Nokia 6630

With the arrival of 3G, Nokia isn't about to miss the ship. Of the currently available 3G handsets in Singapore, the Nokia 6630 is the only other Symbian-based model besides the Motorola A1000 and comes with added EDGE support for the frequent traveler across the Atlantic. While previous models like the Nokia 7600 and 6650 emerged long before the launch of 3G in Singapore, the 6630 appears, for the most part, to have gotten the timing and execution spot on.

Design
At 127g, it's by no means featherweight when compared with current GPRS-enabled phones but is still lighter than other 3G offerings like the Motorola E1000 and Sony Ericsson Z1010. Resembling the Nokia 3650 with its bell-shaped lower end, the handset provides a fairly comfortable grip but may seem slightly bulky for smaller hands.

The 65K-color TFT display is one of the best found in any Nokia phone and capable of high brightness levels and sharp contrast on its 176 x 208-pixel screen. We had no problems reading both English and Chinese text up to eight lines of display. The conventional keypad has good tactile feel and individual keys are well-contoured. Build quality is excellent as well.

A rubber ring protruding from the back cover helps to protect the camera lens from accidental scratches.

Features
The Symbian OS of the 6630 is a speedy performer in terms of menu navigation, messaging and general operation. Apart from the usual PIM functions like calendar and calculator, this model, like the 6670, comes with Quickoffice for document editing and viewing of email attachments. The preloaded Chinese-to-English dictionary is also useful.

Video streaming, video calling and high-speed data access are definitely the main attractions of 3G. When testing on SingTel's 3G network, video streaming such as a live video feed from Channel NewsAsia is smooth and doesn't require rebuffering often.

Nokia's decision to omit an onboard, secondary interior camera means 6630 users have to rely on the PT-8 video call stand to send their own image to the other party during video calls. The stand is not designed for portability as it needs to be plugged into a main power supply. Some may also find the loudspeaker a tad too soft for handsfree operation during video calling.

Using Bluetooth, employing the 6630 as a modem to connect a desktop PC to the Internet is a breeze. Managing an average speed of around 40Kb/s, it's more than adequate for downloading large files and email attachments. Not forgetting that the 6630 is also the first WCDMA phone with EDGE support, it's unfortunate that local support for EDGE is currently unavailable. Although infrared is omitted, a USB cable is supplied for data transfer.

Sporting a 1.3-megapixel CMOS-based camera, picture quality is commendable but understandably loses out to snapshots taken using CCD sensors like those of Mitsubishi's M900. Shutter lag is negligible which makes it perfect for mugshots. Movie lovers will be delighted at the 1-hour video-recording function with good sound capture quality. A movie editor allows you to spice up the final video clip.

On top of MP3 playback, the preinstalled RealPlayer software also handles AAC-encoded files. Music sounds great on the supplied stereo headset, a significant upgrade from mono-only headsets provided with current Nokia Symbians like the 7610 and 6670. Both MP3 and AAC files can also be set as ringtones.

With the 6630, Nokia supplements the paltry 10MB onboard storage with a dual-voltage 64MB RS-MMC memory card which is also hot-swappable. However, users who previously invested in a single-voltage RS-MMC for use in models like the Nokia 7610 will be disappointed that the 6630 isn't able to recognize the older cards.

Reception, Battery Life And SAR
As with most Nokia models, we had no problems with reception, though the phone sometimes took some time to switch from 2.5G to 3G mode. Operating life of the 900mAh Lithium-ion battery was disappointingly short, with the 6630 lasting only about a day on normal usage. Continous video streaming drained the power in less than 2 hours.

The highest SAR value for this handset is 0.83 W/kg, which meets international guidelines for exposure to radio waves.

Conclusion
The lack of an onboard secondary camera may turn off users eager for video calling on the move, while the battery life is also disappointing. Nevertheless, the 6630 packs enough bells and whistles to stake its place as a respectable 3G offering.