Nokia 6300 - Simple and Reliable (Nokia 6300)

Member Name: boboshady

Product:	Nokia 6300
Date:	12/11/07 (541 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Rugged, Cheap, Easy to use, Clear display

Disadvantages: Not exactly packed with advanced features

I bought this phone as a go-between whilst waiting for the money for and the availability of the Nokia E90, and as such I was looking for something cheap, rugged and good at the basic functions.

At £80 (Vodafone PAYG) it was certainly cheap enough - not the cheapest I could have got but certainly the best for the money in terms of looks, build and features.

It's slim profile and steel case not only means that you put it in any pocket you want, but you'll feel OK about doing it without worrying it will break. The case has thus far proved very scratch resistant, even after spending the day along side my keys / pocketchange.

The camera is only 2MP, and the pics you get aren't great, but it's a cheap, slim phone - what do you expect? If you're looking for a phone that takes good pictures, look at one of the CyberShot SE's or the Nokia N95.

I used to think Nokia navigation was the dogs until I started using Sony Ericssons, and it's nice to see that Nokia have cottoned on to their deficiencies and copied some of the nicer features of Sony's menu system - the recently used SMS contacts for instance is a godsend.

The navigation in general is fairly standard not only of all recent Nokia's, but also of pretty much any phone around - and you can define shortcuts if you find the default setting's not to your liking.

The screen is bright and extremely clear and easy to read, even on sunny days. The keypad is well illuminated so you can see what you're hitting in all light conditions (you'll not appreciate how important this is until you have a phone with poor key backlighting!).

Call quality is very good, I've yet to have a conversation that I struggled to understand. The one time I have used the speakerphone, i a hotel room with no background noise, the caller was able to hear both myself and another occupant, and we were both able to him him clearly.

One thing that initially disappointed me about this phone was the battery life, which topped out at around 2 - 3 days with only light usage - Yes, it's a slim phone, but we've come to expect talktime in double figures and standby of close to a week, so this was a major setback.

However, I noticed that by simply turning off bluetooth, I've practically doubled the life of the battery. Now this sounds kind of obvious - turn off things that drain the battery, and the battery lasts longer...but I've never noticed such a big difference before on any of my previous devices.

Overall, this phone filled my needs completely - I was looking for little more than something I could make phonecalls on, handle SMS and take the odd picture of the takeaway menu, and I didn't want to break the bank. If you're looking for the latest and greatest mobile device, you might be left wanting.

Summary: A cheap way to make calls and handle SMS in a well built device

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Sound quality:
Variety of features: