Nokia 6233 review: Discreet business tool

Music in your ears

Even though music files can be directly played either from the memory, or from the memory card (respective folder is selected in the music player application), it is more convenient to transfer music into the phone using the Nokia Audio Manager, which is a part of the PC Suite. Here you can create playlists and transfer music straight into the mobile device through a USB cable. The MP3 or AAC player integrated in Nokia 6233 is rather simple. The available controls are start/stop, fast forward, rewind, previous track and next track. If you minimize the player, the name of the currently running track appears on the active stand-by display. From active stand-by you can even choose to play the next track or fast forward or rewind the current without opening the player back. Repeating and shuffle options are available, too. If you stop the player in the middle of a song, the next time you turn it on, it would continue playing from the place it has stopped on. The music sounds very nice from the stereo speakers, there is a certain bass element, and you can hear virtually no cracks or creaks.

The Music Player: main interface & playing in the background on the active standby screen

Video in Nokia 6233 is played within an application called Media Player, which also supports streaming and can open pictures and play individual music files. The previous S40 Nokia phones had no option to fast forward videos but now you can set a user defined time jump with a minimum of 10 seconds.

Media player: playing in portrait and landscape modes

If you get bored with the music/media player, switch on the FM radio. Here you can save up to 20 broadcasting stations. In general, however, it does not offer any special functions, not to mention RDS. The radio can be turned on only when the headset is plugged in since its cable serves as an antenna.

The FM radio: storing a station & playing in the background on the active standby screen

Managing your multimedia files

The file manager is on a very good functional level. You can create folders, mark several or all files and then move them. Previous Series 40 models such as Nokia 6270 or 6280 do not allow to mark several files and then mass send them through Bluetooth or Infrared. We personally think that this is a great improvement. You can sort the file list either by name, by date, by format, or by size. The phone has a limited integrated memory of 6MB but the retail package should include a 64MB memory card.

Checking free space

You can view the picture files list either as a list with small thumbnails, as a list with details and larger thumbnails, or as a 4 x 3 grid matrix which offers the largest thumbnails.

You can view the pictures themselves in normal mode or in fullscreen landscape mode and move through the files with the help of the D-pad at a pace of your choice.

Phone Gallery • different thumbnail views

The phone allows you to either zoom in the pictures to their original size or set their contrast. You can even print the images through direct USB connection using the Pictbridge standard. There is even a simple image editor which allows for basic functions such as inserting text, frame, clip art or another image to an already existing one. You can also crop the existing image.

Viewing a picture in portrait and landscape mode • Zooming in a picture to its original size