Nokia 6280 review

Phone calls: a broad range of useful hints

Pros: top-quality sound • video calls • caller displayed in a big window • standard ringtone option can be substituted by video • big font size option in the phonebook • once synchronized the phonebook can be ordered by last name • intelligent voice dialing

Cons: loud vibration • phonebook fits in no more than 500 contacts

Nokia 6280 is a triband phone, so it works in the following three bands: 900, 1800 and 1 900 MHz. It also supports WCDMA 2100 and GPRS/EDGE. Incoming calls are accepted by pressing a corresponding button or by opening the device (the latter option can be deactivated, if necessary). Ringing is deactivated through a key press. I would like to commend Nokia for the brilliant sound of 6280. It is excellent, no matter whether it comes out of the earphones, or the loud speaker. It is pleasant and loud enough, with clear bass components. Certain slight distortion can only be noted when volume is set to maximum. Calls are terminated likewise - either by a key press, or by closing the device. Call records are limited to one hour.

Entering a phone number • dialing

The presence of the 3G icon on the display is a signal that you can start a video call. Video calls are controlled in a standard way: your call partner appears in a large window, while you see yourself in a small one. You can select, whether sound should be played through the receiver or through the speaker. Picture transmission is a subject to cancellation. I did not manage to use the main camera located on the rear side of the device though. Nokia 6280's tiny camera transmits video of quite decent quality, better than the one demonstrated by Nokia N70, for example.

Video call

If you attach a picture to a certain contact, it remains on the display during the entire call. If it is you who initiates the call, the person on the other side appears in a tiny icon, which goes away afterwards. In case of an incoming call, caller's image appears across the entire screen, with the state bars and the name or the number of the caller being visible too. Incoming calls as well as contacts in general can also be indicated with a video. The latter is played in a full-screen mode, occupying approximately 2/3 of the display. Unfortunately, video sound is not possible to substitute with a standard ringing melody.

Nokia 6280 supports 64-voice polyphony. Yet, ringing in MP3, AAC or other "real" format is still more attractive. The sound is loud enough and has good quality. As expected, the phone offers vibrating alert. However, it is so strong that it makes movable parts of the handset shake so hard, that it almost outvoices classical ringing. In other words, vibration could in no case be considered a discrete alternative of standard ringing melodies.

The number of missed calls appears in a window on the main display. Select it to get into the relevant menu. Here all calls made by one and the same caller are gathered under the cap of a single item, which is accompanied by the date and the time of the last made try. Saved dialed and received calls are organized in a similar way. Each viewed item stores the last 20 calls.

 
View at calls menu items • dialed numbers

In addition, Nokia offers a comprehensive Call menu, in which all types of calls are chronologically ordered, including all multiple tries. What's more, in this phone you will find an item called "Message recipients", which stores names or numbers, to which messages have been recently sent. Nokia 6280 is also equipped with a "Message counter", which counts up sent and received SMS and MMS on four lines.

Whom did I send SMS • how many of them did I send?

Phonebook: ordered by last name

One of the major disappointments in Nokia 6280 may turn to be its phonebook. It all depends on how many contacts you will need to store in it. If you keep no more than 500 names through the entire life of your phone, then you can be satisfied. But if you need more capacity, then you should forget about Nokia 6280 and start looking for another mobile phone. What I do not understand is why Nokia has decided to use such a limited capacity since it has already shown its skills in designing phonebooks with 1000 contacts (see Nokia 6230 and 6230i models).

The easiest access to the phonebook is by pressing the downward key, unless you have assigned a different function to this key. The contact list can be viewed in three possible forms: standard list, combination of a big-font name and a number, and combination of a name and a picture attached to it. The phonebook is searched by gradual writing of the initial name characters. It is praiseworthy that Nokia has finally corrected one of the drawbacks, which have dragged along with all its models (except for smartphones and communicators) since the moment of the first synchronization between mobiles and PC, which is phonebook organization by first name only. In Nokia 6280 first and last names are separated into two different items, so the user can choose, whether phonebook should be organized and searched by first name or by last name.

Middle font size in the phonebook • big font size • number assignment • picture asignment

Each contact in the phonebook can be assigned as many as 16 fields, including five different numbers, various addresses and other text details. Each contact can be additionally accompanied by a picture, a video record, and a ringing melody of its own.

Contact details

If any of you feel uncomfortable with available contact customization, you may want to first locate the contact into a certain group and then assign a ringing melody and a picture to this group. However, in this case priority is given to individual setup of each contact. Groups can be set to work with ringing profiles as well. Here you can determine which group should be able to reach you and which one should remain silent. Inside the profiles application you will find setup options for various characteristics: type of ringing, melody (common calls and video calls are separated), loudness, vibration, sounds to be applied in Push to talk and in messages, as well as the type of sound response of the keypad. In addition, Nokia 6280 offers the so called timed profiles, which switch-back automatically.

Setting up ringing profiles

Nokia 6280 offers voice dialing. To activate it press the corresponding key and pronounce the name of the person you are about to call. You do not need to teach the phone. The phone recognizes information that has been delivered to it, repeats it in a robot voice and starts dialing. Besides, Nokia 6280 goes further. Inside the language setup options you can even select your language in accordance with the accent, with which words should be pronounced by mobile's electronic voice. Furthermore, the phone accepts voice orders for activation of several additional functions, once again without any necessity to be taught in advance.

Numerical keys from 3 to 9 can be converted into shortcut ones. Key 1 is reserved for voice mailbox, while key 2 is prepared for a box that is meant to serve video calls. A press-hold on the zero key opens the internet browser.