14 DAY TRIAL // In a market dominated by Android, iOS and Blackberry, it is a little surprising to see that Nokia is still the best selling handset manufacturer in the world. Symbian smartphones continue to retail very well on emerging markets, but it's not the high-end product among the best selling Nokia devices.
Nokia 6700 slide is one of those mid-range smartphones that are usually bought for their affordability and not because of their look or functionality. So, where does this slider fits on the market, especially in a delicate moment when Nokia's Symbian OS lost some of its mojo?
Unfortunately, the slider is missing some important features that could have strongly raised its desirability such as built-in GPS receiver, Wi-Fi connectivity and even a basic document viewer.
Even though it's an affordable smartphone, Nokia is currently offering much better alternatives for the same value, which makes the 6700 slide obsolete.
Announced in November 2009, Nokia 6700 slide was launched on the market in April 2010 and can be bought for about $210 USD. The handset is available in a plethora of color schemes: Aluminum, Pink, Petrol-blue, Red, Lime and Purple.
DesignAt first glance, Nokia 6700 slide looks robust and compact, especially that it's entirely encased in aluminum. Unfortunately, at a closer look I noticed that the plastic on top and bottom of the phone is susceptible to scratches or even worse. Although it's a glossy plastic that looks nice, users who keep their 6700 slide handset in the same pocket with other metallic objects might damage it.
The smartphone features a standard slider form factor with a sturdy sliding mechanism, which doesn't joggle at all. There's 1mm left between the two main parts of the phone, so the front part won't scratch the keypad when the phone is opened or closed.Above the small 2.2-inch TFT display, there's an ambient light sensor and a secondary camera for videocalls. Below the screen, one can notice the usual Symbian buttons placed around a big D-pad that stands out from the rest. To the left there's a Menu key, one of the two contextual keys and the Accept calls key, while to the right there's the C (Delete) key, a contextual key and the Reject calls key, which is also used to power on/off the phone.
Even though the included keypad is small, I didn't have any troubles typing. It's very responsive and the keys are large enough for a smooth typing experience. The right side of the phone features a dedicated camera button. On top of the phone, there are a 2.5mm audio jack, a small charger port, as well as the microUSB port, which is covered by a plastic stripe. To open the battery cover of the phone, users will need to pull out the plastic stripe covering the microUSB port and push on the small button placed on the edge. The 5-megapixel camera on the back of the phone features dual-LED flash and Carl Zeiss lens. It doesn't have any protective cover except a thin plastic, which is prone to smudges and scratches. At the base of the back cover, there's an external speaker, while the microSD card slot has been placed under the battery cover, on the right side of the phone.Overall, except the metallic casing, there's nothing really impressive when it comes to 6700 slide's design.
Display and CameraNokia 6700 slide features small 2.2-inch TFT display that supports 16 million colors and 240x320 pixels resolution. While the size of the screen is small for a smartphone, the quality is outstanding including brightness, as well as contrast. The phone also includes a built-in accelerometer sensor, which works pretty smooth. The display is visible even when it is exposed to strong sunlight, so you will be able to use the phone outdoors without any hindrance.
The 5.0-megapixel camera embedded features dual-LED flash and autofocus, as well as Carl Zeiss lens. Thanks to the dedicated camera button, users will be able to easily take picture while the phone is in landscape mode. The camera interface is standard with the usual features: Effects, White balance, Landscape, Self-timer. The maximum resolution that can be used for pictures is of 2592 x 1944 pixels, while clips can be recorded with a maximum resolution of 320x240 pixels (VGA@15fps) and can be saved in .MP4 format. In terms of picture quality, the camera performs great, mostly thanks to the Carl Zeiss lens. Nokia 6700 slide can be easily considered as one of the best camera phones in its class range. Of course, it cannot be compared with other phone with 8 or even 12-megapixel cameras, but it makes the excellent 5-megapixel snapshots. Check out the samples below for a more accurate opinion about the quality of the camera. Menu and SoftwareNokia 6700 slide runs Symbian 9.3 operating system, with S60 3rd Edition and Feature Pack 2 interface. Besides the usual improvements added by FP1, you'll now be able to add your favorite contacts on the new Contacts bar that appears on top of the screen.
Each contact is represented by a small avatar (thumbnail) chosen from the Gallery or by taking a picture with the any of the two cameras of the phone. Clicking on one of the contacts added will bring up a list with various options that will enable users to edit the contact, send a message, call or add feeds. The latter means that you'll be able to add feeds instead of contacts, so you can quickly access it from the Homescreen. The screen is also populated with a bar that usually shows your emails, as soon as you set up your mail account. The last row of shortcuts contains by default: Camera, Ovi Store, Facebook, Clock, Message and Gallery. These shortcuts are fully customizable, as more others can be added instead of the default ones. More themes options for the home screen have been added: Vertical icon bar, Horizontal icon bar, Basic and Contacts Bar. Another new feature that has been introduced by FP2 is the availability of animation when browsing the menus.Furthermore, users will have quick access to the task manager, as the function appears now at the top of every pop-up menu. The phone also supports Adobe's Flash Lite 3.0, the interoperable platform that enables the accelerated development and delivery of rich graphical mobile content.
