Nokia 6700 Classic review

Battery life on the Nokia 6700 Classic is good if not stellar. One of the advantages of the phone is that the minimal amount of functionality mean it won't be used often – you're not going to ditch the PC for it or anything, as you'll still need it for the finer points of Facebook and so on.

Similarly, media isn't going to be too much of a hassle either – while it's alright on the phone, there's no contest between the 6700 Classic and a standalone PMP like an iPod Touch or similar. So thanks to that, the fairly minimal 970mAh battery will actually last pretty well – a few minutes of internet a day, a couple of calls and a few texts (and possibly a song or two) will warrant a recharge every 1.5 to two days, so you'll need to bear that in mind.

However, if you're not fussed about super fast internet on the handset, you can switch off the HSDPA signal and gain about a day's worth of use, which is a pretty big jump if you're not a mobile internet fan.

The organisational functions on the phone are pretty good too, albeit a bit standard fare. The Calendar, Alarm Clock and To-Do sections are all simple and easy to use, but don't offer more than you'd imagine them to do. For instance, there's no way to synchronise the Calendar online (other than connecting the phone up to the PC, by which point you can't really be bothered with the whole synchronising exercise), although you can cross-reference it with To-Do notes that fall within a certain time frame.

All three allow you to set alarms to remind you of upcoming important events, and along with a Stopwatch, Countdown Timer and Notes options, is pretty well stocked without ever hitting the dizzy heights of... well, we don't know what the other options are. A Filofax and wristwatch?

As mentioned above, the connectivity options on the Nokia 6700 Classic are pretty good (with the obvious absence of Wi-Fi). The super fast HSDPA whips along at a cracking pace no matter where you are (why Nokia felt this was an important point, we don't know) and the Bluetooth finds other devices and synchronises easily, especially with the more easy to use v2.1 options and A2DP audio equipment.

We really wish Wi-Fi had been included for the more data heavy aspects of the 6700 Classic, although we can understand that it might not be a priority for the audience this phone is aimed at.

GPS works well, and we always like a phone with a GPS icon in the corner to let us know that we're connected. We've heard reports that the 6700 Classic has struggled sometimes to lock to a satellite signal but we didn't find this was the case with our model.

However, there's also aGPS on board (which triangulates your position by mobile networks) so you'll at least be able to tell what county you're in should the satellites fail you.

It doesn't seem possible to use the 6700 Classic as a mobile modem, so making use of the super-fast chip on board is sadly out of the question.

Much has been made of Nokia's switch to Ovi Suite, and it seems with good reason as the new software gives you so much more than before. We're talking separate music, maps, photo viewers and even a home streaming tool to allow you to make the most of your Nokia phone (although you can't use this with the 6700 Classic).

The software may have taken nearly 35 minutes to download and install all the components (that's despite doing it from the bundled CD) but the software quickly found and connected to our Nokia 6700 Classic, complete with a lovely icon of our phone as well.

Essentially, all we can do with this phone and Ovi Suite is synchronise contacts and calendar items and the like, as well as converting media to suit the phone. So it's not a game changer for the 6700 Classic, but it's a good back-up support system.

The Ovi Suite was a lot more intuitive than previous efforts, encouraging us to sync across all our media, back up contacts and even throw it all online to make it safe forever as Nokia tries to integrate all its services. We found no great urge to do so, however, thanks to a lifetime of ignoring bundled phone software, but Nokia's integrated approach certainly makes it a lot more appealing.