Nokia 6260 review: Symbian in a flip

Here it comes: a clamshell smartphone with Symbian Series 60 - Nokia 6260. It features a revolving high resolution display, a memory card slot, radio and an MP3 player this time. Read more about this loaded phone in our review.

Nokia is entering the realm of clamshell phones very fast. We celebrated the first 7200 model half a year ago, then there was nothing for a long time and now it's a storm: 6170, 2650 and now the new Nokia 6260 is coming up. Till the end of the year a new clamshell Nokia phone will come, the stylish 7270 model.

Nokia 7200

Nokia 6170

Nokia 2650

Nokia 6260

The tested Nokia 6260 is not interesting only because it's a clamshell. Mainly, it's the first smartphone with Symbian OS, betting on this kind of construction. It's a Series 60 device, which appears similar to Nokia 6670, 7610 or 6600 from the functions point of view.

This time the pictures are larger than usual, you will be able to see the phone in details. If they open in a small window, you can enlarge the window by double-clicking on the title bar.

Nokia 6260: a totally angular clamshell

Too much empty space

I like clamshell phones of the European producers; I described my arguments in the Nokia 6170 review.The new smartphone can shake hands with 6170. The design is again plain and angular, freshened up by a group of details:

• dots on the front label again in Nokia 6170 style
• small embedded label with an LED control light
• black piece on the side with a camera lens and buttons
• a pad under the keypad
• clamshell hinge revolving in two directions

The phone design is conservative, but still stylish enough. It's coming on the market in dark and light variants. This mobile is not meant for users who enjoy extravagance; it's more like a business mobile phone.

Front and side views on the phone

Nokia didn't take advantage of the most important potential of the flip phones - having the possibility to make a small phone with large display and comfortable keypad. Well, the display is huge and even the biggest finger will find every key, but there is too much empty and unused space, which makes Nokia 6260 to be a big and quite heavy phone.

There is a lot of free space on the phone's surface

Let's compare the size and weight of Nokia 6260 with similar phones:

Except the thickness Nokia is the smallest one of these phones, but we've expected a clamshell to be smaller and lighter . It's a phone that you'll feel in your pocket and probably never wear it on the neck, even though there is an eyelet for a strap in the right upper corner. Besides, after opening the phone's length will double and the bottom part of the phone will fetch up somewhere in front of your vocal cord. Therefore the microphone can be placed high in the hinge.

Comparing the size of the phone

To compare, let's a look at the size and weight of the expected Panasonic X700, which will be also a smartphone with Symbian Series 60 OS. Its dimensions are 87 x 47 x 24 mm and it weighs 95 g - that's more like a right size for a smart clamshell phone.

The smart Panasonic X700 (According to Panasonic it might come out in November, but delay is possible)

Nokia loves dots

The phone covers are made of matte plastic, only the lucent label on the front part is shiny. Mark the details: dots are printed not only under the label; a rough raster is also etched on its surface. There is also an embedded label with the producer's logo and a diode that blinks yellow to alert you of an incoming call. This diode lights also during the charging.

Front label decorated with dots • mark the drawn and etched points • blinking diode reports an incoming call

The phone has no front display and this can't be compensated by a small diode. The diode is not blinking with incoming messages and it won't tell you anything about missed calls as well. But Nokia 6260 offers a solution. If you turn the top part of the clamshell by 180 degrees and close it back, main display appears on top. One of the advantages of the flip phones is the protected main display, so I don't know whether most people will use the phone in that way. Moreover, the call control is not quite easy in this case.

Voila, a front display!

Nokia has no replaceable covers but still I have some objections against the construction. The battery cover is moving, but that's a detail that you probably won't notice in normal usage. There is also a looseness, allowing the cover to move to sides in closed position. With flip phones of a normal size, you wouldn't even recognize it, but Nokia 6260 is above the average, so the move is noticeable. That's why you can also hear a soft creak when you press the phone. The cover has three positions for opening: two positions in dead centers and the third is right in the middle while both parts of the phone are perpendicular. Only in this position there is a noticeable looseness that causes the display to move by itself forward and backward almost by ten degrees. An important fact is that this position is default for turning the display before shooting. The mobile is supposed to be held as a camcorder and the shaking display is not satisfactory. The construction disappointed me a bit.

Right in this position the part with the display has a big looseness in forward and backward directions