Nokia 6260 review

Nokia 6260 was one of the first attempts of the #1 mobile phone manufacturer to enter the clamshell market. The company got a lot of heat from anyone about not keeping up with the current trends favoring clamshell and slider designs. The 6260 is also Nokia's first clamshell phone running Symbian with Series 60, which mean that anyone who has experience with Series 60 will feel at home when using the 6260.

I'd like to thank Collierbing.com for the provided device for our review.

Design

Just from looking at the specs of the 6260, I though that I was prepared what to expect. Taking the phone out of the box proved me wrong – it was huge compared to the rest of clamshell phones I've seen. On the other hand, after using it for several weeks, I got used to its size. Comparing it to the just announced Nokia N90, the 6260's height is actually smaller (4.0 compared to 4.4 for the N90) and its weight is only 4.6 oz compared to 6.1 oz for the N90.

Strangely enough, Nokia opted to not include external display. The outer shell of the phone only features a green LED. It does NOT function as a service light – it only lights up when someone is calling or when the phone is being charged. How hard is it to make it blink every 5 seconds? Well, I guess a lot since I am still waiting to see Nokia offering this feature.

Closing the shell puts the phone in Closed Mode in which all application are sent to the background, the screen is shut off and ongoing calls are ended. Everything is fine as long as you are not using Bluetooth headset – you can not close the phone because this will end your conversation. So if you originate the call, you have to keep the shell open in order to continue the conversation. What should have been done is – if there is a bluetooth connection and ongoing call, closing the shell should not end the conversation.

The 6260 loudspeaker is located into the top shell, so its openings are visible when the shell is closed.

The fold can be opened at two angles – at 90 degrees and at about 145 degrees. When opened at 90 degrees, the fold can be also twisted to 90 degree (Imaging mode) or a full 180 degrees. In case you twisted (only counterclockwise) to 190 degree, then you can actually close the fold with the screen facing out (Browse mode). In Imaging mode, the keyboard is disabled except for the Menu key and the selection key on the center of the scroll key.

Left Side

Right side

 

6260 keypad

Opening the fold reveals large TFT display, with several keys below it. 5-way (four directional plus one selection in the middle) scroll key is in the middle. The two soft-selection keys are located on the top row. The numeric pad and the call/end keys are located on the bottom shell. The one thing I hated about the phone was the way the keys clicked. The regular (numeric) keypad is hard to press with no much response. The scroll keys are very crammed and a lot of times even after weeks of use I still press LEFT scroll instead of SELECT.
The rocket volume key is located on the right side of the phone. Just below it is the camera key.

Shell closed with the main screen on top

Overall, I have no idea why the phone is so big. There is a LOT of unused space below the number keypad – almost ½ of the bottom shell is just not used. The build quality is also very questionable. Because of the way the hinge is constructed, the top shell rocks left – right even with the lightest push/pull. I am not sure what will happen it gets dropped.

On a positive note, the display is a large TFT 176 x 208 pixels with 65k colors. I have always liked Nokia's displays and the one on the 6280 is not an exception. It is bright enough to be viewed in direct sunlight and it offers excellent color contrast.