The Nokia 6220 classic isn't one of those phones that immediately catches the eye and gets pulses racing. It's a fairly ordinary looking mobile, with a functional rather than flash typically Nokia design.

But beneath the low-key exterior, the 6220 classic packs a feature punch similar to some of Nokia's top-spec Nseries smartphones, with high-end functionality inside ranging from high quality imaging to onboard satellite navigation.

Impressive feature set

It boasts a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and a xenon flash, has integrated A-GPS technology for location finding and route guidance, and features HSDPA high speed 3G data connectivity for fast downloading and internet browsing (at speeds of up to 3.6Mbps, depending on network set-up).

Like its Nseries stable-mates, the 6220 classic runs on the Symbian S60 smartphone operating system, with a healthy spread of applications pre-loaded.

These include music and video players, an FM radio, face-to-face video calling capability (using a secondary front-facing camera), VGA quality video shooting, online content uploading facilities and other web-based applications, plus a generous helping of organiser and productivity tools.

One feature missing from the 6220 classic that you'll find on higher end Nseries models, however, is Wi-Fi support..

Built-in GPS

As it's a S60 smartphone, you also have plenty of flexibility for customising the 6220 classic with a wide range of additional applications, some of which can be downloaded to the phone over the air directly from Nokia's Downloads! portal.

As well as employing a built-in GPS receiver, the 6220 classic is shipped with a 1GB memory card that contains Sat Nav mapping information for the UK and Ireland.

Users also get a 90-day free trial of Nokia Maps voice guidance add-on.

Phone handling

The Nokia 6220 classic has a no-nonsense sort of design that we've seen plenty of times on hugely successful Nokia mobiles. This mid-tier smartphone is cheaper than some similarly equipped Nseries devices, and Wi-Fi aside, some of that cost saving may be accounted for by its lightweight build.

The phone weighs just 90g, with a footprint of 108(h) x 46.5(w) x 15.2(d) mm, and there's a plasticky feel to parts of the phone – particularly the front control panel and numberpad.

The glossy black fascia and numberpad have a bit of creakiness, and the numbers and softkeys don't have as smooth an action as you'd hope for in a phone with this much feature firepower. The numberpad is smooth and slightly curved, which is OK, but we felt it wasn't easy enough on the finger for real speedy text typing.

The main controls aren't too fiddly, however – the main navigation D-pad control is large and well-defined, while the flanking S60 menu button (marked with the standard squiggle) is snug between the call button and a softkey but raised just enough to avoid mis-pressing.

User-friendly

The 6220 classic has a 2.2-inch display, a QVGA (320x240 pixels) 16-million colour screen that's bright and appears nicely detailed.

It's not the biggest screen you might expect on a smartphone, but it does its job fine. While it's not going to match up in sheer size to a large-screen in-car Sat Nav kit, the info displayed is perfectly viewable, and even video playback in landscape mode isn't bad.

The user interface will be familiar to Nokia smartphone followers; the phone's UI is based on S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2. The initial menu system is icon based and easy to get to grips with, while there are half a dozen user-definable shortcut icons on the top of the standby display to propel you into favourite functions, apps or websites – the choice of options is impressively comprehensive.

The 6220 classic was a touch leisurely in responding to commands to open apps – not exactly slow, but not as quick as you'd expect from a Nokia smartphone. Once an app was open, it was fast to react, however.

Unlike some recent Nseries Nokias, there isn't a built-in motion sensor to flip the screen automatically between landscape and portrait orientation, depending on how you hold the phone. Switching on the camera, though, the screen does a neat transition into landscape viewfinder mode as the app opens up.

5 megapixel camera magic

On the back of the 6220 classic there's a slider switch to open the protective lens cover, which also starts up the 5-megapixel camera.

Holding the phone in landscape camera mode, the xenon flash is situated under the lens, while there's a camera snapper button on the top right and zoom/volume control keys on the left.

This Carl Zeiss optics-equipped camera is similar to the shooter employed on the N82 and other high-enders, and is capable of producing excellent quality cameraphone shots.

Its user interface is similar to Nseries models – with a good array of easy to use setting control adjustments. But the automatic metering system is capable without tweaking; it's efficient and responsive to changing lighting environments and shooting conditions.