Nokia 6700 slide review: Braving the odds

Organizer and apps (continued)

Even if the 6700 slide has no GPS receiver, it has the Ovi Maps preinstalled. You can browse the maps, look up addresses, plan routes, but you'll have to do without voice guided navigation. It won't even approximate your location based on Cell-ID triangulation like Google Maps does.

Ovi Maps

With the Map Loader application for PC you can download map data to a compatible computer, and transfer it to your device to save on data charges.

As for the games, the Nokia 6700 features only one preloaded game, the well known Bounce Tales. Luckily, the Ovi Store is just a few clicks away and there you can find plenty of games.

One lonely game on board, the Bounce Tales

Ovi Store

Speaking of the Ovi Store, it’s easily accessible right off the phone as well as from a desktop browser. Again, you can download the apps straight to your smartphone or from your desktop computer and transfer them later on.

The structure of the Ovi Store client is simple – the general view lists apps with their names and category, plus the price and stars rating.

The Ovi Store

Selecting an app, gives you more details - a description, storage footprint plus reviews by people who have tried it.

Final words

The Nokia 6700 slide is for those users who are considering a smartphone for the first time. If you need a phone that does browsing, email, social networking and media within budget, this might be the thing for you. But if you just can't be bothered and simply want your phone pink, or blue, or lime, the 6700 slide is still at your service.

Another point in favor of the Nokia 6700 slide is that there aren't exactly plenty of alternatives for what it offers. A few years back, the 6700 slide would've run head on against the likes of Samsung U900 Soul. Today, Samsung are too caught in touchscreen to care. All they have that comes close to the Nokia 6700 slide is the S5550 Shark. It sure has an AMOLED screen (of the same size and resolution) but in the end it's a plasticky dumbphone.

Samsung S5550 Shark

The Samsung S6700, for instance, has the advantage of a larger screen, but it lacks the smartphone capabilities, too. And the 3 megapixel camera sure tips the scales in favor of the 6700 slide.

Samsung S6700

The Sony Ericsson C903 is another relic of the olden days. It has a Cyber-shot camera to rival the Carl-Zeiss certified optics of the Nokia 6700 slide. For a more up-to-date opposition, there's the Sony Ericsson Hazel. It's armed to the teeth with WLAN, sat-nav and a bigger screen but we guess it will be way more expensive.

Sony Ericsson C903

We can't help but note that in-house competition looks more threatening really. The Nokia 6700 classic is well in the picture, never mind its age. We actually feel it has the upper hand and if smartphone isn't a must, the value for money is great.

Nokia 6700 classic

If you are willing to compromise a little, you should definitely check out the Nokia C5. It might have shed some of the metal off to bring the price down, but adds GPS with free lifetime voice navigation. In the end, you get a reasonably good-looking handset with more functionality for less cash.

Nokia C5

To wrap it up, the Nokia 6700 slide is an entry-level smartphone that will do reasonably well to serve brand-loyal upgraders. It's kind of sitting on the wrong side of the line dividing the Nokia portfolio. It's a Symbian smartphone but no Eseries or Nseries stuff. It stops right where the new low and midrange C series will take over.

The 6700 slide is aware of the gaps in its spec sheet and its position in the company lineup. To make up for this, it's attractively-priced and more than anything well-built.