Nokia 6700 Classic

Discontinued
29th January 2009

One of three phones styled after the Nokia 6300, the Nokia 6700 Classic takes the basic design of the 6300 and then adds 3.5G support, a 5 megapixel camera and GPS.

Nokia are pitching the 6700 Classic at the sort of customer who might have bought the original 6300 when it came out two years ago - typically those on contract looking for an upgrade. The €235 price tag (before tax and subsidy) should mean that the 6700 Classic will be free for almost all contract customers.

Unusually, the Nokia 6700 Classic is a GPS device but not a smartphone. The only other handset in Nokia's range like this is the slightly more upmarket Nokia 6260 Slide, but Series 40 devices appear to be cheaper to make and it definitely makes the 6700 Classic good value for money.

On the back is a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and autofocus. Videos can be recorded at up to 640 x 480 pixels at 15 frames per second (or 352 x 288 at 30fps). There appears to be no support for geotagging, but the 6700 can upload video clips to Ovi and Flickr which should make things easy.

The display is a 2.2" 240 x 320 pixel panel capable of 16 million colours, which is a little larger than the screen on the 6300. It's not a large display, but it should suit most users.

Underneath, the Nokia 6700 Classic is a quad-band GSM phone with support for 900, 1900 and 2100 MHz WCDMA / UMTS, but there is no WiFi. The GSM and UMTS support makes the 6700 a real world phone. The 6700 also features HSDPA giving a maximum download speed of 10 Mbps, and HSUPA with a maximum speed of 2 Mbps. You can see that the 6700 might make an excellent modem when used with a laptop PC.

Of course, the Nokia 6700 Classic has Bluetooth, microSD expandable memory, a multimedia player and a web browser. The GPS comes with the Nokia Maps application, although a subscription is required for more advanced features.

Weighing 117 grams, the 6700 is 26 grams heavier than the 6300, and a little larger at 110 x 45 x 11mm. Maximum talktime on 3G is 4 hours with about 12 days standby time.

It's a good looking phone, but we have never been very keen on these "flat" keypads that some Nokia devices come with. We suspect that some customers might be happier with the arrangement on the new 6303 instead.

Along with the 6303 and 2700 handsets, the Nokia 6700 Classic seems to offer an ideal combination of features, styling and value for money.