14 DAY TRIAL // Fully aware that its own developed Symbian operating system is not a perfect one, Nokia offers users devices with its newly launched S40 5th Edition. The latter is a much more user friendly and it seems that also 'lacks' the bugs and glitches that have been so much present in Nokia's Symbian OS. Normally, that should translate into a more stable and speedy functionality with no more lockups and freezes. Lately, it 'rained' with Nokia S40 handsets, and some of these were really huge market successes (see Nokia 6300). The two Nokia 6500 versions ? slide and classic ? even if they don't look similar and have different specs, still feature the same S40 5th Edition user interface. Despite the fact that Nokia is still the number one handset manufacturer, it still has to work a little on developing more stable software for its devices.
Announced in May 2007 together with its Classic twin, Nokia 6500 Slide has been launched on the market in September 2007. As a mid-level phone, the handset can be bought for only $450 USD without a contract.
Design
Nokia 6500 slide is far from being flawless in terms of design. Unfortunately, there are things that you are able to discover only after you buy and use the device. Better read further and understand what you should and should not expect from this slider. Keep your money or go buy some other device if you're looking for of the features that this handset misses.
The first thing that you'll notice the moment you get your hands on a Nokia 6500 slide is its weight. The slider is 'unpredictably' heavy, especially because it has been covered by a metal case. If you don't like heavy mobile phones, then this little slider is not for you. Moreover, the handset measures 96.5 x 46.5 x 16.4 mm and weighs around 125 grams (battery included). The phone looks very small, common in sleekness, but as I have stated above, it's impossibly heavy, so you should be really worried of the pocket you insert it in.
The metallic case is obviously harder to scratch than the common plastic that is heavily used for mid-level handsets. Anyway, the device looks like it was chopped from a big chunk of metal. I have discovered that the upside part of the slider, the one with the screen on it, is slightly wider than the one from the bottom. This is only obvious on the right part of the slider, and the reason is unknown. Another downside of the slider is the fact that it features most of the ports (charger, headset, microUSB) on the top side rather than on the bottom. Furthermore, the internal antenna of the phone has been placed on the bottom part, so if you're used to keep your phone from the bottom you'll experience big problems with the signal reception. Otherwise Nokia kept it straight as usual, placing the volume key and the camera key on the right side of the slider, while the left side is 'clean' of external buttons or keys. Above the display ? hard to notice ? the secondary camera used for video calls and the light sensor have been placed.
Turning the slider upside down will reveal a 3.2 Megapixel camera with 2 flash LED's and an external speaker. The back cover of the phone is also made of stainless steel, but sadly the internal closing mechanism is made of plastic. Furthermore, after a short use I noticed that the back cover started to juggle a little bit, which translates in lack of solidity. The phone might look compact and solid for one who didn't have the chance to use it for 1 day, but it seemed pretty fragile to me. There's also a very dangerous designing fault, which permits the slider to seriously scratch the first 3 upper keys (1, 2, 3). Every time you slide the phone, either up or down, that will leave some marks on these keys and there's nothing you can do.
Anyway, there are some good things about it, like the very responsive keypad, including the D-pad which makes navigating the menus a breeze. The backlighting also is worth mentioning. Overall, the phone looks very appealing, but there are some small details that make it 'annoying' to use.
Display and Camera
Nokia 6500 slide features the same 2.2'' TFT display as its twin brother, Nokia 6500 classic. The screen supports 16 Million colors and a standard resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. Even if it didn't scored too much on different benchmarks, the screen is simply breathtaking.
Images are displayed smooth and vivid, making the use of the slider a real pleasure. Apart from the fact that the screen is visible in strong sunlight, this may be one piece of the phone that sucks the most energy from the battery than any other, but it is definitely worth it. Notice the small rubber band placed at the base of the display? Well, that's one good thing implemented by Nokia, which protects the screen from grease and/or fingerprints. Usually, when you want to slide up the phone, it is very difficult to avoid touching the display, especially on a such a small phone. The rubber band will not allow users to grease the screen and will make the sliding up action more smoothly.
