Thumbs up: Brilliant camera, sturdy design, decent battery life, good connectivity options.

Thumbs down: Display looks a bit drab, will burn a hole in your pocket.

Inside the trunk:

• Product Type Smartphone With two digital cameras / digital player / FM radio / GPS receiver
• Width 2 in
• Depth 0.7 in
• Height 4.1 in
• Weight 5.3 oz
• Body Color Indigo black
• Technology WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM
• Band WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM 850/900/1800/1900
• Phone Design Dual slider
• Antenna Internal
• Wireless Interface IEEE 802.11b , IEEE 802.11g , Bluetooth 2.0
• Additional Features aGPS , TV Link , Push-to-talk mode , Built-in FM transmitter , Built-in stereo speakers , Radio Data Service (RDS) , Text-to-Speech (text recognition)
• Supported Email Protocols POP3 , SMTP , IMAP4
• GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) Yes
• EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates For Global Evolution) Yes – Class 32
• Internet Browser Yes
• Platforms Supported CLDC 1.1 , Java MIDP 2.0
• Included Services Video Call
• JAVA applications Yes
• HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) Yes
• Messaging / Data Features XHTML Browse

THE WHIZ-KID SPEAKS: The Nokia N86 8MP phone could be called as just another smartphone with a high resolution camera. Infact, the manufacturers even claim that this one could easily replace the best of the cameras. Well I definitely don’t agree to this totally, but this one is definitely worth a shot. This one when unlocked comes at a price of $500.

Razzle-dazzle: My first reaction when I saw this one was “bah… not again”. This one is no different from the rest of the Nokia Nseries phones. However, on closer examination it does offer a few improvements over it does offer a few improvements which include metal edges and tempered glass. Its got a nice solid feel in the hand. at 5.2 ounces this one definitely weighs more than the others N85 but then again this one seems to be more sturdy and reliable. In the closed state it measures 4 inches tall by 2 inches wide by 0.6 and easily fits into the pocket. This one is again a slider like the N85 and the N96, however the slider mechanism in this case is more sturdy and stronger.

Sliding the phone reveals the keypad. The keys have green and white coloring and accompanied by bright backlighting, this one is easy to operate in the dark. The keys are raised and are comfortably spaced making typing on the keypad a pleasant experience. Below the display we have the navigation control standard soft keys, Talk and End buttons, a main menu shortcut, a back button.

Its got a 2.6-inch Active Matrix OLED non touch screen. Though this one isn’t a touchscreen, the AMOLED screen displays some bright and vibrant pictures and it doesn’t drain much power as well. This one has a built in accelerometer which changes orientation when the phone is rotated.

The power button along with the 3.5mm headset jack and the micro-USB port is situated on the top of the phone. On the left side there is the slider lock switch and on the right there is the camera activation and volume rocker button. The micro SD expansion slot is behind the battery slot on the right side.

Inside dope: Let me start of with the main attraction on the N86,i.e the camera. Though not an industry first, this one is the first in Nokia’s range. This high end camera offers features like the Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens, dual-LED flash, 20x digital zoom, and video recording at up to 30 frames per second. However this one doesn’t offer features like face and smile detection. It would have been nice to have them on this one especially since it claims too replace the regular digital camera. The images were bright and sharp with no display of noise whatsoever. During the nighttime however the images appeared to be a bit grainy, but then again this one has decent image quality considering that this one is a camera phone. Also the video quality was decent enough with no interferences in between. The pictures can also be edited using the photo editor and then stored on the phone. This one comes loaded with an inbuilt memory of 8GB and can be expanded upto 16GB.

Moving ahead, this one supports other features as well like mobile web, productivity tools and voice capabilities. It runs the Symbian OS version 9.3 using S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 with a fairly intuitive interface. This one looks a bit outdated than the other smartphones and also I didn’t like the multitasking options.

