Nokia 1600

Available now
2nd June 2005

The second of two entry-level handsets announced by Nokia at the same time, the Nokia 1600 is essentially a colour version of the Nokia 1110.

The Nokia 1600 is 5 grams heavier than the 1110 and has a small 96x68 pixel display in 65,000 colours. Like the 1110, the Nokia 1600 also has "MP3 grade" ringtones, although it's not clear if these are downloadable. The battery life is useful though at 4-5.5 hours talktime and 12-18 days standby time. Most other specifications are pretty much identical to the Nokia 1110.

There's not GPRS, certainly no Bluetooth or camera and the keypad seems to be one of those irritating ones where the keys are sort of stuck together. It looks reasonably smart, but it seems a little redundant compared to the Nokia 2600 which is a much better device.

The handset is similar in many ways to the Sony Ericsson T290i - a cheap and cheerful phone that will produce very little margin for the manufacturer and very scant earnings for the network. We've seen a lot of other entry-level colour phones that are better than this too, but if you're on a tight budget the Nokia 1600 is probably worth a look.

Expected availability is Q3 2005. Our estimate of the unsubsidised price is around €100/$130/£70.

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