Nokia 6500 slide review

Logic might suggest that the Nokia 6500 slide is simply a sliderphone version of Nokia's 6500 classic candybar phone, but who gives a stuff about logic?

In reality the Nokia 6500 slide is a very different mobile from the 6500 classic we tested recently.

Both the Nokia 6500 slide and 6500 classic are 3G quad-band mobiles using the latest version of Nokia's hugely popular Series 40 platform that'll be familiar to anyone who's used a Nokia in recent years.

But the headline features, look and feel of these two models part company soon after that point. Whereas the 6500 classic is a chic, ultra-slim candybar mobile, the 6500 slide is a more substantial sliderphone that has a smart brushed stainless steel casing. The 6500 slide bears more of a family resemblance to Nokia's high-end N95 smartphone than it does its 'classic' namesake.

Majoring on its imaging capabilities, the Nokia 6500 slide sports a 3.2-megapixel camera on the back panel, equipped with high quality Carl Zeiss-sourced optics, autofocus and macroshot mode. By comparison the 6500 classic makes do with a Nokia standard-issue 2-megapixel camera.

The Nokia 6500 slide outdoes the 6500 classic again by including a secondary camera for 3G video calling on the front of the phone, above the display - something that's missing from the classic's specs.

The screen on the 6500 slide is a larger 2.2-inch QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) LCD display too, supporting up to 16.7 million colours; this provides a bright, clear platform for viewing images, video, web pages and other content. That's just as well.

The 6500 slide supports all the regular 3G features, including video and audio downloading and streaming, plus Nokia has included in here a couple of browser options - Nokia's own surfer software plus the small screen-optimised Opera Mini browser.

There's a multi-format music and video player onboard, which uses Nokia's latest player user interface. While the Nokia 6500 classic is stocked up with a heavyweight 1GB of internal memory, the 6500 slide goes light on built in memory - just 20MB - but offers MicroSD card memory expansion instead.

Nokia ships the 6500 slide with a 256MB card in the box, although users keen on using the slide for tunes may want to spend a few quid on a higher capacity card. MicroSD cards up to 4GB are supported.

On the music side, the 6500 slide further adds to its attractions with an FM radio inside (another feature absent from the 6500 classic).

You couldn't exactly accuse the Nokia 6500 slide of being svelte. It measures a solid 96.5(h) x 46.5(w) x 16.4(d) mm and weighs a substantial 123g - a fraction heavier than the N95.

The flip side is that this solidity makes it comfortable to hold, and it doesn't feel like it'll slip out of the hand easily. The reverse of the phone reflects the digital camera aspirations of this mobile, with the minimalist brushed metal casing giving it the required compact digital camera look. The weighting and balance of the phone work in its favour as a camera too as you hold it in landscape format.

The controls on this phone are simply laid out and straightforward to use; there's the regular Nokia navigation D-pad in the centre, a couple of softkeys either side above standard call and end keys. The slip-down keypad has a pleasingly smooth action; keys are simply laid out in the usual grid pattern, and are large and responsive.

The side of the phone sports a camera quick access button that becomes a shutter release when the camera fires up, and there's a volume up/down key that doubles as a zoom control.

Sockets are all on the top of the phone - you get a micro USB port for data connectivity with a PC, a standard charger socket and a 2.5mm jack output. The 2.5mm socket is for the supplied stereo earphones, but is also used for another function - a TV-Out facility.

A cable is supplied that can plug into the phono sockets on a standard TV set, enabling you to see what's on the phone display on screen. You can display video clips or photo images, play games, surf the web, listen to music and even make or take video calls while it plays through your TV. It's a feature we've seen before on other phones, but it's interesting that Nokia has chosen to enable it on this mid-tier handset.

With its Carl Zeiss supplied optics, Nokia is pitching the 6500 slide as much for its imaging qualities as for its tidy design. The camera can take images up to 2048 x 1536 pixels, with six size settings depending on how you want to use the snaps.

Nokia hasn't gone to town on numerous settings adjustments, however. You can change white balance setting, brightness and quality levels, and set the flash. There's also a self-timer and a few shooting effects (sepia, negative, greyscale) you can add.