Nokia 6260

Discontinued
14th June 2004

The Nokia 6260 is a high-end business orientated clamshell phone, similar in many ways to the Nokia 6230 bar phone. With the  6260, Nokia hope to carve out some market share in the competitive high-end clamshell market, and the Nokia 6260 certainly compares very well indeed with the likes of the Sony Ericsson Z600.

The 6260 has some interesting features, including Push-To-Talk (PTT) enabling low-cost and easy conferencing or one-to-one  chat using the inbuilt GPRS data connection, a swivelling screen to help with web surfing and picture taking, and a mobile  VPN client to allow business users to connect to corporate networks securely. There's also Bluetooth, removable MMC memory cards and the Symbian Series 60 operating system.

Less exciting is the camera, which is only a VGA-resolution device. The 176x220 pixels, but because of the single-swivelling display Nokia have dispensed with the useful secondary display you'd  expect on the outside. The Sharp GX30 easily trounces the 6260 in terms of screen quality and camera capability, but the Nokia features better Bluetooth, PTT, and a more capable operating system, browser and software package. Again, think of the 6260 as an upgraded version of the 6230 in a clamshell case, and you'll understand the market segment that Nokia is pitching at.

The 6260's design is not bad either - borrowing the square looks of the Nokia 7200, with a nicely understated design in black  or white with silver highlights. Nokia have managed to create a distinctive set of clamshell phones, making them instantly  recognisable whatever model is being used. We think this is extremely clever and subtle marketing at its best.

However, the 6260 is a very large clamshell, weighing 130 grams. Battery life isn't great either, with 2-4 hours talktime and only a maximum of 6 days standby.

As with the other recently announced Nokia clamshells, the 6260 fills a void in Nokia's lineup. While the phone isn't groundbreaking - we've seen all the features in other handsets - it is a very capable package that will appeal to businesses,  especially as it carries that all-important Nokia brandname.

Priced at around €400/£250/$450 SIM free and unsubsidised. Available in the late third quarter of 2004.

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