The Nokia 6600 Fold is the sibling to the similarly specified Nokia 6600 Slide, and it can be considered to be the replacement for the current Nokia 6555. It's a dual-band 3G phone with a QVGA main display and 2 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash, plus microSD expandable memory with a 512MB card included in the box. There's a multimedia player plus an FM radio, with a stereo wired headset in the sales package.
Like the 6555, the 6600 features a smooth back when it is open, along with a concealed display that can be woken up by tapping the phone twice. Inside the 6600 Fold is a 2.1" 320 x 240 pixel OLED paneland a secondary video calling camera. The keypad is a fairly coventional layout, taking advantage of the increased space available on a clamshell phone. Clamshell users have never been very well served by Nokia, usually having a very limited range of products. So, a new midrange clamshell handset is of some interest.
As with the slide, you can double-tap the 6600 Fold to silence an alarm or reject a call, something that seems to be practical to have on a clamshell phone.
From the outside, the Nokia 6600 Fold is a strikingly elegant phone. Inside there's a practical and sensible layout, so overall the combination of usability and style is very appealing. One annoyance is the camera - on the Slide it is a 3.2 megapixel unit, on the Fold it's only 2 megapixels. Despite that, the camera has the same video capture capabilities of 320 x 240 pixels at 30 fps or 640 x 480 pixels at 15 fps. In addition, pictures can be uploaded directly to Flickr or other photo sharing services.
Talktime on 3G is around 2.5 hours with up to 10 days standby time. The 6600 slide weighs 110 grams, which is a little heavier than most of the competition, but in terms of size it is fairly compact at 88 x 44 x 16mm.
Nokia say that the 6600 Slide should be available during Q3 2008 for around €275 (£220 / $440) before sales tax and any carrier discount. Nokia 6600 Fold at a glance
Available:
Q3 2008
Network:
GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
UMTS 850 / 2100
Data:
GPRS + EDGE + UMTS (3G)
Screen:
240 x 320 pixels, 16m colours (main)
128 x 160 pixels (sub)
Camera:
2 megapixels
Size:
Medium clamshell
88 x 44 x 16mm / 110 grams
Bluetooth:
Yes
Memory card:
microSD
Infra-red:
No
Polyphonic:
Yes
Java:
Yes
GPS:
No
Battery life:
4 hours talk / 14 days standby (GSM)
2.5 hours talk / 10 days standby (3G)
