Nokia has certainly got itself on the map when it comes to mobile phone satellite navigation. Its line-up of GPS-enabled handsets continues to expand rapidly, while its recently completed megabucks takeover of mapping data company Navteq points clearly to the direction in which it wants its Sat Nav portfolio to go.

The Nokia 6210 Navigator is the successor to last year's 6110 Navigator, and majors on its satellite navigation capabilities, with A-GPS technology inside, plus Nokia Maps mapping software covering the UK and Ireland loaded up on to a supplied 1GB memory card.

Feature-packed

It's a sliderphone model, with a similar design feel and smartphone functionality as Nokia's recent 6220 classic. The 6210 is based on the Symbian S60 smartphone operating system, and is underpinned by high-speed HSDPA 3G connectivity with download speeds rated at up to 3.6Mbps.

Although the 6210 Navigator packs in much of the features and functionality usually seen on Nokia's high-end Nseries models, there's no Wi-Fi on this particular handset.

All the usual audio, video and web-based multimedia functionality you'd expect of an S60 smartphone is included, with a video call camera up front. But the main shooter on the back is a 3.2-megapixel camera – an upgrade to the 6110 Navigator's 2-megapixel snapper, though not as slick as the 6220 classic's Carl Zeiss lens-powered 5-megapixel camera.

Easy to operate

Although it has similar plastic bodywork to the 6220 classic, the 6210 Navigator feels much more substantial in the hand – measuring 103(h) x 49(w) x 14.9(d)mm and weighing a reassuringly hefty 117g. It's got a larger display, a 2.4-inch 16 million-colour QVGA screen on the main body, which is a decent size for mobile phone Sat Nav duties.

Nokia includes its motion sensor accelerometer technology inside this phone, which automatically changes screen orientation between landscape and portrait views in menus and some apps (including the browser and media gallery but not Sat Nav), depending how the phone is being held. It also allows you to reject calls simply by turning the phone face down.

The slider numberpad has large, well spaced buttons that are responsive and easy to press, while the control panel under the display is tidily arranged for fuss-free operation – the navigation D-pad and application Menu key are raised enough from the flush, smooth front panel to make it easy to operate.

Nokia's S60 smartphone user interface is well implemented on the 6210, with no delay as you browse through menus or switch between applications. There are numerous apps to play with, and most of these can be accessed quickly using one of the user-definable shortcut icons at the top of the standby screen.

Satellite navigation

A blue diamond-shaped compass button just below the navigation D-pad activates the 6210 Navigator's headline navigation functionality. Usefully, this key glows blue while the system is on, so you can avoid accidentally running down your battery power with idle GPS in the background.

A quick press, and the Nokia Maps application fires up swiftly. It uses A-GPS (Assisted Global Positioning System) technology, supplementing satellite location finding with mobile network cellsite data to get swift and accurate positioning on onscreen maps.

We found the A-GPS system locked on to satellites very quickly and reliably – it usually took less that 30 seconds (although Nokia says it could take from a few seconds to several minutes, depending on circumstances).

The Nokia Maps user interface is very user-friendly and intuitive. You can search for locations, places of interest, services, businesses, and so on, from a large number of categories. There's even a search facility on the opening screen.