Home  Out Now  Coming Soon Advertise  WAP  Search  Subscribe   RSS 2.0 Feed   YouTube   
 

 

Nokia 6610i

 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.

Subscribe to our newsletter for more news
on upcoming releases

Nokia 6610i Provisional Specifications

Available:

Q2 2004

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

 

 About Us       Links

Copyright (c) 2014 - Unauthorised copying is prohibited by law. Use of this site means that you agree to our privacy and cookie policies.

Quantcast