Nokia 6230i review: On the top, again

Usually small innovations are hidden behind the small "i", added to the old models' names. Those at Nokia 6230i are no big either. Nevertheless, they are sufficient to make Nokia 6230i one of the best mobile phones nowadays.

Key features

• Good quality display
• USB Mass Storage function (memory card as PC drive)
• Push to talk
• Four-way button function customization
• Email client works with attachments
• One hour voice memo
• Megapixel camera

Main disadvantages

• Bad implementation of T9 dictionary
• Phonebook sorting when synchronizing
• An average quality camera
• Memory card is hidden under the battery
• Sending a megapixel photo in an email attachment not possible

Nokia 6230, which hit the market exactly a year ago, comes under the type of phones the manufactures manage to create only once in few years. As for Nokia, it simply listened to the customers' reproaches. After a long series of flabby mobile phones it finally created a model without big trade-offs. Although we could have certain remarks regarding the small, low resolution display and some other features, altogether it was and still is a very well-balanced telephone. It comes under the category of the older 6110 or 6310 models - is there anybody surprised by its repeated success then?

Nokia saw the opportunity to cash in even more on the 6230 success and now is coming with a new improved mobile phone with a small letter added. It is a pity Nokia did not launch such a phone straight away, but the year that has passed since the 6230 model was introduced is reasonable, so the old model's present users should not be too angry.

At first sight, you will not even recognize you are looking at a new phone

Nokia 6230i was introduced on the market just days ago. For two to three months it will be possible to find both models next to each other, afterwards the old 6230 model will disappear from the shops' shelves. The phones are also going to differ in terms of price - around 30 Euros.

No difference at first glance

Nokia 6230i is a classical construction telephone of an unobtrusive design. It will be available in a light and a dark version, but more colors will also be possible to get, thanks to the removable covers. We should not expect vivid colors though, for design is rather conservative. The only part that stands out is the glossy camera lens legend on the back.

Phone's most distinct element

Telephone's dimensions - 103×44×20 mm - are just the same as at Nokia 6230. When compared to the rest of the mobile phones, it fits into the category of the small ones. It is two grams heavier (99 g) than the old model, but it could still be considered a medium-heavy phone.

Size comparison

Nokia 6230i is very solid. The back cover, which is almost impossible to remove, seems to me even much too solid; on the other hand, better this way than being loose, wobbling from side to side. The covers are plastic, but their surface design resembles metal - especially as far as the whole-silver model we have been testing is concerned. By the way, I like this one more than the 6230 dark version we obtained a year ago.

What a display

The display has undergone the most remarkable innovations. First, it is slightly bigger - it is 30×30 mm compared to old model 27×27 mm. The surface is by 1.7 sq. centimeters larger and even though it is perceptible, some of the competitors have much bigger displays:

• Sony Ericsson S700i: 16.10 cm²
• Siemens S65: 13.02 cm²
• Motorola V600: 11.30 cm²
• Sony Ericsson K700i: 10.44 cm²
• Nokia 6230i: 9.00 cm²
• Nokia 6230: 7.29 cm²

During the presentation we did not even notice the phone is equipped with a bigger display

This time Nokia has not spared a pixel and has jumped from the uneven raster of 128×128 pixels straight to 208×208 pixels. Although this is not the finest display on the market, as we thought during the first look; being uninformed about its size, Nokia 6230i comes under the first five best. It is beaten by Sharp and Sagem myX-8 only.

• Nokia 6230i: 4807 pixels/cm²
• Sony Ericsson S700i: 4770 pixels/cm²
• Sony Ericsson K700i: 3709 pixels/cm²
• Motorola V600: 3396 pixels/cm²
• Nokia 6230: 2247 pixels/cm²
• Siemens S65: 1784 pixels/cm²

Finer, but less economical

My first impression of the display was: extremely fine, bright enough, with a good picture contrast. It is a TFT type, of course, and I appreciate the fact that when looked at from aside its colors do not change. Even though it toys a bit when seen in daylight, with some more effort and at suitable angle it is usable. The display glass cover is not protected enough, so you may welcome the possibility to remove and change phone's covers.

