Nokia 6260 mobile phone

The Nokia 6260 is a business-orientated smartphone with a range of interesting features.

One of the characteristics of the 6260's clamshell design is the rotating screen which can be rotated to a number of positions - open, closed, facing inwards and facing outwards. The display face can be closed with the screen facing outwards for browsing the internet or using applications.

The screen is very high quality - one of the best from Nokia - using active TFT technology for a sharp bright image, with 65k colours and a high resolution. A good quality screen like this is essential for making good use of the various business applications that come with the phone.

The 6260 is a series 60 phone with a Symbian operating system. Foremost amongst the pre-installed business applications is a mobile email client that uses Quickword and Quickpoint viewers for viewing attachments (Word and PowerPoint documents). Additional Java™ and Symbian applications can be stored, and a pre-loaded memory card is supplied with a number of "try-and-buy" applications.

The internal memory is not huge at 6 Mbytes, but the memory can be expanded with 32 Mbyte memory cards. The 6260 has an excellent range of connectivity options: Bluetooth™, infrared, Pop-Port™ connector and USB.

The 6260 includes a good quality digital camera that can shoot pictures at VGA resolution (300,000 pixels) and also record video. The camera is side-mounted with a movable display that allows for self-portraits. There's also a built-in FM radio and MP3 player, although the MP3 player is mono and not the best quality.

Nokia have succeeded in packing a lot into the 6260, with the clamshell design enabling them to have a large screen but still keep the phone size small. The phone is quite heavy, but no more than the average 3G phone, and this will probably be acceptable when the full range of features is considered. The screen is excellent, the spec of the phone includes everything that most users will need, and the range of Java and Symbian applications available for the phone is impressive. With the Nokia 6260 it seems that it is finally possible to have a business-orientated phone that retains the stylishness and fun features of a mainstream phone.

The 6260 will inevitably be compared with the Sony Ericsson P910i. It has to be said that the P910i beats the Nokia is most respects, however the P910i does cost and weigh considerably more than the 6260, so there should be room in the marketplace for both.

On the negative side, the Nokia 6260 does appear to have software and reliability problems. You should read the user reviews below to find out about people's experiences with this phone, but the main issues seem to be faulty phones, phones breaking and software glitches. It seems that Nokia smartphones often come with reliability problems, especially any like the 6260 that feature novel designs or features.