Nokia 6110 Navigator

NOKIA 6110 NAVIGATOR

The phone with the slider open.

The 6110 Navigator is the latest phone from Nokia. It is a slider phone as you can see above. The slider mechanism is quite solid and feels reliable. The screen is a 2.2inch QVGA high resolution one (just like the E65).

It is a 3.5G phone (supports HSDPA) and has a front facing camera for video calls. Just above the camera is the light sensor which modifies the brightness and keypad lights based on ambient light. This is quite useful and saves the battery life. So for example when you are in a well lit area the keypad buttons don't light up. But as soon as the lights go down (say when your in a movie theatre) the keypad lights come on.

This phone has 7 main interface buttons and a 5-way navigation/click key in the centre.

Two buttons below the screen (blue light) are for selecting the screen options. The green/red keys are for connecting/disconnecting calls with the red key doubling up as the power on/off key. There is the traditional 'Menu' key and a cancel 'C' key. The final key (in between the 'C' and Menu keys) activates the GPS application (yes the 6110 Navigator has in-build GPS!).

On the left side there is a programmable 'My Own Key' which you can set to any application you like for one click access. On the right there is a +/- key used for the camera and volume control along with the shutter key.

The 6110 compared with Sony Ericsson P990i.

Volume: 89 cc
Weight: 125 g with battery
Dimensions: 101 x 49 x 20 mm

As you can see the phone is not all that small (especially when you compare it to some of the Samsung sliders) but then again it has TONS of useful features. The metallic finish ensures that keys feel sturdy.

Top view, from L to R: Power connector, cradle connector, 2.5mm headphone jack.

The phone has quite a few different connectors all over the place. The top part of the phone contains the power, cradle and 2.5mm headphone jack (which makes it really easy to use your normal headphones with it!). On the left side it has a small-formfactor USB port which means you don't need a special data cable to connect it with your PC and a Memory Card slot (microSD - 512mb card comes free with the 6110 in UK).

The main screen with the Light Trails theme.

The interface is very well designed and the software really quick (especially when compared with some of the Sony Ericsson phones). The phone comes with Real Player, MP3Player and it also has built in FM-Radio. It comes with QuickOffice and PDFReader application and of course special GPS applications, maps and navigation software. Games are bit boring (just Snake and Marble).

The back view with the slider and camera shutter open, note the GPS antenna.

The main camera on the phone is a 2.0 Megapixel one with flash. It is protected with a shutter. In the above picture the stereo speakers can also be seen below the camera housing. These stereo speakers provide 3-D affect and allow the use of '3-D ringtones'. How useful that feature is, well that is up to you! With the slider open the GPS antenna can also be seen.

The Nokia Navigator map application, note the Navteq and Route 66 logo.

The mapping application uses Route66 software. The GPS is really powerful and was able to do a cold start within 2 minutes. Hot-fix is established equally quickely. The software application is surprisingly powerful for a small phone like this. 2-D/3-D views, landmarks, places of interest, pedestrian option, digital compass and many other features packed into the software. If your operator supports it, you can pass your location on to them and they will dynamically update 'places of interest' within the software, based on your location!

The top-view map with the GPS running.

It is a fairly feature packed phone. I think the phone would have been successful even without the GPS. But the GPS adds that extra punch to the list of features. With a large number of supported countries (with maps) this is the kind of phone which you would WANT to carry with you all over the world!

Without the GPS, the 6110 would have been just another 3.5G smartphone. But with the GPS it becomes much more than a phone.

The Negatives

Well I did not have many complaints with the phone. A minor complaint was a lack of good application software and the fact that a 3.2 megapixel camera would have really hit the spot. Perhaps, also, Nokia could have been a bit less lazy and made a slightly larger screen (rather than re-using the screen from E65!).

The Final Word

If you were looking out for a GPS receiver, you should instead go for this phone. Just think of it as a GPS receiver with a smartphone and camera built into it rather than a smartphone with GPS.