Have a look at one of the finest displays ever

A display is also evaluated by the number of lines it is able to view - when writing or reading text messages, for example. In this aspect Nokia shows weaker results. Even though one can choose out of three different font sizes instead of the previous two, using the smallest one will allow you to view six lines only, whereas in Nokia 6230 it was enough for eight.

Having designed a new display, Nokia has also been forced to install a completely new font type. It seemed to me that the common bold profile is not really suitable; the problem is, however, somewhere else: the text in the middle of the status line is by few pixels higher than the functions of the context keys - a detail I mind. As for the text messages, I am sure that many users will appreciate the biggest font size available. Even though it allows for displaying four lines at the same time only, it is really clear-cut.

Although it is minor issue, I kept noticing the problem: the Menu sign is placed a bit higher than the references on the sides

So much alike

Except for one detail the keypad is identical to the one of the 6230 model. The new keypad is easier to control. Even though I have never had problems with clicking the whole button, I know some users were complaining about it. Nevertheless, when easing this button on the new model I sometimes have just the same feeling as with the old 6230 model: it feels as if the button has been stuck onto the base and is coming unstuck now - all that accompanied by a typical sound.

The keypad has an accentuated confirm button

As for the frequent asked question, whether the new cover with an independent centered button will match the old Nokia 6230, I cannot answer it yet. I do not have the old phone at my command and what's more - when we were preparing its review we did not take a picture of the cover's inside, so that we can compare it now. Anyway, Nokia could have modified the cover a bit.

The keys are made of solid plastic and are just brilliant. The middle column is twice as wide as the side columns, but it does not disturb the controlling at all.

When writing you will not even notice that the middle column is somewhat higher

The keys' distribution has not changed. Under the display there are two functional keys. The left one is reserved for the Go to Menu with frequently used functions. The configuration can be changed by the user. As for the right one, it allows for selecting a quick choice among 27 functions.

The main button with the four functional keys on the sides

Better setups

A piece of news is the option for assigning functions to each direction of the main button. This was not possible before, but today you can choose out of 27 functions or leave the button unused.

Proper Go to Menu • assigning functions to the different directions

The voice control is another option enabling quick selection. Unfortunately, there are only seven functions available, which are sometimes possible to further divide into several additional items. An interesting function is the sound indication of the status of the net coverage and the battery. The only way to invoke this function is by voice: you can tell what the phone's actual status is by the number of the beeps it answers with.

Voice managing setup

Instead of the green and the red receivers' symbols, there are only commas on the phone, but the keys themselves have not changed their functions. By pressing the green one you can also get to the list with the recent calls. Nokia has slightly modified the outlook of the screen, which displays the calls overview, so if you happen to miss more calls from the same caller, their number gets displayed on the same line, next to the caller.

The keys backlighting is shaded in blue and is quite poorly distributed. It is strongest under the zero (which starts the WAP browser, BTW). Then there is a break, after which all the rest of the keys get backlighted. The keypad is possible to either hand-lock, or lock automatically after a certain preset period. What's more, you have the option to set up the phone to require a safety code before unlocking the keypad.

Backlighting is somewhat better than the one demonstrated on these pictures, but generally it is not very good

Fast charging

On the left side of the phone there is a relatively poorly designed rocker key, which allows for call loudness setup. By pressing and holding its bottom part when in a stand-by mode you will activate the voice control, whereas its upper part serves as a Push to talk button. On the phone's right side is only the loud speaker slot, the invisible infrared port and - at its top - the big switch-off button combined with a ringing profiles selector. The bottom part of the phone is occupied by the Pop-Port connector and the charger outlet.