The N86 supports the IMAP4, POP3, and SMTP email accounts and also offers a full attachment viewer. It also comes with a wizard which helps in synchronizing the users inbox and the mailbox. The phone contacts memory depends on the available memory and the SIM card offers an extra 250 contacts. Each entry can store multiple numbers, email addresses, birthdays and other similar information.

When it comes to connectivity this one supports 3G and Wi-fi. The browser has a mini map option which provides a page overview and by zooming on the page the user can view the page. It comes loaded with GPS/A-GPS and a few preloaded Nokia Maps along with a built in digital compass.

The built in media player supports MP3, AAC, eACC, eACC+, and WMA files. It also supports the FM radio, however for taking advantage of this feature the user will have to plug in the earbuds which are provided because the tuner is built into them. The N-Gage service also offers a lot of gaming options to keep the user entertained.

The call quality of this one was pretty much OK. There was some amount of static at times and also the voice got cut a couple of times. However on the callers end they had some excellent feedback to give, and most of them could not differentiate between a normal call and a speakerphone call.

This one offers a 1200mAh lithium-ion battery with a rated talk time of 6.3 hours (GSM)/3.9 hours (3G) and up to 13 days (GSM)/11 days of standby time which is pretty much decent enough for a phone from all perspectives.

Nitty- Gritty: This one surely has an excellent camera, but with a price tag of  $500 there are many others which could offer the same features for a better price. Still if you’re a fan of Nokia phones and possibly can’t adjust with a phone from any other manufacturer then you could go for this one.

Thumbs up: Sleek design, brilliant camera, impressive battery life.

Thumbs down: Lack of  3G and Wi-fi, no GPS.

Inside the trunk: Price at launch :£120.00 Connectivity :3.5mm Headphone Jack, USB 2.0 Dimensions: 46.2 x 108.8 x 11.7 Weight (g): 96 Bluetooth :Ys Built-In Camera: Yes Camera Resolution :3.2 Digital Zoom; 8 Display Size: 2.2 Display Type; TFT E-mail Client: Yes EDGE :Yes FM Radio :Yes Flash :Yes GPRS :Yes Handsfree Speakerphone :Yes Internet Browser :Yes Max No of Colours (million) :16.7 Memory Card Compatibility :MicroSD Mobile Phone Frequencies :GSM900/GSM1800/GSM1900 Playable Formats :AAC, AAC Plus, eAAC Plus, H.263, H.264, MP3, MP4

