Nokia 6290 - a cutting edge smartphone at half the price?

[slitchfield]

In a superbly long and detailed review, Krisse reports on a few weeks spent with the very latest Nokia S60 clamshell, the 6290. Marketed as a feature phone, the 6290 shares many of the specs of its Nseries cousins. Are there any gotchas? Krisse also reports on the integration with Nokia Video Manager and on the new features in S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1.

Read on in the full article.

[krisse]

Incidentally, if anyone has any questions about the 6290, please post them here and I'll try to answer them. :-)

[nj7]

Good phone, at (finally) fair price

[SymFranco]

Dear Steve,
thanks for the good overview and congrats for your excellent job, as always.
Do I read correctly that S60 3rd edition, feature pack 1, now supports a folded structure of files and folders? Will the E90 offer it, then?
Could you please provide more info and comments?
If so, I found this a very important - and hardly one not too soon - development for the descendant of Epoc of Psion lore!
Kind regards.

First, exellent review Krisse!

1. Does Smart2go work on this phone?

2. Is there any countdown timer?

3. In the review you say that Nokia Music Manager now includes automatic track recognition, but that dosen't work for me. I have an 6680, is that why?

4. How is the video quality compaired to SmartMovie?

[krisse]

"Do I read correctly that S60 3rd edition, feature pack 1, now supports a folded structure of files and folders?"

FP1 supports user-created folders and sub-folders (and sub-sub-folders, sub-sub-sub-folders etc) in the User Interface, exactly like Microsoft Windows. You can create new folders at any level, and move any icon to any folder at any level.


"Will the E90 offer it, then?"

Yes, it runs FP1.


"Does Smart2go work on this phone?"

I don't know. I can't test the navigation as I don't have a GPS unit, but I will try installing the software later today and reply on here about how it goes.


"In the review you say that Nokia Music Manager now includes automatic track recognition, but that dosen't work for me. I have an 6680, is that why?"

Have you downloaded the latest version of Nokia Music Manager and PC Suite? The older versions don't have track recognition.

http://www.nokia.com/A4144903

If you have the latest versions, the recognition should happen automatically, but if it doesn't try going to the NMM's options menu and click on Get CD Info.

The model of phone you own makes no difference as the NMM software works entirely on your PC.


"How is the video quality compaired to SmartMovie?"

I'd say the Nokia Video Manager quality is about the same as SmartMovie, although I didn't have SmartMovie installed on the 6290 so it's difficult to make a direct comparison.

Krisse,

I have PC suite 6.83.14.1 ( swedish version ) and the version of Music Manager is v. 2.0. On the options menu there isn't any Get CD Info option.

[krisse]

"I have PC suite 6.83.14.1 ( swedish version ) and the version of Music Manager is v. 2.0. On the options menu there isn't any Get CD Info option."

Weird! I too have those versions, and I have the "Get CD Info" option.

How is this possible? Anyone have any ideas?

The only thing I can think of is that I attached the 6290 shortly after upgrading the software. Could the 6290's presence have activated new functions in Nokia Music Manager?

Alternatively, maybe Nokia is rolling this service out country by country, and it isn't available in Sweden yet?

[jukkaeklund]

Landscape works fine already on FP1 but it depends on the device (does the display allow landscape mode). See for example N95 and N76.

[krisse]

"Landscape works fine already on FP1 but it depends on the device (does the display allow landscape mode). See for example N95 and N76."

You mean horizontal mode is already in FP1, but the manufacturer might not implement it?

[krisse]

In case anyone missed it, I've done a 10 minute video of the 6290 in action. You can find it at this URL:

http://www.neoncherry.com/gadgetpict...?article_id=10


jonek,

I've just tried it and Smart2go installs and runs on the 6290, however I don't have a bluetooth GPS unit so I can't test this aspect of the software.

Steve or Rafe may be able to test the 6290 with GPS at some point in the future.

Thanks for trying that out for me. :-)

[mobilefan]

Hi,
Great video of the 6290!

Would like to know if the 6290 has full screen caller id?
Is it possible to make phone calls via bluetooth with the phone closed?
Also I read that a user hears a high pitched noise in the earpiece during regular phone calls. Any comments about this?

Thanks for your help

just got mine at http://www.popularelect.com/

[krisse]

"Would like to know if the 6290 has full screen caller id? "

Do you mean a full screen picture of the person calling?


"Is it possible to make phone calls via bluetooth with the phone closed?"

I don't know, I don't have a bluetooth headset right now. I assume you can though, as the wired headset lets you answer calls with the phone closed.


"Also I read that a user hears a high pitched noise in the earpiece during regular phone calls. Any comments about this?"

I had no such problems at all, it handled calls absolutely perfectly. In fact I didn't get any noise problems at all from the 6290.

The 6290 has only just become available in retail, so it's possible those comments are about the pre-production prototypes.

It's also possible that the noise comes from network problems rather than handset problems.