Rocker key • Loud speaker slot

Control switch-off button • eyelet for interlacing the wrist strap • system connector

On the back side are the camera lens and the lock for removing the back cover. I have already mentioned the effort this last action requires - an unease compensated by the cover firmness. Equipped with a standard Li-Ion type battery of 850 mAh capacity the phone is said to make it through up to 300 hours in a stand-by mode or 300 minutes of calling. As you can see, the details match the parameters of the 6230 model. However we are not familiar with the phone's real performance when in everyday use. As for the charging, it is fast and is usually accomplished within an hour and a half.

Camera lens

Back cover lock • when opened

The memory is accessed as a hard drive

The back cover would not be necessary to remove at all but for the memory card hidden under the battery. Nokia 6230i uses MMC type memory cards; a 32 MB card is delivered with the standard package. If you decide to use the phone as an MP3 player, you will have to buy a bigger capacity card.

The memory card is placed under the battery

I tried to load songs into the phone using infrared port and Bluetooth. However, in order to establish a cable connection I had to first install PC Suite. The result was an extremely slow, hence useless process. An improvement is the new USB Mass Storage function, due to which the memory card appears in the computer as another hard drive shortly after the cable connection has been established, without the necessity of special controls installation. This way however the built-in memory is not possible to access.

Immediately after the cable has been connected the following request appears on the display "Activate USB data transfer? ". If you give a positive answer, the computer finds the phone and installs it as a storage device. No installation is necessary if you repeatedly connect the phone to a computer for the hard drive appears straight away. The phone is unusable while in a process of transferring, but a sound alerts you of the missed calls and messages. I needed 70 seconds to cable transfer a 17.5 MB files from the computer to the phone's card. Hence the transferring speed is 15 MB per minute. What a pity that the USB cable is not a part of the original delivery package and has to be bought additionally.

According to Nokia's statements the phone has 32 MB built-in memory, but the user is allowed to use 27 MB. Anyway, when I counted up all possible items I did not get over 24 MB. The maximum size of the java midlet has been boosted from 128 KB to 512 KB. It is not possible to download and install a java game or application through the infrared port. You will have to do it either from the computer using PC Suite, or from WAP. I mean, you will manage to download the file into the phone, but it will not get started afterwards.

The phone has a gallery, which allows for browsing the multimedia files saved in the built-in memory or on the card. It is divided into several sections: Pictures, Video clips, and Music files, Themes, Graphics, Tones and Records. The gallery offers three views: a simple file list (5 items per page), a file list with details (3 items) or a matrix image (9 items without details).

The gallery's three views

Multimedia files, which are not protected by copyrights and whose transferring is not prohibited either, can be sent to a computer or other devices through Infrared port or Bluetooth. In a similar way, you can also send data to the phone.

The camera: not the mega we expect

The increase of the camera resolution to 1280×1024 pixels is practically the only innovation. The rest of the camera's functions have not been changed, so Nokia offers very few setup options, again. The quality of the image of any taken photo is very good, due to the fine display. However, when I viewed its pictures in the computer, the camera of the Nokia 6230i turned out to be just average.

Nokia 6230i is the first "common"mobile phone of the Finish manufacturer, which has a megapixel camera.

Nokia 6230i is a member of the Series 40 platform and is a successor of the old 6230 model. The megapixel camera is one of its main innovations. Unfortunately, there aren't any bigger improvements in the applications responsible for taking pictures. Nokia offers a standard mode with a smaller format for phonebook portraits, a night mode and a video option. You can choose out of three levels of picture quality, there is a shutter release, a two-step zoom, which just crops a part of the image. Among the functions, that's basically everything.

The photos are in a 1280×1024 pixels format, which is a bit uncommon (but native for most of the LCD displays). If you look at the photos on a computer monitor with typical CRT resolution like 1024×768, the photos will not fit on full screen due to the slightly different aspect ratio.

How to take pictures

Before you start taking pictures you need to just press the up-arrow from the main display (provided you have not set up a different function for this shortcut). Within two seconds the photo viewfinder will appear on the display. Thanks to the fine display, the images' quality is unusually high, unlike the redrawing speed, which is rather average.

To take a picture you just need to press the shutter. There is a sound switch on/off option is in the menu. When ready, photos appear on the display. The images are usually perfectly sharp and detailed - even after magnification.

Pictures can be sent in a multimedia message, using infrared port or Bluetooth, and of course, downloaded into a computer through a cable connection.

Camera quality: compared to Nokia 6630

Considering the quality of its pictures, Nokia 6230i is not among the best camera phones available on the market. It is true, that the higher resolution makes up for many disadvantages. Yet, if we compare this model's pictures with those taken with Nokia 6630, which was a regular winner according to the readers' opinion, they just seem to lack something. All taken pictures are a little bit grey-shaded, sometimes the color balance did not come out right, and sometimes noise appears, even in good light conditions. But go on and make your own judgments. The pictures are taken with full resolution and are therefore somewhat bigger than usual.

As usual, everything depends on the subjective opinion. I assume some of you might like the pictures taken with Nokia 6230i more, the reason might be that the ones by Nokia do not feature such a strong image contrast.

The pictures taken with Nokia 6230i are always displayed on the left. To make the comparison easy, we offer the same scenes shot with Nokia 6630 on the right. Since the original pictures were much too big, we reduced the format to 600 pixels in height.

Zoom demonstration (as for 6630, we show average and maximum levels)

Against the light

Note the moiré on the light building

Neither of the two camera phones makes satisfactory macro photos

Indoor

Testing pattern

A twilight scene: the first line demonstrates the standard mode, the second one - the night mode

Some photos in full resolution

We have selected a few typical photos in full 1280×1024 resolution.

Lower speed?

The old Nokia 6230, with its instant reactions, is almost an unnaturally fast mobile phone. As for Nokia 6230i, it did not surprise me that much, and obviously, my impression is not subjective. The new model is also very fast, but I could immediately notice certain lags (when accessing the main menu, switching between items, opening the messages menu) and some bigger reaction delays (starting the camera, gallery opening).

The slowing down is recognizable on the Java speed test, measured with jBenchmark, as well:

• Nokia 6230: 1957 (1.0), 292 (2.0)
• Nokia 6230i: 1394 (1.0), 147 (2.0)

There is no doubt the phone's speed is influenced by the display's higher resolution. The latter has also affected the phone's overall environment. When in a stand-by mode, you will not recognize any other change, but the different font. The main menu is classically displayed in big tri-dimensional animated icons. At first sight, it looks as if the option for switching the menu to a matrix image has been abandoned. It has not. You can reach it by using the context key of the Main menu options. The icons themselves look quite chaotic on the pictured wallpaper.

Stand-by display and the complete main menu viewed in big icons

Another innovation offered by Nokia 6230i is the graphic themes support. There are seven different images in the original setup. In them you will find wallpaper, a menu background, an animated screensaver, which gets activated after certain time of inactivity (and can be deactivated from the menu), and color sets. The various types of wallpaper can be animated as well.

Themes menu • the menu, this time displayed on light background (the themes' broken relief sometimes debases their good graphic image) • option for setting up highlighted colors

Various themes

The caller's name is displayed in a frame - just like in the latest firmware versions of the old model - and therefore is easy to see on dark wallpaper. In addition, Nokia 6230i offers an extra option for choosing the text color, available in a stand-by mode. You can choose out of 35 colors. Try the poisonous green on dark background. It is impressive.

Innovation: text color selection on the main display

We have not demonstrated what the second level menu looks like yet

Something more on the phone calls

All the descriptions I make in this review are based on the last-year review of Nokia 6230. Except for several details I am going to expand on, everything is quite much the same. Besides, Nokia 6230i is a model of the commonly known Series 40, so I may repeat myself a lot.

The phone supports the 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz bands. The phone calls are loud enough. Nokia seems to have generally improved the sound. Moreover, there is a Sound improvement option in the context menu, which is said (see the user manual) to have influence onto the clarity of speech, especially in a loud environment. When I activated it, however, I did not notice any difference. As for the built-in handsfree, it is good and needs no special remarks.

Dialing telephone numbers on the display • dialing • receiving a phone call • missed call alert

Making phone calls, writing messages or taking pictures - altogether at the same time - is not a problem. There is a one-hour recording time in case you decide to record a phone call. The phone beeps every 5 seconds notifying this way the opposite side that it is being recorded.

Oh that synchronization!

The phonebook can store up to 1000 contacts. It is a multi-item one. Each name can be accompanied by up to five numbers and five text details (email, web address, street address, instant messaging ID, note and Push to talk address). If you attach a picture or a photograph to a name it will appear with the incoming call in the bottom right corner of the display.

Types of phone numbers • Text items; options

Searching in the phonebook is easy and fast. You need to only press the down-arrow from the stand-by mode and then enter the first letters of the names one by one.

Search in the phonebook • name detail

The phonebook can be viewed in four different ways on the display. They differ in font size, quantity of the displayed details and in the number of items that can be displayed simultaneously. The option Big phonebook is set for the users with not very good sight. It offers a huge font, which should be easily read by anyone. The Name and Picture option shows the photographs attached to the names. I myself use the most compact image, which shows five names on the display en bloc.

Setting up the phonebook options plus three different phonebook views

As for the synchronization of the phonebook with the computer - for example with Microsoft Outlook - apparently, Nokia has not solved the old problem with the first and last names' order. There is only one item assigned for both details and the synchronizing program files them in first name-last name order without any preliminary questions. I suppose I am not the only user who minds this system for I sometimes cannot remember the first names of certain people, especially when my contacts number hundreds. This aspect of the synchronizing program has been present for many years now, but Nokia has not made a resolution to change it yet.

Rings in MP3 and more

Names can be gathered into contact groups. There are no such in the phone's original setup, but they are easy to create. I created 15 groups, which did not burden the Nokia 6230i even a bit. By sorting the contacts by groups you can individualize those using different ringing melodies. A new option enabling picture attachments has also been created (earlier, a symbol was possible to attach or remove only). It also includes the use of attachments while call sorting. What Nokia does not allow for is the attachment of a specific ringtone straight to a name.

Group list • ringing profiles menu

Nokia 6230i supports a 64-voice polyphony, which improves the sound remarkably. The older model had "only" 24-voice ringtones. Plenty of formats could be found among the ringing tones: MID, AAC, NRT, AMR, and, of course, MP3. Thanks to the mp3 application you can use any piece of music as a ringing tone. Even with an MP3 file of several megabytes saved on the memory card, the sound has no lags and starts running right away.

Pre-installed ringing tones menu

The T9 dictionary has gone wrong

Nokia 6230i works with text, multimedia, email and instant messages. Now it also supports Push to talk.

Messages Menu

When setting up messages you can choose whether you want a smaller font size allowing for six lines to be displayed en bloc, or two bigger and less economical ones, which are easier to read. The editor has a character countdown option and states in how many parts the message is to be divided (max. 6 parts). Apparently, the phone's memory can take in up to 150 SMS, although Nokia traditionally does not state the memory capacity and makes do with the general formulation, that short messages use shared memory. All messages can be deleted at once. Moreover, the phone asks whether to delete all messages including the unread ones.

Three font sizes in the SMS editor • graphic smilies

Obviously, a new T9 dictionary has been installed in Nokia 6230i, which features a new complete-the-word function. In reality however, this option hardly ever works causing more problems than drawing benefits. I feel even sorrier for the insufficient vocabulary, which is a great disadvantage.

Email with attachments

Multimedia messages may include a picture, an audio clip, a video recording, a note from the calendar and a business card. One message can be divided into more pages, each of which can take in up to 1000 characters. A MMS can contain up to 300 KB.

Email client main menu

The email client is in Java again. This time, however, besides the internal phonebook, it also works with attachments. Unfortunately, Nokia has reduced the maximum size of the attachments, so a photograph in full megapixel resolution just does not fit in. What is worse: the camera is not able to set anything between that big format and a tiny picture. Even if the camera allows for various picture modifications, it always saves the final picture in the mini 195×156 pixels format. Accordingly, sending image attachments makes almost no sense.

I estimate the phone's memory is capable to take in around 50 emails. A smaller number is also possible to set. Messages are read from the latest to the oldest. The message body always opens straight away, so it is not possible to work with headers only to speed up the email checks.

MMS Editor • message preview

The Push to talk support is a new function for Nokia 6230i. When active, you need to just press the upper part of the double button placed on phone's left side. Its setting is very detailed and, to me, quite complicated to do.

Push to talk menu

An even better alarm clock

It has been some time already since Nokia started installing the repeated alarm, so I was not as surprised as last year. The alarm clock has a time setup option as well as a weekday setup option. It is able to wake you up with the traditional unpleasant beeps, but also with a ringing melody, a song in MP3 format or by switching on the radio. An utterly new option is the setup of the lag time of the repeated alarm clock, e.g. in how many minutes the alarm to go off again.

Organizer function menu • alarm clock setup

The calendar does not feature any changes. There is a well-organized weekly view, which appeared for the first time at the forerunner. The following types of events are available: negotiation, call, birthday, note and reminder. Their names speak clearly about the contents. A reminder or a repetition is possible to preset for each of the event entries. Calendar items can be sent forward in various ways: using the infrared port or Bluetooth, in a multimedia message, as a common text message or as an entry, directly into the calendar of the addressed phone.

Month and week view at the calendar • selected day detail • item types

Events are displayed in a separated event organizer either by priorities, or by dates. Each event can be assigned a priority, a date of accomplishing, a reminder; it can be copied and pasted into the calendar, and checked off when done. The phone is able to record up to 30 events.

Event organizer • priority settings

Notes can take in up to 3000 characters. Of great interest is the fact that notes synchronize with Microsoft Outlook. This way important texts can easily be downloaded into the phone; Nokia 6230i can store up to 20 such notes.

Note list • note text y

Synchronizing is implicitly possible between phone's calendar and event organizer, on one hand, and the organizing program in the computer, on the other. In the calendar synchronization applies to the subject, the date, the reminder and, newly, to the place of the appointment. No additional fields can be transferred.

The wallet serves for saving secret info. When used for the first time, it offers you an option to enter your own password which will prevent uninvited visitors from accessing its content.

Nokia's sound and music

Nokia 6230i is delivered with a set of common earphones, which serve for listening to multimedia files as well as a handsfree. Calls are managed by using the button on the cable.

I recorded a few pieces into the phone and compared the quality of the performed sound with that of the same mp3 files in Apple iPod. As I expected, the mobile phones are not devices meant to be used by audiophiles.

Menu stop • player environment • context menu • stand-by display when playing

The Nokia 6230i just can't compete with the iPod. Its sound lacks bass and is generally plain. A bit of a help is the built-in equalizer, so the phone suffices for occasional listening. 6230i can also play music through the loud speaker, but the sound is a regular rattling. The phone has a new option called "send sound", which works through Bluetooth. Sound can be sent to any of the supported devices, the earphones for example.

Equalizer options; manual setup available, in addition to the preset profiles

Nokia is currently developing a converter, which will allow connecting earphones with standard jack to the Pop-Port.

MP3 or AAC files can be saved onto the memory card. When the phone managed to display even the music files in the nested folders I rejoiced that the old Nokia 6230' problem had been eliminated. However, even though the phone displayed those files, it did not get them playing, so they had to be moved to the root directory. If you mean to seriously use Nokia 6230i as a music player, then you will need to buy a bigger card. The maximum capacity supported by the phone is 512 MB.

As for the built-in radio, unlike other Nokia phones, this one comes with a new Visual Radio function. The rest of the functions are the same as at the 6230 model. The radio works with attached earphones only, which also serve as antenna. Alike the MP3 files, stations can also be listened to through the loud speaker. The radio is stereophonic with a capacity for 20 selected stations in the range from 87.50 to 108.00 MHz to be saved into the memory. Both the radio and the MP3 player can play in background, so usual work with the phone does not get disturbed.

Radio’s environment • context menu • saving stations • main display while listening to the radio

Nokia has improved its Dictaphone, which is able to save a one-hour non-break recording. The music player, the radio and the sound recorder all have new graphic environments. Unfortunately, the legends' symbols do not fit onto the keys at all. I feel like testing a beta version. Yet, what we are really testing is phone's final version.

Internet: Bluetooth works

Nokia 6230i supports GPRS class 10, EDGE class 10 and HSCSD. Unfortunately, EDGE does not appear on the display when the phone is connected to the net, so it is impossible to say, if the connection is fast or slow. We have been informed that Nokia's developers have already started correcting that problem, so it should be fixed in the next firmware.

In the phone itself mobile data transfers are possible through email and WAP browser and can be used for streaming videos and for Push to talk. Never mind the fact that the data profiles setup is a bit more complicated than usual, everything worked perfectly and right off. Using the built-in browser you can also access common web pages and read them on the small display, provided they are in text format.

The phone gets connected to the computer through a USB cable, the infrared port or through Bluetooth. Bluetooth installed in Nokia 6230i supports all important profiles, including those working with cordless earphones: Headset and Handsfree.

Unlike the older model, this time I did not run against any difficulties when using the PC Suite software package. While earlier the connection was possible through infrared port only, with Nokia 6230i Bluetooth got started straight away. First thing I tried was to synchronize the phone with Outlook - the result however invoked my disappointment for I found out that the name sorting problem was still present.

I did not have difficulties with connecting the computer to the net through GPRS/EDGE either. The Bluetooth modem got installed immediately. Then I inserted the set-up string, entered the phone number and that was it. I stayed connected for about half an hour and no problems occurred. It was impossible to make a call with Nokia 6230i while transferring was active. But if you are not currently downloading, the phone is fully accessible. While downloading, I even managed to send a SMS from the computer to another mobile phone, using PC Suite through a Bluetooth connection. To sum up, the phone is usable while connected to internet; just do not press the red button for this will disconnect you from the net.

You can either download PC Suite from Internet, or use the version, installed onto the CD delivered with the phone. There are no innovations here.

Nokia 6230i offers three games of relatively good quality. Street Race is a car race; Golf Tour is surprisingly easy to play golf (different from what we are used to) and Backgammon, which is also possible to play in pairs using SMS.

Street Race • Backgammon

Golf

The java applications set also includes a converter, a world clock and a translator. The latter supports five languages.

Standard java applications menu

Let's not forget to mention the simple calculator, the stopwatch and the countdown timer.

Calculator • context menu • stopwatch

On the top, again

It is clear, that what we are now praising in the new 6230i model could have easily been introduced by Nokia already last year. I mean the bigger and finer display, the email with attachments, the option for connecting the memory card as hard drive - features, the absence of which the old model was blamed for a lot.

In some way or other, Nokia 6230i is one of the best present-day mobile phones. It has almost everything! Our reproaches are directed mainly at the T9 dictionary, which is really bad this time, and to the phonebook sorting after synchronization. And that is it. The rest is more or less bits and pieces.

Nokia 6230i offers elaborated call functions and message work; it is excellent as far as data communication is concerned and goes among the best mobile phones, which offer work with music and multimedia.

Nokia 6230i' biggest competitor will be the oncoming Sony Ericsson K750i, which will hit the market within two months. It is also comparable with the S700 and K700 models as well as with the smartphones, which however are in a different category.