THE WHIZ-KID SPEAKS: This one isn’t a high end  dainty phone but can be very well be called the successor of the 6300. In short this  one could be just like the girl next door, simple yet adorable. Anyways all my superfluous metaphors aside, this one has a lot to offer if your looking forward to a no-nonsense, highly functional phone. The Nokia 6303 weighs a decent 95g making it quite lightweight and at 08.8(h) x 46.2(w) x 11.7(d)mm its quite lightweight which makes it easy to slip it into the pocket. This one is available in two colours black and silver, though I personally liked the look of the black one. The curves give it a nice quality touch. This one resembles a slider phone as the navigation keys and the display are raised above the keyboard. The navigation array has a OK button in the centre surrounded by the talk and end buttons. The numberpad beneath the navigation array has well placed keys. They provide sufficient room for a comfortable typing experience. Its got a 2.2-inch, QVGA (320×240 pixels) resolution, with support for around 16.7 million colours. The display is bright and the images on the display add a touch of life to the display. On the curved edges of the phone, there is the volume rocker key and the on/off keys. At the base of the phone there is a charger jack, a 3.5mm  headphone jack and a separate MicroUSB port. The back of the phone houses the loudspeaker, the camera and the dual-LED flash. Being a basic phone this one doesn’t offer any of the touchscreen high jinks. It uses the Korean manufacturer’s tried and tested Series 40 user interface. When in the standby mode this one has two softkey options i.e. Go To and Names along with D-pad shortcuts.  The menus have been conventionally design and as always I guess Nokia decides too keep it clean and simple with easily scrollable lists. This one provided a lot of options as far a s the phonebook is concerned. It can store phone number, postal address and email details through to birthday, nickname and web addresses. Also it can store images and video clips for the caller ID. In the contacts menu if you open the Windows Live messenger, you could easily see your friends online status. Its pretty much simple and at the same time offers more than just the basics. Making calls from this one is just an incredible experience. Absolutely no static, interference, background noises just plain brilliant voice quality. The sound quality of this one is good enough. Also the callers had no complaints as well with most of them not able too make out that I was using a cell phone. The 6303 supports text messaging, Multimedia messaging, instant messaging and email. It automatically converts a text message into a multimedia message whenever any media is added to the message. Since this one supports Email, the user can easily use regular web-based email or internet service provider accounts on the phone. It supports POP3, IMAP4 and SMTP. This one doesn’t support 3G or Wi-Fi and solely relies on GPRS and EDGE for connectivity. It has a full Nokia browser and a Opera Mini mobile browser. It’s got a 3.2-megapixel camera along with autofocus and an LED flash. Images taken in bright light are pretty crisp and vibrant with hardly any kind of noise. The images were were well balanced and even toned. It deals well with colour rendition and details. However in the dark the images appear to be a bit blurred and murky. The music and the video player supports the MP3, AAC, MP4, AAC+, eAAC+, H.263, and H.264 formats. Content streaming can be done easily otherwise data can be easily transferred using the USB cable. Its got 17MB of inbuilt memory and there is a 1GB memory card which comes along with it. the memory can be extended upto 4GB. It supports FM radio as well. I was pretty much impressed with the amazing battery life that this one has under its hood. Nokia estimates optimum battery life between charges of up to 450 hours standby or 7 hours talktime.

Nitty- gritty: This one is definitely a reliable performer and functions really well as a basic phone with a few extra goodies added here and the. And at  £120.00 this one is a pretty good bargain.

Sum n substance:

Thumbs up: Good call quality, unique design, wide set of features and a comfortable keypad.

Thumbs down: Small display, the photo quality is average.

Inside the trunk:

• Product Type With digital camera/digital player
• Service Provider Verizon Wireless
• Width 2.1 in
• Depth 0.6 in
• Height 2.7 in
• Weight 0.2 lbs
• Phone Design PDA
• Caller ID Yes
• Wireless Interface Bluetooth
• Additional Features TTY compatible , Speakerphone , GPS
• Short Messaging Service (SMS) Yes
• Internet Browser Yes
• Included Services VCAST
• Messaging / Data Features Text messages , Multimedia messages (MMS) , Picture messages , Instant messages , Voice mail , E-Mail , WAP Push 2.0 , xHTML Browser
• Talk Time Up to 270 min

THE WHIZ-KID SPEAKS: I don’t think I ve seen anything like this ever before. Yeah, there were many square and swivel phones which came in one by one but both of them together. Now that’s something definitely new. Let’s go ahead with this one and see how this unique handset functions…

Razzle- dazzle: This one has got a perfectly square design at 2.71 inches by 2.71 inches by 0.59 inch however the curved corners make it look somewhat less angular. Some might simply love the hip design but some might just loathe it saying that it’s weird. This one has a basic black cover though the battery cover can be changed to black or purple. It easily slips inside the pocket and is not all that clunky at 3.44 ounces.

Usually it takes a lot of effort to open a swivel phone and frankly it’s been quite some time since I ve seen one. But with this Nokia has left no stone unturned. You can easily open or close the phone with just one hand. Also this one has the pivot point at one corner rather than at the center. Though the swivel mechanism works just fine now, I hope this one doesn’t fly apart like the Sony Ericsson W600i within a few months of use.

It’s got a 2.4 inch screen which supports 262,144 colours with a resolution of 320×240 pixels. The colours and the graphics are vibrant and bright enough and it also has a landscape orientation. The display offers a huge bundle of customization options but again the menus are a bit confusing.

Below the screen there is a navigation toggle with the OK button in between. It’s got two touch sensitive soft keys on both the sides of the navigation toggle. Surrounding the exterior rim of the Twist we have a 2.5-millimeter headset jack, a Micro-USB/charger port, a volume rocker, and the microSD card slot. The camera lens is at the back of the phone and there is a huge self portrait mirror at the back of the phone.

Flipping the phone open reveals the stylish keyboard. The keys are spaced comfortably and its pretty much easy to type on it without making errors. Also the keyboard is large enough to be able to accommodate both the hands while typing. Also the keyboard is thankfully not cluttered with a lot of shortcuts. However the shared alphanumeric keys have been placed at the center of the keyboard so it takes some time too get used to it.

Inside Dope: Its got a 1000 entry phonebook and each entry can store around five numbers and two email addresses. This one has a unique feature called ‘habitat’ mode and after picking up one of the display themes ‘urban’ or ‘jungle’, your callers will be given a avatar. Click on each avatar to see a list of messages and calls between you and that contact.

The basic features that this one includes are the vibrate mode, calculator, alarm clock, a notepad, a unit and currency developer, speaker-independent voice dialing, Bluetooth, PC syncing, USB mass storage, text-to-speech, and support for VZ Navigator.

Its got a 3 megaixel camera which supports clicking photos in almost five resolutions.  It supports flash as well. However the photo quality is not all that great for a 3 megapixel camera. The photos are quite blurred and dull. The photos can be stored in the inbuilt 119MB or by extending the memory using the Micro SD slot.

It also supports a XHTML browser, which is a nice feature to have in a phone like this. But again the small screen plays spoilsport and also it’s kind of annoying to be moving the pointer using the navigation toggle. The EV-DO Rev. 0 connection was speedy enough but with a browser like that we really didn’t enjoy the speeds much.

Coming to the call quality of this one…at my end the sound was pretty loud and audible. There was hardly any display of static or interference. The signal was loud enough and with no background noise as such. On the callers end, however there were a few experiences of background noise. But on the whole it was pretty much satisfactory. Like most of the others that have been reviewed here, the speakerphones of this one too weren’t all that great. I would suggest using headphones or a Bluetooth set.

This one has a battery life of  4.5 hours talk time and 13 days standby time, which is decent enough nonetheless.

Nitty- gritty: This one is It’s available from Verizon Wireless for $99.99 with a $50 rebate and a service contract. Though it can’t be totally summed up as a multimedia phone this one is surely a headturner. It’s surely worth a shot if you want a unique phone with loads of basic features.

Sum n substance:

Thumbs up: Good call quality, price, works well at the basics level.

Thumbs down: Unnecessary cluttering of features which can’t be used in most of the cases, delay in responsiveness at times.

Inside the trunk: Form Factor : Slide Mobile Network Bands : Dual Band GSM.

THE WHIZ-KID SPEAKS: This one is specially introduced for all those who just cant understand how their phonebill adds up to so much. AT & T has come up with its prepaid option introducing a few Nokia handsets including the Nokia 2680. Basically if your looking ahead for a phone with basic set of features just to make a few calls and probably send text messages. Anyways going ahead with the review…

Razzle-Dazzle: This one from the Korean manufacturers is a rather clunky one. A basic slider phone measuring about 3.89 inches tall by 1.89 inches wide by 0.61 inch deep and weighs 3.3 ounces, this one doesn’t have anything really fancy about it, but that doesn’t mean that this one is down right ugly. Anyways its kind of attractive not exactly eye catching with its grayish black finish with a metallic finish and rounded edges. The slider mechanism is also pretty much smooth which could add to its not so long list of attractive features.

