Nokia 6220 classic review: Sharp-witted shooter

We can call the Nokia 6220 classic an attempt to regain some 5 megapixel ground. The compact smartphone carries some serious imaging power. Xenon flash, active lens cover, VGA video @ 30 fps and TV-out do sound exciting, don't they? It would've been all too easy but that's not all Nokia 6220 classic is about. One of the most compact bodies in the Symbian realm squeezes in GPS, HSDPA and Feature Pack 2 for a truly ornate UI. The new classic sure has a range of skills, now let's see if it has the guts for the job.

Nokia 6220 classic official photos

Key features

• 2.2" 16M-color display of QVGA resolution
• Symbian 9.3 OS, S60 3.2 UI
• ARM 11 369 MHz CPU and 128 MB of RAM
• 5 megapixel camera with active lens cover and xenon flash
• 3G with HSDPA support
• Quad-band GSM support
• Built-in GPS with A-GPS support
• Compact and lightweight body
• 120 MB user memory
• microSD card slot, up to 8GB cards supported
• FM radio with RDS
• TV-out
• Document viewer
• USB and Bluetooth v2.0
• More visual enhancements to the UI than any other S60 handset we've seen
• Nokia Maps comes with three months free turn-by-turn navigation license

Main disadvantages

• No Wi-Fi
• Xenon flash placed under the lens
• Uncomfortable shutter key
• Cheap-looking keypad, and we mean dirty cheap
• Display could have been bigger

Nokia 6220 classic is a Symbian all-rounder, which takes photography seriously. The xenon flash, the active lens cover and the best implementation of the S60 user interface are possibly its strongest selling points. The inexpensive price tag makes it really hard to compete with (around 260 euro or 380 US dollars at the time of writing).

Virtually no device with similar features is able to beat the 6220 classic offer. There is one weak spot though, so the competition isn't utterly disheartened: the lack of Wi-Fi can break a deal or two even if everything else seems perfect.

Nokia 6220 classic views

If not a rival, Nokia N82 is surely an alternative, though obviously a pricey one. For the extra bucks you get a larger display and of course the precious WLAN we just mentioned. N82 however lacks the FP2, so you're short of the nice menu animations and transition effects in the 6220 classic.

Nokia N82

If you are into UIQ, Sony Ericsson G900 might be the one to look at. It brings WLAN and a 2.4" display but lacks xenon flash. The display of the Sony Ericsson may not be a match for the Nokia 6220 classic but the touchscreen opens the door to the unique camera touch focusing in exchange.

Sony Ericsson G900

Finally, Samsung G810 comes to mind. The 2008 EISA award winner for photography phone has 3x optical zoom and a larger screen. It does however cost quite a lot more and is incomparably bigger. Besides, it's limited to Feature Pack 1.

Samsung G810

So, having strayed, for a while we're back to our lab shortly. The 6220 classic is unboxed, weighed up and examined after the jump.