The 6600 is ready for business

Nokia 6600When Nokia first introduced the 7650, it was a bit of a breakthrough device. Prior to that, we had never really seen a "real" OS on a "normal" mobile phone. Sure, there were things like the P800 and the XDA right around the corner, but those were more PDA like than phone like. Nokia Series 60, as the platform is known, marked a major departure for Nokia in terms on user interfaces, something that hadn't changed markedly in quite a few years.

So, here we are well over a year later. The world has been anticipating the arrival of the 6600 for months now, and it is finally here. What's new, what's different? Read on.

Bigger than a bread box?

Well, to start with, the new 6600 is quite a bit lighter than the initial Series 60 device, the 7650. It even manages to shave a few grams off of the 3650's weight, coming in at 125.5g without a SIM and the included MMC card (127.5 with those). Physically, too, it is smaller. Even without the sliding keypad of the 7650, the 6600 still manages to be the shortest of the three brothers, coming in at only 109mm in length. Still the 6600 doesn't feel small by any stretch of the imagination. It is 6mm shorter than a P900, but 1mm wider and has basically the same thickness. Considering the much larger display and greater functionality (and cost, of course) of the P900, you have to wonder if the 6600 couldn't have been smaller.

In fact, one of the things that struck me about the 6600 was the hollow feeling of it. While I didn't open the device up, it certainly feels like it conceals a lot of empty space - especially the bulbous sides. It feels tough enough, but just not solid. I get the feeling that the extra width was added purely to allow for the extra buttons to be placed on the sides of the keypad. These extra buttons are 'C' (clear), the edit menu, and the main menu access key. The green and red call control buttons easily could have been placed under the display.

In general I wasn't pleased with the keypad. It is a bit of a mixed bag with the device's large size requiring somewhat large hands to be held and used with a single hand, yet the numeric keypad itself being a bit cramped - being better for smaller hands. I certainly had no problems making use of it, I'm not saying that, but I just feel that a lot of compromises were made for aesthetic purposes instead of practical purposes. I mean, if you are going to have all that extra width, space stuff out a bit.... But otherwise the feel of the individual keys is good, and the backlighting was adequate.

Other controls include the left and right softkey buttons. I would have rathered that these be located closer to the display, where their labels invariably are, but this didn't prove to be a problem - just an initial observation. There are no volume controls on the side of the phone, as you might expect. That function is covered by the 5-way joystick. You can use the joystick to navigate and to select menu items. With dry clean hands, the joystick is great. When your hands are a bit damp or sweaty, though, the 6600 has the same problem as the 7650 had - the joystick quickly becomes slippery. I can see this being a problem if somebody plays a game for an extended period of time, or is out on a warm summer day. A little bit of texture on the joystick would have gone a long way towards avoiding this problem.

Lastly we have the IR port on the left side of the device, and the slightly recessed camera lens on the back, which is near the speaker grill. Otherwise there is not much else to the physical aspects of the 6600. Power switch on the top, charger port on the bottom (not Pop-Port compatible, mind you). And, of course, the display....

Check out that color!

The 6600's 65k color display is the single most compelling aspect of the device. It is everything a display should be: bright, colorful, and easy to view in all conditions. It really is top notch. Like the 7650's 4k color display, the 6600's display has a highly reflective backing and can be easily seen in even the harshest of lighting conditions. The bright white backlighting assures that the display works equally well in darker situations, too. It has the same resolution as the other Series 60 devices, 176x208, though it is quite large with its nearly 62mm diagonal dimension. No matter how you size it up, it is truly a brilliant display - in all senses of the word.

I do have one minor gripe, though. The backlight doesn't come on quickly enough. It isn't a long delay, mind you, but it is an annoying one. If the backlight turns off because you set the 6600 down for a second, there will be a second lag or so between the time that you press a button and when the backlight comes on again. I've never seen anything like it, and I can't believe that it was intended to be "cool." It just makes no sense. But that is the only complaint I have for what is otherwise a great display.