Mobile information

Not having made much of a splash in the 3G pond thus far, expectations were high as Nokia today previewed its first 3G smartphone - the 6630. The pear-shaped handset, clearly inspired by the design of Nokia's 3600 smartphone series, offers a smorgasboard of advanced features including support for just about every WAN connectivity under the sun, hi-res imaging and Bluetooth.

A close sibling to the Nokia 3600 series, Nokia has corrected the largest flaw with this particular series in the 6630: its unwieldy size. Despite being a 3G handset with support for EDGE, the 6630 appears even smaller than the Nokia 6600, and is an ergonomical pleasure to (be)hold. Roughened plastic grips on its sides add to this testiment, as does the excellent keypad with tactile feedback and usability fully on par with the equally excellent Nokia 6600.

6630

The prototype provided by Nokia did not offer typical Series 60 performance as it ran an as-of-yet unfinished version of the Series 60 platform, however still managed to pull off most tasks with aplomb. Its screen was crisp, clear and bright, and the quality of pictures taken with the 1.2 Megapixel camera seemed to rival the high quality of those taken with Nokia's only other megapixel handset: the 7610 smartphone. Viewfinder refresh rates were unimpressive, but this was likely due to the state of the software.

Nokia also offered a quick glimpse of the Camera Stand PT-8, an accessory to be used in conjunction with the 6630 to conduct video calls. Unfortunately, the concept of the camera stand appears somewhat pointless at this point as it requires AC power to function and adds bulk for travelers. With 3G roaming still beyond the horizon and the alternative of the combination of laptops equipped with Wi-Fi and web cameras, Nokia may find it difficult to wane customers to 3G video conferencing with this particular concept.

Nokia today announced the Nokia 6630, a GSM / 3G handset. The 6630 is the first 3G handset from Nokia, the largest maker of cell phones world wide. Here are a few more details:

• 1.23 megapixel camera (6x digital zoom)
• Video recording of up to 1 hour in length, plus video calling
• MMC card slot.
• Bluetooth
• Compatible with Nokia's new Bluetooth keyboard

Look for the Nokia 6630 in Q4 of this year