Nokia 6760 Preview
The Nokia 6760 Slide, or as it is known in the US, the Surge, is a slider messaging phone. It may appear as if it is aimed at a younger audience with three different colour combinations available, but it blends quirky looks with more advanced smartphone features and some decent business applications. With its varied functionality the Nokia 6760 could fill a gap in the market.
The Nokia 6760 slides sideways to reveal a full QWERTY keypad beneath the main screen. This makes it ideal for typing out longer SMS messages. The 6760 also features Microsoft Exchange functionality, meaning you can integrate it with your email accounts at work. Although this is by no means a fully fledged business phone, it is nice to see the keypad put to good use in areas outside text messaging.
The 6760 also supports an array of applications and software. Notably it has support for popular social networking sites such as Facebook straight out of the box and you should be able to use the high speed connectivity to upload photos quickly. In addition the 6760 includes support for popular instant messaging programs. The inclusion of such services will depend on the network provider you choose and SIM free customers should be able to choose their own service.
The 6760 has an interesting design to say the least. The different colours are reserved mostly for the battery cover and spill around to the front of the device to surround the top half of the screen, before veering away again when the navigation buttons come in at the bottom. As with most modern Nokia handsets, the 6760 is designed with durability and robustness in mind, so it should be able to take a fair amount of punishment before it gives up the ghost.
The Nokia 6760 also comes with built in GPS. The 2.4 inch screen is no giant and so in-car use isn’t the primary calling, but with Nokia Maps it is a suitable pocket sized route planning device. The 6760 also supports 3.5G for high speed downloads whenever you are in range of a decent 3G network base station. There is no Wi-Fi, but there are enough connectivity options to keep the average mobile user happy. In common with almost all modern phones, the 6760 has built in Bluetooth connectivity to round off the package.
Bundled with the Nokia 6760 you will find a 2GB micro SD card and you can add a high capacity card of up to 8GB in size if you need any more space. Since this phone is a jack of all trades the multimedia playback is slightly underwhelming and is bettered by most dedicated music phones.
The two main technical disappointments of the Nokia 6760 are the camera and the headphone jack. The 3.2 megapixel unit on the rear is sorely lacking a flash and so only performs acceptably in the best light conditions. There is also a simple fixed focus set up and low-resolution, low-fps video capture which does little to improve the camera functions. In addition there is only a 2.5mm headphone jack, meaning the standard 3.5mm connections sported by most headphones will be rendered useless. As a result you will be forced to use the included headphones if you want to use the 6760 to listen to your music whilst you are on the move.
Whilst the Nokia 6760 Slide may have its flaws, it should be priced at below £200 and so fit comfortably into the messaging and email phone market.
Tags: nokia, nokia 6760, nokia 6760 slide