In a nutshell: The Nokia 6600 Fold is a very attractive
clamshell phone. With an invisible outer display that lights up
when you tap it, and an electromagnetic opening mechanism that opens
the fold automatically, it's definitely not a run of the mill phone,
but is a little but special. You'll find that it includes the full
range of features that you'd expect: a 2 megapixel camera, 3G video
calling, a stereo music player, an FM radio, Bluetooth and support
for memory cards up to 4GB. But the reliability of this phone is
very poor, and we'd suggest that you avoid it. Best buy: *Free* with a free Nintendo Wii from Mobiles.co.uk
or free from Three
(Black).
Review:
October 2008. Updated June 2009.
The Nokia 6600 Fold is a mid-range 3G clamshell
phone that fell into Nokia's "Cool & Funky" department
on the way to the production line. As a result, it got the full
Cool & Funky treatment, and you should buy it if you like to
be surprised by your mobile. For starters, the outer display is
invisible and comes to life when you tap it twice. It then lights
up to show the time, and display messages and missed calls. You
can also tap the display to reject calls. That's cool. Now press
a special key, and the phone swings open gracefully, like one of
those new kitchen drawers from Magnet. That's the funky bit.
The phone's very compact, although it's quite heavy,
weighing in at 110g (what on earth do Nokia put in their clamshells
to make them so heavy? Certainly not a powerful battery, as this
one is just average.) Open it up (love pressing that button!) and
the phone reveals a surprisingly normal and usable keypad and a
compact, but very well defined LCD display. We were kind of expecting
a jack in the box to leap out at us, or something equally wacky.
But there's nothing wacky, just a very high quality OLED display
with 16 million colours and 240 x 320 pixels. Stunning. When opened,
the phone fits snugly in the palm of your hand, and feels just right.
The weight and metallic finish lend a feeling of quality, and the
keypad and balance are just right for texting.
The 6600 Fold has the features that you'd expect
from a mid-range 3G phone. The camera is rated at 2 megapixels,
and has a double LED flash. It's lacking autofocus, which is a shame,
but can take some decent photos in reasonable lighting conditions.
It can also record video at VGA resolution (0.3 megapixels) and
15 frames per second. It's an average quality camera for this price
range. The phone can also make video calls using a secondary camera
on the inside of the clam.
The 6600 Fold is great for music, with a stereo
digital music player that can play not just MP3 tracks, but also
WMA, AAC, AAC+ and eAAC+. A stereo FM radio is also built into the
phone. There's no 3.5mm headphone jack, so you can't plug in your
own headphones, but the 2.5mm headphone jack will accept Nokia headphones,
and a Nokia Stereo Headset WH-501 is included in the sales package.
If you prefer, you can use a wireless Bluetooth stereo headset instead.
The built-in memory of 15 Mbytes won't get you very far at all,
but you can fit around 100 - 150 songs on the 512 MB microSD
memory card included, or you can expand the storage to a 4GB
card, which will be enough for 1,000 songs or more.
Connectivity is good, with support for Bluetooth
2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) and a micro USB connection too.
You can send messages via SMS or MMS, as well
as email or the Audio messaging service for sending voice clips
over-the-air. The 6600 Fold has a web browser (Opera Mini browser)
and also has the Nokia Mini Map browser with the Nokia Maps application,
although it doesn't support GPS. Battery life seems about average.
But this is where the good stuff stops, because
the 6600 Fold is not a reliable phone. The auto-open mechanism that
gives you hours of fun when you first start using it often seems
to stop working after a while, and our users have reported a variety
of ways in which their 6600 Fold has broken. But just as common
is the number of reports of phones freezing or switching off, either
when using the keypad or in the middle of a call. How annoying is
that? On balance, we'd have to say that this is one to avoid.
Features of the Nokia 6600 Fold include:
2 megapixel camera with double LED flash and
8x digital zoom
Video camera (VGA, 15 fps / QVGA, 30 fps) with
4x digital zoom
3G video calling (VGA resolution)
Display: OLED, 16.7 million colours, 320 x 240
pixels (2.1 inches)
Music player (MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, and WMA
formats)
xHTML web browser (Opera Mini browser), Nokia
Mini Map browser, Adobe Flash Lite 3.0
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, micro
USB 2.0, 2.5mm headset socket
Memory: 15 Mbytes plus microSD memory card slot
(expandable to 4 Gbytes)
Quadband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) plus dual band
3G (WCDMA 850/2100)
Size: 88 x 44 x 16 mm
Weight: 110g
Talktime: 4 hours
Battery standby: 300 hours
Nokia 6600
Fold Consumer Reviews
Love
your mobile? Hate it? Please share your experiences to help other
people choose the phone that's best for them. Please do not review
this phone if you have not used it. This is a review site, not a
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Average
rating from 51 reviews:
Reviewed by Gary Lyons from Ireland
on 30th Jun 2009
This phone is excruciatingly irritating.... It will not ring for
longer than 3 seconds, it will not vibrate for longer than 3 seconds,
as a result your phone bill will soar as you have to call everyone
who calls you back, as you will miss their call. 3 are useless,
offering to repair it, Mine was faulty from minute one, NOT GOOD
ENOUGH 3! The phone will only 'glide open' approximately 50% of
the time, never when your other hand is busy elsewhere..... one
out of ten, normally a great advocate of Nokia phones, but this
is a lemon....... Rating:
Reviewed by Dan from UK on 23rd
Jun 2009
Nice looking, good size, solid feel, features listed seem good.
But tell me, wha'ts the point if it crashes everytime you type your
pin in? or everytime you send a text? or everytime you dial a number?
Exaggerating? - - - not at all! Unless you can guarantee that during
the whole ownership of a 6600 fold, you will never touch the "6"
key, don't buy it. It seems to be an issue affecting lots of people
according to the Nokia forums. Pressing the 6 key results in the
phone freezing and then you have to take out the battery to restart
it. Then it does it again. And again. And again. Right until you've
owned it for less than a day and send it back. Bad work Nokia, very
shabby indeed. Rating:
Reviewed by Mick from United Kingdom
on 20th Jun 2009
Within 3 weeks of purchasing this phone the black centre "NAVI"
scroll key started to crack and break up, Upon taking it back to
the shop they sent me to a Nokia Care Point, Having explained that
the phone was less than 3 weeks old & under waranty they still wanted
to charge £27.80 plus parts plus VAT to do the repair, Upon pointing
out the phone was under waranty I was told it was Nokia's policy
to charge regardless. I then took it back to the shop who sent it
away for repair, The repair was done but only lasted 5 weeks and
exactly the same thing has happened so I can only assume that this
is a general problem with this handset, the rest of the phone is
good but Nokia service is rubbish, NOT IMPRESSED!!! Rating:
Reviewed by Emma from UK on 4th
Jun 2009
Had to send it in for repair twice so far as when the phone recieves
a call it only rings for a few seconds then diverts to answer phone
or switches to silent which is slightly inconvenient!!! Also the
volume is also too low. Although my phone is obviously faulty 3
wont take it back, would definately not recommend this phone! Rating:
Reviewed by Sealy from UK on
1st Jun 2009
Wanted a small phone to take on a stag do (instead of my iPhone)
and the battery lasted 4 days without a problem. No problems with
camera or texting..... The screen is a little hard to read in bright
sunlight but that shouldn't be as we only have sun for 5 days a
year in the UK. Rating:
Reviewed by james from england on
31st May 2009
just bought new on e bay , lovely quality feel to it , easy to use
key pad , camera is good easy to use as are most of the phones functions,far
better and easier to use than those small fiddly keys on much costlier
phones,for a good quality mid ranged phone ,better look on e bay
i did and saved £90 on its usual price . Rating:
Reviewed by gaz from united kingdom
on 29th May 2009
will not work outside, screen always black till you warm it up in
your hand a real pain Rating:
Reviewed by Sara from UAE on
22nd May 2009
I bought my 6600 fold 4 months ago and for the last month have not
been able to take any pix. When I turn on the camera all it says
is standby....it turns out that i am not the only one facing this
problem. There are a number of people with the same issue. Very
disappointed because i spent a lot of money on this. Beware....... Rating:
Reviewed by Gemma from UK on
9th May 2009
I have had the same problem with the phone with it sticking on mno
and it turning to the number 6 and then completely freezing where
you can do no more with the phone. O2 have so far said that it may
just be becuase I have changed tariff but now I know it is an ongoing
issue with other people I will be phoning O2 tomorrow and wanting
another phone! Thanks people! Rating:
Reviewed by louise from uk on
27th Apr 2009
have had 3 of these phones over the last 3 weeks, It may be a good
phone but every one has had the same problem in that when texting
using predictive mode, typing in words needing "mno" more than once
or twice causes a 6 to come up on the screen and the phone to freeze,
have now given up and am looking for an alternative Rating:
Reviewed by mandy b from england on
20th Apr 2009
got this phone on the 13thmarch 2009 and from the minute i got it
out the box i was in love with it have never had a problem with
this phone as yet and had it just over a month. Rating:
Reviewed by angelle from philippines
on 17th Apr 2009
I think it's a great phone! I just bought it 4days ago. I've read
some negative comments and I think your cellphones might have a
problem. 'Cause mine's working well. Anyway,this is one of the best
phones I've had. And oh. The color's awesome! Rating:
Reviewed by Amelia from uk on
14th Apr 2009
hi i think the nokia fold is good because not only douse it look
good it operates good too. My brothers just got old FOR FREE and
is annoying me with it......he thinks its FAB! Rating:
Reviewed by Kevin from Australia on
13th Apr 2009
Good phone for looks and slim enough to just slip in your pocket.
Major problem is that it turns itself off frequently, sometimes
in the middle of a call which is very frustrating. Seems to be something
with the battery. The charge indicator shows 100% green but it only
lasts 1 day max. with no calls. Also goes weird occasionally with
screen flashing and can't use. I take the battery out and count
to 20 and that fixes it. Back comes off easily with a thumb-nail
under the top corners. Overall am very disppointed with this phone.
Rating:
Reviewed by mitra from iran on
10th Apr 2009
its very good and i am satisfied fro 6600 fold. Rating:
Reviewed by moira moore from scotland
on 6th Apr 2009
loved the look of this phone but right away it would freeze when
texting any number 6 would appear. you had to switch phone off before
you could sort the problem out Rating:
Reviewed by Phil Hudson from England
on 5th Apr 2009
Screen view is great indoors,outside impossible to see,clock appears
only sometimes when it feels like it,rings once then goes to silent
all on its own.all in all its a naff phone, I much prefer LG,looking
for a viewty to replace this piece of junk. Rating:
Reviewed by raouf from libya on
30th Mar 2009
i have nokia 6600 fold put dont good for blototh and cable usb Rating:
Reviewed by Rebekah from Australia on
30th Mar 2009
How do you get the back off this stupid phone? Typical Nokia rubbish
that it this bit is the hardest part to operate. I hate Nokia. Rating:
Reviewed by Linda Harris from United
Kingdom on 28th Mar 2009
This is a good little phone however the maps that are incorporated
into the SD card only worked for a couple of days!!! The technology
on the phone however is good and would recommend it if you are looking
for something a bit different. Mine has frozen on a couple of occasions
so will see if that get worse or stops. Rating:
Reviewed by Cheetah from Australia on
19th Mar 2009
i try to open the back of my Nokia 660 flip phone to insert sim
card - i have absolutely no success. Rating:
Reviewed by sarah from Wales on
15th Mar 2009
I have recently upgraded to the Nokia 6600 Fold. I was looking for
a phone which : 1. I could look at for the next 18 months without
wanting to throw it at the wall 2. Im not that interested in gadgets,
I have a camera so that is not something I look for, and I have
a MP3 player so again...I was really looking for something that
I could text and call easily. Personally I think the phone is fantastic
for those purposes. If you are looking for a good camera or music
player, or something with lots of functions then no...you should
probably get a different phone..but if your like me and just want
something that looks nice and works well then its great. I agree
the battery power is magnificent but shouldnt prove too much of
a problem if you have somewhere to charge it. The quirky tapping
also works fine especially good for the snooze in the morning! Rating:
Reviewed by Amit from India on
27th Feb 2009
BEST PHONE FOR DAY TO DAY USE Rating:
Reviewed by rafferty from uk on
27th Feb 2009
like the phone but i have to charge it up every other day ,dissapointing
as i do not use it that much . Rating:
Reviewed by Ray from Belgium on
20th Feb 2009
Nice mobile but poor software, hope it will be soon upgraded: when
you activate opening to answer, suddenly you hear talking by incoming
call while writing a sms ! stupid & unfair, as all Nokia mobiles,
the battery goes fast down: 2 days, 3 if u've no call !!! Rating:
Reviewed by Ellie from UK on
18th Feb 2009
I'm on my third one of these in 3 months. It's so pretty, I love
the design but it's unreliable. First one the screen went black,
second would not charge, now the opening function is faulty and
the battery lasts just 24 hours (that is 5 texts). Why are Nokia
batteries so rubbish? And I agree the central buttons are hard to
navigate. It could have been the best phone ever. Rating:
Reviewed by Richard from uk on
5th Feb 2009
great phone, good at all and looks fantastic. Rating:
Reviewed by Robert from Wales on
30th Jan 2009
My decision to get this particular phone was based on, wanting a
nice up to date mobile phone for bluetooth compatibility & to be
legal when driving (pairing with Supertooth v.easy) I’m not
particularly interested in gizmos – camera/MP3 etc I wanted
a mobile that looked nice in design (wanted a fold rather than slide)
& size for my shirt pocket at work. It does what I want for a mobile,
phone call & text what more could you want? Rating:
Reviewed by noora from saudi arabia
on 18th Jan 2009
Nokia 6600 Fold vey bad phone i have had it for just a few days
and it turned to silent there is no voice at all whether the keys
nor the ringing tones the worest nokia phone i have ever seen Rating:
Reviewed by karl from uk on 11th
Jan 2009
I've only had this phone for a couple of days and i hate it? After
owning at least 10 differant models of Nokia phones this has to
be the worste! Texting is an absolute nightmare...The jogging key
and center key are almost perfctly flush and its very difficult
to press the stell centre button without catchng the outer jog button
at the same time.. really annoying and causing my messages to take
much longer than they normally would and if you open the menu screen
and try to choose an option..more often than not you catch the outer
button and end up on the wrong icon..same when rying tosend a text. Rating:
Reviewed by kazza from cyprus on
11th Jan 2009
Hello Mowie in UK. I lost the pouch that came with my phone and
i liked it very much. Can i have yours please? I will buy it off
you? I have been having a few probs with the phone; sometimes wont
open and often switches itself off im mid call (makes underwater
sounds then screen goes blank). Otherwise i love the colour (purple),
size, size of font etc and buttons. Usual user friendly Nokia :) Rating:
Reviewed by Emily from UK on
8th Jan 2009
i got this phone about four months ago and had no problems ... until
it started freezing and wouldn't work at all. impressed with it
when it worked except for the no volume button and perhaps the fact
that its a bit on the heavy side Rating:
Reviewed by Chris from Uk on
8th Jan 2009
Had this phone for around 2 months and it broke! Its a nice looking
phone, small and looks smart, but after a while the mechanism went
and I had to open it maually and the screen cracked! Plus in the
sun I couldnt see the screen and you could see all your finger prints,I
had to keep cleaning it with was a pain in the ass after a while! Rating:
Reviewed by Emily from England on
31st Dec 2008
got this phone a few months ago, no faults apart from not having
volume keys.Other than that no problems whatsoever, really nice
phone, looks great, havent had any problems with the mechanism,
maybe your finger or thumb is holding down the lid by accident..??
Rating:
Reviewed by Amr from Egypt on
20th Dec 2008
I got this phone five days ago. It's a good phone, but the price
in my ocountry is very high compareing with the options of the phone
. The battery life is bad, about 1 ~ 1.5 h talking time. The loud
speaker is not so high . It's a great phone for someone who likes
fashion and don't talk in the mob. much. Rating:
Reviewed by Deb from Uk on 17th
Dec 2008
Excellent handset, lovely build quality, beautiful to look at, switch
voice clairty on and get used to the auto opener and your away.
If you want a stylish yet practical handset this is the one. Love
it. Rating:
Reviewed by Sid from England on
26th Nov 2008
This is an excellent phone. There's nothing wrong with the flip
or the double tapping and it looks incredibly slick. Rating:
Reviewed by samy ulu from cyprus on
17th Nov 2008
i have been using this phone for a week.. the best design i have
ever seen..but the call quality is very very poor. you can hardly
understand who you are speaking to.. yes my settings are ok, and
the volume is the highest.. trust me people, and DON'T buy this
phone... you don't trust me? well, check it from www.cnet.com.au Rating:
Reviewed by aidanheff33@yahoo.ie from
ireland on 19th Oct 2008
good reception. clear voices. fits smugly into hand. browsing is
a doddle, fast and clear. but...the opening press-button is on the
WRONG side for me! I would rather have it at my thumb. it is very
awkard to press with the long finger! still, a great phone...if
i could only get that auto opener to auto! Rating:
Reviewed by Mowie from UK on
13th Oct 2008
I’ve only had my 6600 (purple) for a few days, but just some
early-doors feedback: The issue of the auto-open NOT auto-opening,
on a fairly regular basis, doesn’t seem to be an isolated
problem, as it is already happening with my phone. I’m starting
to get pretty irritated with regularly seeing the ‘Open Fold
Manually’ instruction, when the auto-open is a key selling
point of this model. Moreover, probably due to its having been designed
to auto-flip, manual opening is actually quite a challenge of dexterity,
and if you aren’t in possession of reasonably long fingernails
(or don’t mind breaking the odd one if you are,) it’s
a very fiddly operation; particularly annoying when you have programmed
your phone to answer calls on opening, and they continue to ring
merrily while you are struggling to open your 6600 when the one-hand,
‘smooth & easy’ auto-open hasn’t smoothly and
easily auto-opened. Again. That niggle aside, though, the phone
is an aesthetic and tactile gem (though not sure of the design reasoning
behind choosing to have a rather cheap & plasticky central key column,
including the all-important navigator button, which seem a bit of
an anomaly against the smooth loveliness of the others, but no matter).
I’ve read some gripes about the camera only being 2MP, but
for me, the quality for ad hoc snaps is absolutely fine. If I want
ultra high grade photos, I’ll use an ultra high grade camera
– I don’t subscribe to the school of thought that insists
a phone does everything including making your morning coffee and
controlling the central heating – it’s a phone ffs.
Call connection seems fine – no ‘hangs’ thus far,
and being back in the arms of logical Nokia texting is a sweet relief
(after misguidedly straying to the bizarre user-unfriendliness that
is Motorola texting for 18 months – never again, now that
Nokia appear to have regained some lost ground in the sleek clamshell
market). The phone comes with a protective pouch, which I think
is going to be essential for keeping the scratches at bay from the
gorgeousness of the exterior for as long as possible, but you’re
likely to need to obtain a new soft-sock style pouch separately,
as though the one supplied is sturdy, once the phone has been slipped
into it it’s a fight to prise it out again (not good if you’re
attempting to answer a call before it goes to voicemail). All in
all, there’s certainly more good than bad to report, and if
it turns out that the flaky auto-open turns out to be this phone’s
only particular idiosyncratic issue… well, there’s least
one pain in the rear factor with pretty much every model you can
buy, so I guess it could be worse! Rating:
Reviewed by Keith from UK on
8th Oct 2008
I think this is a classy phone and has everything I want. It looks
good in a minimalistic way and is better than the picture shown
at the top of the review which is the rear view. The internet access
seems really quick and I like the solid feel of the compact little
beauty. It also works perfectly via bluetooth with my Honda Handsfree
system in my Civic, unlike some other phones. It's a bit different
and it is great! Rating:
Reviewed by lee from wales on
8th Oct 2008
The 6600 Fold is not just exclusive to Three, its also on the 02
website and in stock!! [Editor's reply: Oops, our mistake! Thanks
for correcting us, lee.] Rating:
Reviewed by jess and leah from united
kingdom on 7th Oct 2008
This is a good phone!!! The flip is cool but the screen is too dark!
I would recommend this to people that dont use a phone very much! Rating:
Reviewed by Ed .W from UK on
1st Oct 2008
It's a natty, compact design and the double tapping revealing a
clock on the shell [or message symbol, if one has arrived]is a plus
point if, say, away from home in a hotel overnight. Otherwise it
breaks no real extra ground over the 6500 slide and mine has hung
once during an incoming call. The screen colours seem a bit gaudy,
with only a 2MP camera being a bit of a disappointment these days.
Living in a slightly dodgy signal area I'm not convinced the antenna
really does the job either. I'm seemingly losing signal where I
previously didn't on other Nokias or Sonys. As a very compact-in-the-pocket
conversation piece go for it, but otherwise there are many more
useful phones. Rating:
Reviewed by Rudolph from Switzerland
on 1st Oct 2008
I needed a small phone for travelling and got the Nokia 6600 Fold
2 days ago. When trying it out in the office I noticed that the
"auto open" function did not work, when the button was pressed,
the outer display said "Open fold maually". I brought it back to
Mobilezone where they tried out the second phone they had in stock.
The mechanism didn't work either. They called another Mobilezone
shop, they tried it out too, it didn't work! They called up Nokia
who had no Idea what could be wrong. I wanted to give it back, they
said they can't do that, and they have to send it in to Nokia. Great,
I'll go on vacation on Thursday and won't see my new phone for 2
to 3 weeks, and they wouldn't give me my money back. It's a neat
phone, apart from the problems with the flaunted "electromagnetic
opening mechanism". Rating:
Reviewed by Emily Rose from Uk on
28th Sep 2008
absoloute rubbish! broke after a week. DON'T GET THIS PHONE! Rating:
Reviewed by Wayne from Australia on
25th Sep 2008
Pros: Really nice design, small, compact and very smooth lines.
If you're fed up with Sony Ericcsons' useless keypad designs of
late, then the good sized functional keys of the Nokia will please.
There are no real gimicks, just a good all-rounder phone. Cons:
The automatic flip open action often sticks. No big deal as it can
also be opened manually. The display is quite dark, even when set
to full brightness. I really like this phone. It looks much better
in real life too. Rating:
Reviewed by fanil from india on
8th Sep 2008
good and streaming looks Rating:
Reviewed by 3GTec from Japan on
22nd Aug 2008
Beside the "knocking on the phonething"...there is nothing new with
this phone, the OLED screen doesnt stay as sharp after a couples
of month. Just a piece of junk! Komouoto Hai!! Rating:
Reviewed by phone from england on
28th Jul 2008
Excellent phone the best that i have ever had i love it. Rating:
