 160 x 120 to 1600 x 1200 pixels. There are some effects that you can apply to your pictures such as: false colors, greyscale, sepia, negative and solarise (nothing out of the ordinary, just the usual choices). Other features include self-timer, night mode, digital zoom 8x, white balance and image sequence. While standard, the camera lacks autofocus, flash and macro mode. Anything you shoot must be at some distance to be visible (especially text), but you can use the 4-way control key to focus on distant objects. Unfortunately, this will result in a noisy picture as you can see from the samples below.
You can use the camera to record clips which are saved in 3GPP file format, but the resolutions are very low (128 x 96 or 176 x 144 pixels). Movies are very well displayed on the screen, but you won't have the chance to see them on bigger screens. Overall, I was satisfied with the performance of the camera, but I was limited to capturing panorama pictures as detailed shots were unclear.
Menu and Software
Top of its line, Nokia 6300 runs on S40 3rd Edition platform with Feature Pack 1 and is fully Java compatible. The simple interface has a low learning curve and is fully customizable. Starting from the main menu and continuing with the background and icons, users will be able to change everything according to their pleasure. You'll be able to play the radio in the background, using other pre-installed apps like Sensor, Presenter or Unit Converter. The Feature Pack 1 also offers the Bluetooth AD2P support as well as minor Java security services. If you need any third party application software you can search our database, but choose only Java compatible apps (link). Three games can entertain you if you get bored on the way to school or business meeting: 3D Snake, Football and Sudoku. You can easily updated your firmware OTA or through the miniUSB cable, you only need Nokia software updater installed.
Communication
Nokia 6300 lacks 3G connectivity, but that won't matter too much, as you can benefit from the rest of its connectivity features: EDGE, HSCSD (High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data), Bluetooth and GPRS. EDGE tests revealed average speeds of transfers which never got over 88 kbps, while Bluetooth 2.0 offered transfer speeds of up to 133 kbps.
I suggest using Opera Mini to surf the Internet as it offers a better experience and you won't have trouble in loading any webpage you'd like to visit. Moreover, the fonts are customizable and you'll be able to actually read what you surf. There's also a miniUSB port which helps users synchronize the phone with the PC or make data transfers. There are 3 options that appear right after you plug your USB cable: Nokia mode, Printing & media and Data storage (only usable if you have a microSD card insterted). Unfortunately, the phone won't charge through the USB cable when synced with the PC, so you still need the charger. The phone is triband and compatible with GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 networks.
Never disappointing its customers, Nokia offers again a good quality reception of the signal and a smooth, clear sound experience.
Processor and Memory
A mid-level phone gets an average processor ? ARM9 family running at 238 Mhz speeds. The CPU estimator shows that the handset embeds Jazelle technology which executes the Java bytecode directly in the hardware. You'll have faster start-ups of Java applications as well as smooth navigation in menus.
The 7.8 MB internal memory is just enough to let you store 1 MP3 file, so you'll probably need to acquire a microSD card. The microSD slot card becomes visible after you remove the stainless steel cover from the back and check the right side of the phone. Fortunately, you do not need to remove the battery or your SIM card to be able to insert the microSD card.
Multimedia
A newly designed music player gets integrated in Nokia's 6300 handset. I was surprised to discover it and very pleased to use it. It is MP3, AAC and eAAC+ compatible, but the Nokia Music Manager can do the conversion for you if you want to transfer any other music file type. The vibes offered by the HS-47 headsets are average, with no bass at all and vaguely defined highs. You can use the equalizer and choose from 4 predefined modes (Pop, Rock, Jazz, Classical) for a better sound. Only the Pop mode offered a good quality sound, the rest of the modes are unusable for a music fan. There's also a nice option if you want to further improve the sound quality called Stereo widening (switch it ON/OFF). The FM stereo radio can be played in the background and offers a good reception of the stations. Moreover, it can automatically scan for all base stations and memorize up to 20 from those found.
Battery
Nokia 6300 features a Li-Ion BL-4C type with 860 mAh capacity that offers up to 3.5 hours of talk time and 348 hours of standby. In truth, the slim battery barely managed to attain 2 hours of talk time. One of the disappointments of the phone ? the low battery energy life ? will force owners to charge the phone once every 2-3 days, depending on the rate of use.
Impressions
One of the best S40 platform compatible phones, Nokia 6300 didn't feel like a Nokia phone at all. It seems that starting with this handset, Nokia adopted a new line of slim phones which continues these days with the newly announced slimmers Nokia 6500 slide and classic. It was a real pleasure to work with the phone and even if it doesn't feature any complex apps and functions, I must compliment the creators on the elegant design. Nokia 6300 is a versatile handset that you'll be thrilled to use ... but bored to charge.
The Good
Certainly the best points of the device are scored by the design and the marvelous display. Its slim size and look undeniably attract more consumers than its technical specs. Average performance on multimedia feats is also notable in spite of the fact that the phone is mid-level ranged.
The Bad
Maybe a better version of Symbian platform could've improved the device's functionality, but that depends on everyone?s taste. The battery cannot "sustain" the big bright display, thus you'll register fast depletion of energy.
Sales package
Nokia 6300 handset 860 mAh battery (BL-4C) Charger Nokia HS-47 Stereo headsets User guide
Photo: Tudor Raiciu for Softpedia.com