Nokia 6110 Navigator

Nokia’s 6110 Navigator is nothing more than a Symbian Series 60 slider handset. Or is it? As the name suggests, the phone is capable of a lot more than handling calls, messages and a little entertainment. Yes, the Navigator is capable of much more, and here’s why.

Form Factor
As I said, it’s a slider. I like its size and overall design, but like most phones with integrated GPS receivers, it’s a trifle bulky with a width of 20mm. The 2.2 inch display with 16 million colors and 240 x 320 pixel resolution is more than adequate, but still I’m looking forward to its bigger brother, the 6120 Navigator with a 2.4 inch screen.

On one side of the handset is the mini USB dock followed by an ‘Open’ key and below that is the microSD card slot. On the other side you’ll find the volume/zoom keys and a dedicated camera key.

The rear houses the 3D stereo speakers and the camera that can be activated by sliding the cover to the side. Oddly though, the charging port and 2.5mm (WHY?!) earphone socket is placed on the top of the handset, not the bottom. All the keys and buttons do, however, seem strategically placed. But what I did have a problem with are the top three keys on the keypad. They’re set a little too close, so it’s a bit inconvenient while typing.

Features and Performance
Miscellaneous Features
The Navigator is quite a well-equipped handset in terms of features. The menus are clear and easy to maneuver through, as is typical with the Symbian OS. Features include the regular alarm clock, converter, calculator, and calendar. There are a few business applications like QuickOffice for viewing MS office files in .XLS, .DOC and PowerPoint files and also a PDF reader.

Connectivity
With regard to connectivity of various kinds, the 6110 is a 3G-enabled HSDPA device, but that’s not something that’s entirely usable here. EDGE/GPRS and WAP are what we need and what we’ll get with the Navigator. For closer connectivity and data transfer it’s also equipped with Bluetooth with an A2DP profile and USB connectivity.

What I like about most of the newer models (and this is not Nokia-specific) is an option to swap data wirelessly between two Bluetooth-enabled handsets. The Navigator supports PTT (Push To Talk), and comes equipped with 3D tunes, Text-to-Speech, and voice commands as well.

Media
The music player is thankfully more than just decent, and videos too look quite good on the 2.2 inch screen. The 2.5mm earphone socket is a disappointment, but I can live with that. I liked the Video Tone option, which lets you select any video stored on the phone and use it as a ringtone. The inbuilt video editor is a lot of fun to play around with, and the image editor is even more fun.

The FM radio pickup is decent in most places but tends to be a bit erratic while commuting. There's a voice recorder too. And this phone is seriously loud thanks to the stereo 3D speakers. In case you get bored, you can play games like Snakes 3D and Marble Cannon, or download new ones off the net.

GPS
Now for the piece de resistance; the integrated GPS receiver. It can be activated using the dedicated shortcut key located directly under the navigation pad. The GPS maps are superb. Nokia Maps may seem more vibrant and colorful, but the Navigator’s mapping looks more 'professional'. The handset supports A-GPS (Assisted GPS) using EDGE or GPRS to get your information a little quicker.

The accuracy of all this information is simply brilliant. The software even informs you of the relative speed you’re traveling. You can plot routes, reroute them to your preference, add certain additional routing, and a lot more. At the moment Nokia has released a total of eight Indian city maps and each map has plenty of information to suit most travelers.

Landmarks and other points of interest are easy distinguishable with various icons, and you can also find places with a simple search option and even navigate from your current location to that point very easily. The main reason why the onboard speakers are so very loud is because of the GPS. The voice navigation is accurate and it definitely needs to be loud to compete with all the extraneous noise. After all, it’s not recommended that you keep looking at the screen while driving.

There are options for various modes of travel and navigation. You can choose between Pedestrian, Quickest Route, and Shortest Route for getting from point A to point B. Maps for various other countries can be downloaded using Nokia’s Map Manager PC software and it’s not difficult to use. (By the way, the stand in the image is available from Nokia dealers and many other phone and accessory stores.)

Camera
The 2 megapixel camera with a flash isn’t great but it is good. It has settings for White Balance, Night Mode and flash. It also has Color Tone settings, a self-timer, and a sequence mode. What you will see in almost all images is quite a bit of noise, but overall it’s okay for a 2 megapixel camera.

Interestingly, the camera offers a Panorama mode that automatically takes images – all you have to do is simply move the camera. It will continuously take images, so a 360-degree perspective is doable as well. Brilliant, I say.

Battery
True to its promise, the 6110 Navigator was able to deliver about 3.5 hours of talktime. I was impressed by the fact that I had the GPS with voice guidance on for 2.5 hours nonstop (and even took a couple of calls in between) but the battery went down by just two bars. On a realistic basis, I got almost two days of usage on a single charge, including messaging, calls, GPRS, music, and camera.

The Bottomline
At a price of Rs 14,400 the 6110 Navigator is a great phone with an integrated GPS receiver so you don’t need to spend on an external box. Its battery is good and it has a decent camera and music player as well. The keypad may not suit everybody, but those who like finding their own way around town without frequent stops to ask the locals for directions will definitely love this phone.

Specifications

Nokia 6110 Navigator

Network : GSM 850/900/1800/1900, EDGE, HSDPA
Physical : 101 x 49 x 20 mm, 125g
Display : 240 x 320, 16m colors, TFT, 2.2 inch
Memory : 40MB internal, MicroSD for external
Media : MP3, AAC, Stereo FM, 3GP, MPEG4, Voice Recording
Camera : 2 megapixels, flash, secondary video call camera (QVGA)
Connectivity : USB v2.0 (mini), Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP, GPS receiver with maps
Battery : 265 hrs standby, 3.25 hrs talk
Street Price : Rs 14,400