Nokia 6610i
Discontinued 13th April 2004
Nokia have been in the doldrums lately,
with falling sales and a projected drop in profits.
For outside analysts, the root cause seems clear - Nokia's
competitors are making better and more interesting handsets,
and Nokia just can't compete.
Part of the problem can be seen with
the Nokia 6610i - an upgrade of a model announced back
in 2002. Compared to new handsets from the likes of
Sony Ericsson and Siemens, the 6610i is distinctly underwhelming,
although it does have a few strong points.
The main difference between the Nokia
6610i and the 6610 is the inclusion of a digital camera.
However, this is the first stumbling block - although
most phones now pack a VGA resolution 640x480 pixel
(0.3 megapixel) camera at the very minimum, the 6610i
only has a CIF resolution 352x288 pixel (0.1 megapixel)
camera. Many new phones are being built with 1.0 megapixel
cameras and above, so the inclusion of such a low specified
camera is a huge disappointment.
Next, the screen. It's the same 128x128
pixel unit as in the 6610 and many other Nokias, but
most of the competition is using 128x160 pixel units
or larger. However, the Nokia 6610i is a very compact
unit weighing 87 grams, and measuring 106x45x18mm, so
the screen size can be partly forgiven.
Like the 6610, the 6610i has a built-in
FM radio, Java support for games, polyphonic ringtones,
MMS and the usual features you'd expect. Battery life
is improved over the original 6610, offering between
2.5 to 6 hours talktime and up to 14 days standby. Using
the integrated hands-free phone or FM radio does eat
up the battery life though. On most networks you should
get towards the upper end of battery life.
One oddity about the 6610i is the inclusion
of the "i" suffix - normally, this happens
when a Nokia is upgraded from a dual band to a tri-band
GSM phone, but both this and the original 6610 were
both tri-band. Indeed, both phones support GPRS and
HSCSD too - the inclusion of HSCSD makes it attractive
to many businesses who run their own dial-up access.
However, there's no Bluetooth on the phone which we'd
regard as being essential for this type of phone.
It's hard to see who Nokia are trying
to sell the 6610i to. Apart from it's compact size,
it offers nothing interesting or distinctive, either
in specifications or looks. We suspect that Nokia's
target market is people who already have a 6610 and
like it. This is not the way to regain market share.
We know Nokia can do much better than
this. The Nokia
9500, 7700
and 6600
show what Nokia can do when they put their minds to
it. We hope that this handset is only a stopgap until
the rumoured replacement for the Nokia 8310 is announced.
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|
Nokia
6610i Provisional Specifications
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Available:
|
Q2
2004
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Network:
|
Tri-band
GSM
|
Data:
|
GPRS
|
Screen:
|
128x128
pixels, 4096 colours
|
Camera:
|
352x288
pixels
|
Size:
|
Compact candy-bar 106x45x18mm
/ 87 grams
|
Bluetooth:
|
No
|
Infra-red:
|
Yes
|
Polyphonic:
|
Yes
|
Java:
|
Yes
|
Battery
life:
|
2.5 - 6 hours talk / 7-14 days
standby
|
|
|