I demonstrated this phone for ACB Radio last week and promised to post some comments here. My existing
phone is the Nokia 6600 so there are some comparative points here.
Cons: The keypad is very fiddly with the keys decreasing in size toward the
bottom of the phone making composing SMS and email pretty tricky; Annoying 5
directional navikey which does not feel as sturdy or as rugged as the
joystick on the 6600; The pop port is yet another annoying proprietary
standard requiring a proprietary cable, would have much preferred a standard
USB type B connector; The reduced size MMC is a limitation which could have
been avoided by using the much more widely available and affordable SD
cards; The headset connects to the pop port so a USB connection can not be
made at the same time as using the headset; It is not possible to connect
standard headphones to make the most of the stereo mp3 playback; the socket
for the charger is set at a 45 degree angle making using the phone in one’s
left hand cumbersome; Simbian security feature making it impossible to
complete an application installation via Bluetooth from a PC, this can make
installing Talks pretty fiddly; Finally, my first unit turned out to be
faulty with the seven key not responding and the cover for the RC MMC being
loose. Contrary to some reports there is no FM radio on this phone. And US readers should wait for the 6638 which is going to be to the 6630 what the 6620 was to the 6600.
Pros: Supports 3G with data speeds up to a theoretical maximum of 384k, I’ve
yet to see this in practice; Much more responsive with it’s faster processor
and more memory (10MB onboard and 64MB on the removable media card;
dedicated voice tag button on edge of phone; newer version of Simbian which
consolidates many of the menus; improved camera resolution and video
recorder which will now shoot upto 1-hour; stereo mp3 playback through
proprietary headset; improved onboard speaker; supports improved Nokia PC
Suite 6.5, raised rubber lip around camera lens providing greater
protection, although I don’t know why nokia couldn’t develop a rotating lens
cap; seven short cut keys with all 5 positions of the navikey being
configurable in addition to soft key 1 and soft key 2.
Over all I like the 6630 and think I’ll probably upgrade which will mean
regrettably the people at Orange may get to keep my custom after all. We’ll
see what happens when I visit the Orange shop this week. And the rumours
are that Orange customers with Wildfire may get to keep the service after
all. We shall see.