29th November 2006
The Nokia 6290 is quite possibly a very significant handset for Nokia, although at first glance you'd be forgiven for thinking that this was just another conservatively styled clamshell.
This handset goes a long way to addressing a serious issue with Nokia's lineup of phones - they have no mainstream 3G clamshell devices. Oh yes, they have the Nokia N90, N92 and N93 phones but these are completely over-the-top for most customers. The Nokia 7390 on the other hand is a very promising looking 3G handset, except that it's a fashion phone so it won't appeal to business. The only other phone in that category is the Nokia N75, but that's aimed at the US market only.
So the Nokia 6290 is a long overdue addition to Nokia's range of phones. It's not spectacular in any way, but it comes up with exactly the sort of features that most 3G users want. Internally, the 6290 has the excellent 2.2'' 240x320 pixel display in 16.7 million colours similar to that found on handsets such as the Nokia 6131, it has a two megapixel camera plus a subcamera for video calling, and the Nokia 6290 also has expandable memory, a multimedia player, document viewer and Bluetooth. There are some external ''fast access keys'' that give access to some of the phone's functions when closed.
Significantly, the Nokia 6290 is a Symbian S60 smartphone running what Nokia dub ''S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1''. At the moment, S60 is a mixed bag - quite a few of Nokia's recent S60 devices have suffered from very buggy software, and there's some indication that certain users actually prefer the more basic Series 40 version of Symbian (found on the Nokia 7390). On the other hand, smartphone functionality is required to get the best out of services such as 3's X-Series.
If Nokia can get the 6290 right when it hits the shops, then it has the chance to carve out a significant share of the 3G market. In our view, it would be far better for Nokia to wait to get the 6290 working properly before launch.
Nokia say that the 6290 should be available during the first quarter of 2007 at an unsubsidised cost of around 325 Euros/205 GBP before tax, initially in pink and black variants.
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