Talking about the 1-inch TFT display that it comes along with I just wish it could ve been a bit more longer. The resolution is also quite less at 128×16 pixels which makes looking at images and graphics a not so enticing feature. But then again I ain’t surprised here because this one was just meant to be a basic phone for receiving calls plus the screen isn’t large enough for typing messages which just make the “only for calls” message more clearer. The navigation array has two soft keys along with the talk and end buttons and a four button toggle. The navigation array is pretty much roomy but then again I found the keys to be a bit rigid. Also at times there was a delay in registering the commands.

I surely miss the clear key in the navigation array. The alphanumeric keys are behind the slider and as I mentioned earlier, the slider is pretty much smooth and offers no resistance to push. I would deny the fact that the keypad buttons are a bit narrow, but that again didn’t result in many misspresses and so I don’t have much to complain about it.

The power connector and the USB port and a 2.5 mm head jack have been positioned on the right spine and the camera and self portrait are situated at the back.

Inside dope: It has space for almost 1000 phonebook entries with around 5 entries for each phonebook entry including job title,email address, birthday etc.

This one offers mobile emails, and instant messaging such as Yahoo, Hotmail etc. but then again because of its small screen using the email facility doesn’t provide you with much of a pleasant experience. It also includes a few useful organization features like the  calendar, to-do-list, calculator, alarm  clock etc… in spite of the small screen this one again comes with a WAP browser. I guess this was done to just make it look more than a simple phone. But trust me, this one is just a basic phone.

Coming to the multimedia features, this one offers a VGA camera along with 4 x zoom and it has added some video recording capabilities to it too. But then it shouldn’t be surprising when I say that the picture quality wasn’t that great. Infact,  I don’t I should even be talking much about it  because this is just a secondary phone to be used in emergencies to make or receive calls.

The call quality is pretty much satisfactory. On my end though the voice was a bit tinny at times, it worked pretty fine on other occasions. There was some disturbance at times. On the callers end they were pretty much satisfied with the quality of the sound. They hardly had any complaints about the  voice quality. Using the speakerphone is a bit of a problem though. I would suggest using the headset or the headphones directly instead of the speakerphone. The quality of the sound from the speakerphones was pretty much average and I wouldn’t recommend using it. There was some background sound and at times an echo effect could be noticed as well. On a more positive note I almost had no problems pairing it with the bluetoooth headset.

The battery life is pretty much noteworthy at a talk time of 3 hours and with upto 17 days of standby time.

Nitty-Gritty: Don’t expect much from this phone apart from some call making facilities. Could just be used to make calls.  Plus though the makers have put in a few extra features, it makes no sense to me. For example whats with providing WAP services with a 1-inch display. I don’t really understand why add the extra features when you just cant use it. If the whole point is to make the feature  set attractive then I guess Nokia surely loses out with this one. But again before I end… go ahead and grab the phone if your tired of the humungous bills and want a phone just to make calls and plus it is offered at a highly reasonable price.

My rating : 3 on 5

Thumbs up: smooth slider mechanism, brilliant pictures, fab designing, good call quality.

Thumbs down: low volume  levels, slippery keypad, awkwardly placed memory card.

Inside the trunk:

• Technology GSM
• Band GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (Quadband)
• Phone Design Slider
• Changeable Covers / Faceplates Yes
• Antenna Internal
• Vibrating Alert Yes
• Polyphonic Ringer Yes
• Voice Dialing Yes
• Call Timer Yes
• Conference Call Capability Yes
• Voice Recorder Yes
• Speakerphone Yes
• Wireless Interface Bluetooth 2.0
• Additional Features TV Link , Radio Data Service (RDS)

THE WHIZ-KID SPEAKS: The Nokia Supernova series has a range of four phones, out of which the 7610 looks the most interesting and promising. Targeted at a large female audience, this slider phone poses tough competition to the largest slider phone manufacturer in recent times, Samsung. This slider phone does not really face any tough competition, though there is an entire ocean of slider phones in the market thanks to the brilliant features.

