Camera Phones Plaza

Nokia 6500 slide is Nokia 6500 classic older brother. It resembles a lot in terms of functionality. However, being physically larger, Nokia had more room to add functions; functions that Nokia 6500 classic did not have. Shortly, these are video calls, FM radio and a better camera. Nokia 6500 slide is very rich in functions, although it is not a smartphone.It is built on the S40 platform from Nokia, so it has no Symbian operating system.

On its sides, the phone has the volume control buttons and the camera button. The top side is greatly crowded; there we have the 3.5 mm jack, used both for headphones and for TV-Out. Also, there we find the microUSB port, the charger plug and a button that releases the back cover (the one where you find the battery, the SIM card and the memory card).

The graphical interface is specific to S40 5th Edition. It is the same interface as in Nokia 6500 classic case. I find it ok; it is suitable for this phone. It does not have too much memory, only 20 MB, but as long as it is not a smartphone, it does not need a larger memory. I do not think you will have too many applications launched at the same time. Besides, you have the memory card, where you can save your pictures, songs and applications.

Nokia 6500 slide has a screen slightly bigger than Nokia 6500 classic, and by that I mean it has 2.2 inch and not 2 inch like Nokia 6500 classic. The resolution is 240x320 pixels, enough for this size. The screen is large enough so we can watch short films in reasonable conditions.

You will not have any problems with voice calls. The sound is loud and clear. Moreover, the classic 6500 had a small problem with signal reception. In areas with low signal, the phone was losing network, although another phone sitting next to him had signal. But no signal problems were found at Nokia 6500 slide. I think they made more efficient parts for radio reception, considering that the phone is bigger.

The address book is the classic Nokia S40 one. It is easy to use it. You can quickly find a contact by typing the first few letters of its name. Nokia wants to simplify the messages in S40 phones. How can they do that?  It is simple. First, SMS and MMS reach the same inbox. If you want to send a message, you do not choose "text message" or "multimedia message", you simply choose "new message" and start the editor. How do you know if it is SMS or MMS?  Easy!  By default, it is a text message. If you add a picture, then it transforms into an MMS. This approach is very useful for less technical people, because they know they will send a picture to a friend. They do not care that it is via MMS or any other method. You still have the possibility to force the message type. This option is useful when you want to send a text message as an MMS instead of a sequence of SMS. The keys of Nokia 6500 slide are very good in writing messages, because the keys can be pressed slightly and provide a specific answer to the press.

Although it is not a phone that has a specific great function, Nokia 6500 slide got a good score for multimedia functions. Shortly, it is good for music, pictures and camera environment. But, let's take them one at a time.

The audio player was used initially on XpressMusic phones. That means the player is good and has many options. The sound quality is very good and you will not have any problems when listening to your own tracks or when listening to the radio.

The video player leaves a good impression too, for a phone that is not multimedia oriented. Here it gets a little minus because the screen size is not so generous, and it is very complicated to watch a longer video on it and not see it clearly. However, for short videos the screen is very good. The photos are very clear due to the high resolution screen.

Nokia N95 had a great impact when it came up with Carl Zeiss lens. Their quality made images a lot clearer. Nokia 6500 slide continues the tradition started by the Nokia N95 and comes with Zeiss lenses too. The resolution is somehow lower, because it has only 3.2 megapixels, but it is an excellent camera for this type of phone. The images are clear and the details are very well represented. It has autofocus and flash, which will allow you to take pictures from a short distance or weaker light. Even downloaded to your computer, the images look OK.

You can connect to the Internet using GPRS, EDGE and 3G technologies. Unfortunately, HSDPA and WiFi are not supported by this phone. The phone browser is very good. The e-mail client can be found in the messages menu and supports POP3, IMAP and SMTP. Sending and receiving e-mails is similar to the sending and receiving an SMS or an MMS. Nokia 6500 slide has Bluetooth and supports A2DP. That means you can listen to music on some Bluetooth stereo headphones.

All the latest Nokia phones have good organizer functions, both those using S60 platform and those using S40 platform. Nokia 6500 slide has an intuitive calendar, where you can see the day, the week or the month. You can add dating type events, or you can keep track of the tasks in the to-do list. Of course, you can add reminders for both events.

Nokia 6500 slide is not the right phone for mobile office. It does not have pre-installed applications that can read Word, Excel or PowerPoint. For Symbian there are a lot of applications on S40 platform. I do not say it is impossible to find a viewer in Java, but S40 is just not the phone in which you would like to modify a PowerPoint presentation and send it to your boss.

Nokia 6500 slide has other interesting applications preinstalled: a size converter, an application that lets you control a PowerPoint presentation from the computer using your phone, and even one program called Sensor from where you build a portal with images, messages which you can share via Bluetooth with other users from the same area that are using the same program.

It has five games installed: Snake III, Golf Tour, Rally 3D, High Roller Casino and Backgammon II. In addition, you can install many java compatible games.

Nokia 6500 slide is a very good phone. No matter how much I would bother trying to find weaknesses, I can only say that the only thing missing is the Symbian operating system. It looks good, it moves well, you can do with it almost everything you want to do with a phone. Moreover, it has a quality camera. You now find cameras almost in any phone, but few are quite good enough so you are not ashamed with your phone when you download the photos on a computer. I do not think I make any mistakes when I say that Nokia 6500 slide is for S40 platform phones what is N95 for Symbian phones.