Nokia 6555 review: 3G with a flip

Flawless organization

With Nokia 6555 we have the usual decent S40 organization functionality. Monthly, weekly and daily views are available for the calendar. There are five types of events to set: reminder, meeting, call, birthday and memo. Further, each type of event has its own specific fields like start and end time, type of alert with various advance intervals, daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly repetition.

Organizer menu • month, week and day view of the calendar

There is also a handy to-do manager that enables you to categorize tasks in three priority levels. Tasks can be alerted of, as well as marked off once accomplished. They are easily synced with the calendar application. Text notes are available as well; their length is limited to 3000 characters.

Alarm clock • To Do list • text note • calculator

The other organizing applications are a voice recorder with a 60-minute limit, stopwatch, countdown timer and a simple calculator.

World time application • stopwatch with mean times

Applications

Nokia 6555 offers a preinstalled a currency converter, a world time application, Opera Mini browser, along with the Yahoo search and Yahoo Go applications. The Download application connects you directly to Nokia's download center, where you can find a lot of content for you phone. Presenter allows you to remotely control PC applications from your device via Bluetooth, provided the Nokia Presenter application is installed on the computer before pairing.

MP3 yes, radio no

The multimedia capabilities of Nokia 6555 are identical to other Series 40 5th edition handsets. The unpleasant surprise is the absence of an FM radio. The music player is the enhanced version offering customization through selectable skins. Playing in the background is traditionally available, sorting tracks by artist, album and genre is supported too. The player works with MP3, AAC, AAC+ and WMA formats. Several equalizer presets are at hand, along with a stereo expansion function. The music player interface displays on the external screen when the flip is closed but user control is limited to adjusting the volume by way of the side volume rocker.

Playing video • equalizer presets

The video player supports the 3GP and MP4 formats. Fullscreen viewing is available, along with fast-forward and rewind. Streaming video is supported too.

No headset was available with our test unit. What you get in the retail box is region specific, and ours didn't include headphones. Bluetooth with A2DP support allows using a stereo wireless headset with your Nokia 6555.

Preinstalled games

The entertainment options are concluded with the four preinstalled games: Rally 3D, Gold Tour, Soccer 3D and Sudoku.

Data and connectivity

In terms of data transfers Nokia 6555 is a more than decent performer. GPRS and EDGE are reinforced by UMTS support with maximum transfer speed of 384 kbps. Nokia PC Suite connectivity over USB and Bluetooth is available too and Mass Storage is enabled. Memory card support of up to 4GB is another valuable alternative but, again, no card is shipped with the phone. Another notable absence in the retail box is the data cable. Nokia 6555 employs the microUSB variety. There's no Infrared port.

Opera Mini is here • WAP browsing and menu

The browsing capabilities of Nokia 6555 include WAP 2.0 and xHTML. Adjustable font size is routinely available. When the smallest font size is set, up to 14 lines of text fit on the display. Direct address entering is available too.

Looks and 3G

The midrange clamshell Nokia 6555 offers standard equipment and above-its-class elegance. Other than the looks, the two quality screens and the comfortable keypad are indisputable advantages. As to functionality, there are no surprises. But then, the price tag promises none. The downright drawbacks are the lack of FM radio, the 1.3 megapixel camera and the thrifty retail box.

"...The midrange clamshell Nokia 6555 offers standard equipment and above-its-class elegance. Other than the looks, the two quality screens and the comfortable keypad are indisputable advantages. The downright drawbacks are the lack of FM radio, the 1.3 megapixel camera and the thrifty retail box..."

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Today's market seems flooded with handsets of similar functionality, so Nokia 6555 is in for a challenge. The clamshell design and the attractive looks will be the key features to set it apart. Even inside the Nokia family, it will be facing serious competition. Nokia 6131 continues to enjoy good demand, while 6267 offers a 2MP camera with LED flash, music player controls on the flip, video calling, VGA video recording and FM radio. It does lack however the finesse of Nokia 6555.

Nokia 6267: better equipment, less style

Nokia 6555 is already available in all of its color versions. Maybe underpowered here and there, Nokia 6555 still has the attraction of affordability, style and 3G.