Razzle-dazzle: Atleast going by the design of the supernova 7610 it is not in anyway similar to the older 7610. The older one was kind of bulky and though I don’t want to be rude, the older one was kind of a bit over the top as far as the designing is concerned. This is kind of more on the subtle design, being sleek and un flashy. Doesn’t really stand out in the crowd but is still worth all the talk. It comes with two interchangeable covers in black and red for the back but the only problem I faced is that the cover doesn’t come off all that easily. It stands kind of really slim according to nokia standards at 3.86 inches by 1.89 inches by 0.59 inch and weighs about 3.48 ounces which is pretty much light enough.

Again trying to catch the eyes of the female population, the display of this one could easily double up as a mirror. The display is glossy and is more or less like a fingerprint magnet. It also supports an impressive 16.7 million colours which is awesome and the vibrant and animated images only stand as a proof of it.

The navigation array of the supernova 7610 comprises of a four way toggle key along with the talk and the end buttons and two soft keys. The keys on the navigation array are pretty much spaced out and comfortable to use.

The slider mechanism is pretty smooth and very rarely stiff. Behind the slider is the keypad. I was kind of disappointed with the keypad, though it has the same design of flat keys like most of the slider phones, the keys are highly slippery and shiny. Also the letters and the numbers on the keys are small, I literally had to squint at times to make through the digits. This surely isn’t one of the best texting experiences that I ve had.

On the right spine of the slider is the micro-USB port, volume rocker, and the music player shortcut along with the camera shutter. The charger port along with a 2.5mm jack for headphones is situated above the phone. The Micro SD slot has been awkwardly placed behind the battery.

Inside dope: It’s got an inbuilt memory of 64MB, however it can be expanded to upto 2GB using a micro SD card. The phonebook can be used for 1000 entries with each entry saving upto five numbers, email address, URL, company name and job title, a nickname, street name and birthday.

It comes loaded with a 3.2 megapixel camera which can take pictures in six resolutions ranging from 2,048×1,536 pixels down to 160×120 pixels. I was pretty much impressed by the quality of the photos. Not only were they vibrant and bright but also they hardly displayed any noise expect for some amount of negligible noise around the edges. After you are done with taking the photos you could directly store them in the 64MB inbuilt storage or probably get yourself a new 2GB Micro SD card.

Coming to the music players, this one  is definitely the show stealer with a quality similar to the one offered by the Xpress music range, it definitely should score high on any music lovers list. It supports creating your playlists and also is also pairable with Bluetooth.

The tracks can be used as ringtones and it has support for MP3, MP4, AAC, AAC+, and WMA files. The sound quality using the inbuilt speakers isn’t all that satisfactory, I would recommend using headphones for better results.

Back to the most important characteristic… the call quality. The voice quality was pretty much crisp, clear, and the sound was clear enough with hardly any static or interference. The only complaint that I had in this department is that the volume was kind of low and the voice was not that audible in noisy places.

On the other end too, most of the callers could not make out that I was talking using a cell phone but a few of them complained about some background noise. Apart from that there were hardly any glitches atleast as far as the call quality was concerned. Here again like in most of the cases the headset calls were more satisfactory as compared to the speakerphone calls.

It has a battery life of about 5.4 hrs talktime and 12.5 days on  standby mode. Here again I would like to mention that the theme colourize feature is pretty much eye catching and is  comparatively better than anything that has been ever been offered by Samsung atleast.

Nitty-gritty: Basically a phone aimed at the masses, this one isn’t a smartphone but is a decently attractive conventional features with some real good stuffing and design. Plus the slider design is something which is totally out of Nokia’s portfolio so I assume it should gain real good popularity amongst the loyal fans of the Korean manufacturer. So surely this one could be your pick if your looking out for a conventional Nokia phone which is high on the glam quotient and has got some real good stuffing too.

My rating: 3.25 on 5