Nokia 6700 slide also offers the social networking package, as it includes applications like, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube client, HI5, MySpace and Ovi Chat.The handset also includes some useful applications, such as Search, 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. The phonebook can store an unlimited number of contacts, as long as you have enough storage memory left.
If you are looking for games, Nokia 6700 slide has only one, Bounce Tales, but more can be added as the phone is compatible with all Symbian S60 3rd Edition software.
CommunicationNokia 6700 slide is a quad-band GSM (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) handset, HSDPA (10.2 Mbps), HSUPA (2Mbps) compatible, which features GPRS/EDGE 32 class. Tested on the EDGE and 3G networks, the handset performed admirably as you can see in the screenshots attached.
When connecting the USB cable, users will be able to choose among three modes: PC Suite, Mass storage and Image transfer. All three of them are intuitive and easy to use, so there's nothing more to add here. The process of synching is very fast, browsing and transfers are made very quickly between phone and PC. Other connectivity tools include Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support, and microUSB 2.0 for PC synchronization. There's no built-in GPS receiver or Wi-Fi connectivity. In terms of messaging, the phone offers standard SMS and MMS messaging solutions, accepting all available message types. The device also includes an audio message editor and e-mail support. The message client works with POP3, SMTP, and IMAP4 protocols and supports more than one e-mail account. Additionally, it can download headers and supports attachments.The quadband (GSM 850 / 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900) network-compatible slider handset has a very good GSM signal reception. The sound is also great at both ends and pretty loud. The vibration alert is more than decent. Additionally, the device features enhanced voice dialing, as well as speed dialing and accepts videocalls.
Processor and Memory
The 6700 slide is powered by the usual ARM11 family processor, running at speeds of up to 600 MHz. The device works pretty smooth, as I haven't experienced any freezes or hiccups.
The slider embeds 60 MB internal memory, but only 45 MB are user-free. The phone also packs 128MB of SDRAM memory, as well as microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 16GB, 2GB card included). MultimediaEven though Nokia 6700 slide hasn't been dubbed as a music phone, it makes as an excellent MP3 player. However, the music player's interface looks exactly like the one embedded in previous XpressMusic handsets, which seems to have become standard for all Nokia phones regardless of the model. The phone supports an impressive number of file types, including MP3, WMA and eAAC+.
In terms of sound quality, Nokia 6700 slide surpasses all expectations and performs excellent. Add to that the high-battery autonomy (29 hours) and you got yourself very good music phone. The MP3 player also features an Equalizer that includes a Bass-booster setting, Stereo widening, Loudness and Balance. The FM radio has a standard interface and can automatically scan and save available stations. It features RDS support and Visual radio. The Visual radio application can download all the local stations and save them to the handset with their names. Both functions, radio and music player, respectively, can be run in the background with no problems. The slider also includes Real Player for playing video clips and a dedicated YouTube client. The video player can be displayed in both normal and fullscreen modes, but it is not compatible with DivX/XviD codecs. Furthermore, the small size of the screen makes the whole multimedia experience rather frustrating.Battery
The 860 mAh Li-Ion (BL-4CT) battery officially provides 300 hours standby time (250 hours for 3G) or 4 hours talk time (3 hours for UMTS). Also, Nokia states a music autonomy of more than 1 day (29 hours). The autonomy of the battery is pretty short as it is stated by the manufacturer, so I was only able to get around 3 days of full use. While this may be a good achievement for such a small energy power battery, it may not be enough for some users that prefer long lasting batteries.
ImpressionsThe only thing that might impress a consumer is the phone's metal casing. It is true that you pay a small price for what the phone has to offer, but there are other alternatives within the same price range that offer much more than the 6700 slide, such as the E5 or the C5.
The Good There are a few nice features that Nokia 6700 slide has to offer starting with its small price. Other things worth mentioning would be the excellent camera featuring Carl Zeiss lens, outstanding music sound quality, as well as HSDPA 10.2 Mbps and HSUPA 2Mbps technology. The solid metal casing, as well as the included microSD card slot and smart dialing feature are also among the positive things.
The Bad
Sales Package
Nokia 6700 slide handset Nokia Connectivity Cable CA-101D Nokia 2 GB microSD Card MU-37 Nokia Stereo Headset WH-101 Nokia High Efficiency Charger AC-8 Nokia Battery BL-4CT User guide
