Nokia 6216 Classic

Cancelled
23rd April 2009

Nokia have been producing NFC-capable phones for a while now, and the Nokia 6216 is the latest in the series. In almost all ways the 6216 is identical to last year's 6212 Classic except that the NFC implementation has been improved.

We suspect that NFC has made zero impact on the lives of most of our users, but it's an interesting technology that allows contactless communication. It can be used for purchases, for example mobile payment or as electronic ticketing. It can also be used as an authentication device for entry systems. Similar technology can be found in the Oyster Card in London.

What Nokia have done with the 6216 is to integrate NFC support into the SIM, which allows for seamless back-end authentication and storage when purchases are made. As improvements go it seems pretty minor, but it is perhaps another step towards NFC being a useful technology.

It is perhaps a solution looking for a problem that most consumers don't really have. But you have to give Nokia some credit for sticking with NFC handsets in the face of some indifference from the market and the industry.

The rest of the technical features of the 6216 Classic are fairly unremarkable. This is a lightweight 3G phone with a 2" 240 x 320 pixel display, a 2 megapixel camera, microSD expandable memory and Bluetooth. At a price of around €150 before tax and subsidy, the 6216 is not really any more expensive than most comparable phones.

Nokia say that the 6216 Classic will be available from Q3 2009 onwards in select markets.

[Note: this handset has now been cancelled]

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