Nokia 6500 Slide Review

The Nokia 6500 Slide was released some time back along with it’s less brother, the Nokia 6500 Classic. Both were very similar in design except that the 6500 Slide was a slider type and the 6500 Classic was a normal candy bar formfactor. Also, the 6500 Classic was a bit inferior compared to the 6500 Slide when it comes to specs and hardware. The 6500 Slide was huge improvement over other Nokia phones, packed with features, most notably a superb 3.2 MP cam with Carl Zeiss lens, autofocus and dual LED Flash, the best Nokia ever incorporated in this budget range. It is powered by the 5th edition of the hugely popular Series 40 user Interface. It features a stainless stylish steel body with a flawless design and good build quality. In this review, we dissect the 6500 Slide and its features and check whether it makes the cut.

Nokia 6500 Slide Specifications:

• Dimensions : 96.5 x 46.5 x 16.4 mm
• Weight : 125 gms
• Display : 2.2″ TFT, 16M Colors, QVGA 240 x 320 px.
• Camera : 3.15 MP, 2048 x 1536 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics with autofocus and dual LED flash, VGA video at 15fps, Secondary QCIF video call camera
• Memory : 20 MB Internal memory
• Connectivity : GPRS Class 11, HSCSD, EDGE Class 10, 3G, USB 2.0
• Bluetooth : Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP
• OS : Series 40 version 5 UI

Other features: FM Radio, TV out

Design and Display:

Frankly speaking, there is nothing wrong with the design of the 6500 Slide. It is a slim and stylish phone with a slider form factor. It has a body made of stainless steel which adds to its sturdiness and makes for great build quality. The spring loaded sliding mechanism is superb and should probably outlast the phone. The materials used are of top quality and give the phone a very good feel. At dimensions of 96.5 x 46.5 x 16.4 mm and a weight of 125 gms thanks to the stainless steel body, it isn’t exactly compact but shouldn’t be a problem carrying around. There are no loose parts on the device and the slider works perfectly. The keypad is one of the best we have used, with adequate spacing and large sized keys. The D Pad is superb and the surrounding Call, End, Left and Right keys have a good feel too.

The 6500 Slide has a 16 M color 2.2″ TFT display with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. It has good brightness and contrast levels and vibrant colors. The image quality is absolutely clear and stunning. It is fully legible even under full sunlight. One of the best displays we have seen in a mobile phone so far.

Coming to the positioning of the phone elements, the front of the phone houses the Display, the D Pad and buttons and the keypad under the slider. It also houses the earpiece, ambient light sensor and and the secondary videocall cam. On the relatively clean left, you will find only the lanyard eyelet. On the right are the volume rocker and the camera key. The top edge is crowded and sports the charger connector, the battery cover latch, a microUSB port and 2.5mm connector for headset and TV out. On the back of the phone, there is the superb camera, the dual LED flash and the loudspeaker. All in all, a great stylish design with real sturdy build quality. You can even use this phone as a projectile weapon if it conks out, which is unlikely though.

User Interface:

The 6500 Slide sports the 5th edition of the Series 40 user interface which has become more refined as years have passed. The interface has many improvements over the previous iterations of the Series 40 interfaces. It is very intuitive and easy to use. Most of the features are almost similar to previous version with better animations, menu transitions and performance improvements. It has a standby screen, theming support and the other addons found in the previous Series 40 iterations. On the whole, it is a nice responsive interface with nothing much to complain about.

Music, Video and Camera:

The 6500 Slide comes with a Music player which is very similar to the one found in the newer Xpress Music devices. It is a great feature with a high usability quotient and lots of features including a customisable equaliser and stereo widening. The 6500 Slide is capable of playing AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, MP4, WMA, AMR and MIDI audio files. You can list the music files by artist, album and genre and also create custom playlists. The 6500 Slide has good sound quality and can easily pass off as a music centric phone. In fact, when coupled with better earphones, it fares just slightly less than the Nokia N81 and ROKR E8. It has loud, clear speakers that is audible in a moderately sized room. It comes with the wired stereo HS-47 headset which connects to the 2.5mm AV connector. It also supports the A2DP profile through Bluetooth which is a plus for music lovers.

The video player supports H.263, H.264, MPEG-4, WMV codecs and formats and is capable of playing VGA H.263 video encoded at 30 FPS and 2048 kbps QCIF H.264 at 15FPS and 192 kbps. Videos can be seen in the fullscreen mode and can also be fast forwarded and rewound, which is a nice addition. A CA-92U TV out cable is also provided to watch videos on TV.

The 6500 Slide comes with a surprisingly good 3.15 MP cam with Carl Zeiss optics and autofocus and a dual LED flash. It can capture images at a max resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels. It produces nice, crisp images with accurate color reproduction. The camera interface includes some settings like white balance, quality, shooting modes etc. It can record videos in VGA resolutions at 15 FPS in the 3GP format. The video quality is decent. It also has a secondary QCIF camera at the front for videocalls.

Connectivity, Accessories and Other Features:

The 6500 Slide features a range of connectivity options - GPRS, HSCSD, EDGE, 3G, USB 2.0 and Bluetooth. It doesnt have Wi-Fi and GPS, but that isn’t reason to complain as this isn’t a business phone but a low budget allrounder. It has FM radio with RDS with nice reception and an autoscan feature which saves stations automatically.

It comes bundled with a slew of accessories and the other mandatory stuff - a BP-5M battery, the AC-4 charger, the wired stereo headset HS-47, a Micro USB cable, a TV out cable (CA 92U) a driver CD ROM and a user guide and manual.

The Nokia 6500 Slide offers excellent call reception and clarity, a hallmark of Nokia phones. It is powered by the Nokia BP-5M battery with a capacity of 900 mAh. It is supposed to provide 320 hours of standby or 6 hours of talk time and should last about 2-3 days with moderate usage.

Pros:

• Good Design and Build Quality
• Great Camera
• Great Sound Quality

Cons:

• No Wi-Fi and GPS

Conclusion:

The 6500 Slide is a very good phone with a stylish design, sturdy build quality and loads of features. It is priced appropriately and makes for a very good buy. The camera and sound quality are surprisingly good and add to the overall functionality of the phone. We would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a mid range phone with great features.

Our Rating: 4.25 / 5