One of the strong points of the slider is definitely the 3.2 Megapixel camera, which features autofocus Carl Zeiss lenses. The control interface of the camera doesn't have too many settings, so everything is kept simple and straightforward.
I suggest you to always use the maximum resolution possible (1536 x 2048 pixels) for the best result when taking snapshots. Other options of the camera include: White balance (Daylight, Tungsten, Fluorescent and Horizon), Effects (Greyscale, Sepia and Negative) and Image quality (High, Normal and Basic). You can also digitally zoom in, but that will considerably lower the quality of the pictures ? I suggest you never use it. I couldn't squeeze less than 5 seconds when accessing the camera, which means that you won't be able to capture pictures too fast. Overall, the camera's making a good impression, all pictures are looking great regardless of the light conditions.
Still, even with 2 LED's flash I wouldn't try to take night pictures unless the subject of the pictures is very close. Those who intend to use the camera of the phone to record clips should know that even if it can capture movies at a high resolution (640 x 480 pixels at 15fps), files are saved in .3gp format and not in .MPEG4 format as Nokia advertise it. The length of the clips is only limited by the storage space available. Movies quality is mediocre if you use the basic settings of the camera, but very low when trying to zoom in.
Menu and Software
If you're a mobile freak and a Nokia fan you are probably fed up by S40 user interface. In case you're neither of the two you will love the menus and the user friendly interface. Maybe "boring" it's too harsh, but I think a little bit of changing doesn't hurt, especially that this is the 5th Edition.
Those who are using Nokia's Series 40 5th Edition for the first time should know that the UI enables users to experience streaming videos, image rendering, mobile 3D graphics and scalable 2D Vector graphics. The Series 40 5th Edition also supports the latest version of Adobe's Flash Lite 2.1, the interoperable platform that enables the accelerated development and delivery of rich graphical mobile content, and includes audio file playback and streaming capabilities that provide audio and music enhancements to both mobile gaming and multimedia experience. In addition, Series 40 5th Edition also enables Bluetooth and IrDA (Infrared) connectivity and synchronization capabilities. The platform's broad support for SMS text messaging and multi-media messaging (MMS) includes true interoperability for a variety of MMS content formats and classes.
You can also find other useful applications such as: Yahoo! Go, Alarm clock, Calendar, To-do list, Notes, Calculator, Countdown timer, World Clock and Stopwatch. The menu is fully customizable and you can designate any MP3, MIDI or AAC file as ringtone. Nokia's integrated browser doesn't change also, but you might want to use Opera Mini for faster and smoother browsing. Nothing new in terms of interface, but there are some bugs that I could discover pretty fast. I believe the fact that the keypad doesn't automatically lock after you slide down the phone is the most annoying one. Still, it's good that you have the option to set the timer for automatically locking the keypad. The only way that the keypad is locking automatically is when you are called by someone. After you finish your conversation and slide down the handset you'll have a nice surprise: the auto key lock really functions. Unfortunately, this didn't happen when I called someone, so if you can find a Java application that will correct this, you?d better grab it.
Another bothering bug is the slight lag from the time of answering a call and the moment you actually hear the other person. I have set the handset to automatically answer the phone the moment I slide it up, but to my surprise it took around 2 seconds to actually do that. There has been talk on various specialized forums that the 4.81 firmware version will correct this serious bug, but that didn't happened to my phone, so we're stuck with it. Apart from these bugs, the phone is definitely fast and easy to handle.
Communications
Just like its Classic brother, Nokia 6500 slide features 3G technology (UMTS 850 / 2100), GPRS (Class 11, 53.6 kbps), EDGE (Class 10, 236.8 kbps) and HSCSD (57.6 kbit/s). The phone is fully packed with connectivity features, that way users will be able to opt for any of it, either it is cheaper or more expensive. Moreover, all these are working at the highest standard as you can see from the screenshots below.
The slider is also compatible with Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP technology and features microUSB, all of which worked like a charm. Bluetooth connectivity was also a nice surprise as it scored pretty high on both sending and receiving data files (143 KB/s sending and 107 KB/s receiving).
In terms of messaging, the phone accepts standard text messages, MMS, flash and sound messages, as well as emails. The message client has changed into a dedicated one (no longer Java supported), it works with POP3, SMTP, and IMAP4 protocols and supports more than one email accounts. Yahoo!Go is also present, so you can check you email box, but you can also take advantage of some of the cool features that the service made available by Yahoo! has to offer.
The quadband (GSM 850 / GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900) network compatible slider has a mediocre GSM signal reception, but very poor 3G signal reception. The sound is unexpectedly poor in quality, but at least it's pretty loud. Nevertheless, the vibration is somewhat mediocre in intensity and cannot be set to higher levels. That will surely make you miss a lot of calls if you set the phone on Silent.
Processor and Memory
By the look of it, Nokia 6500 slide features an ARM9 family processor running at speeds up to 170 MHz. This is the same CPU used by its Nokia 6500 Classic brother and is more than enough to run any Java application you need. The phone doesn't feature any multitask capabilities, but there's no lags at all when running multiple applications or when browsing the menus.
The slider handset embeds 20 MB user free internal memory, but that can easily be expanded through the microSD slot card. The latter can be found under the metallic cover on the back of the phone, right near the battery. Fortunately, I see no reason to pull out the battery when you want to insert a microSD memory card. The phone comes with a small memory card (256 MB or 512 MB ? depending on the location) in the sale package, but that can be replaced with a 4GB one (successfully tested).
Multimedia
Even if most mid-level handsets delivered by Nokia come with mediocre headsets (Nokia HS-47), this time it's the phone that makes the difference. Featuring the latest music player embedded by Nokia in its Prism models, Nokia 6500 slide offers a wide range of settings. Despite the fact that this is not a music dedicated phone, it still impresses through the quality of the sound, although it features such mediocre headphones.
Different settings like Equalizer and Stereo widening have been included to improve the music experience of the user. The music player recognizes multiple formats such as: AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, MP4, WMA, AMR-NB, Mobile XMF, SP-MIDI, MIDI Tones (64-tone poly) and True tones. The external speaker on the back of the phone is one of the loudest embedded in a Nokia handset, but lack of any traces of bass sound might lower the quality of the tunes you're listening.
There's also a stereo FM radio with Visual radio and RDS, which performs pretty good in terms of sound and reception of the signal. The video player is compatible with 3GP and MPEG-4 file formats and can be set to full screen anytime. Those eager to watch their captured movies or pictures will be happy to find that the sales package contains a special TV-Out cable.
Battery
The 900 mAh Li-Polymer battery is worse than we expected. Even if it has an officially stated life expectancy of 310 hours in standby and 6 hours in talk time mode, in truth it failed to attain more than half of that. This makes the phone less desirable and considerably shortens the time of use.
Impressions
At first glance, Nokia 6500 slide seems more solidly built than its Classic version, but in the end, it proves to be just a mid-level phone. Carrying it with you might attract some looks, but no more than those of fashionistas. You can choose look over functionality, but in this case neither is that good. Overall, the slider didn't impress me much, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't buy one after I?ve discovered so many of its bugs.
The Good
Perhaps the best thing about Nokia 6500 slide is software related. Nokia S40 5th Edition proves to be the best user-friendly interface integrated in a mobile phone. Add to it one of the best displays made by Nokia and you got yourself a possible masterpiece. I should also mention the camera of the phone, which is definitely above the average and the 3G technology. Unfortunately, this is where it stops, as everything else about the phone is mediocre or worse.
The Bad
Some flaws in design, as well as few annoying software-related bugs made the phone "unbearable" to use. Pity that even if discovered these bugs haven't been corrected yet. There's also the battery, which in terms of performance can be easily categorized as mediocre. I have found few very strong points onto this slider, and it is sad that everything else pretty much sucks.
Sales package
Nokia 6500 slide handset Nokia Battery BP-5M 900 mAh Li-Polymer Nokia Charger AC-4 Nokia Wired Stereo Headset HS-47 Nokia 512 MB MicroSD Memory Card Nokia Micro USB Cable CA-101 Nokia TV-Out Cable CA-92U CD ROM User guide
Photo: Tudor Raiciu for Softpedia.com