Nokia 6230i

Nokia dominates the phone market in Australia and with good reason: it continues to produce quality mobiles such as the 6230i, which boasts a 1.3 megapixel camera, a simple graphical interface and expandable memory.

The 6230i retains the classic Nokia styling of its predecessor, the 6230, but includes significant improvements such as an enhanced interface, larger storage space and a higher quality screen. The vivid 208 x 208 pixel colour screen on the 6230i is one of the best we have seen on a mobile phone and it does justice to high-resolution colour images. Nokia has modified the phone's software look to take full advantage of the higher quality screen, with animated graphics on menus, varied wallpapers and support for themes.

Under the screen, the keypad of the 6230i has two soft keys, two dedicated call/end buttons and a five-way navigation pad. We found the interface intuitive, but not as aesthetically appealing as that of the Samsung units. One feature that particularly appealed to us is the ability to customise a shortcut menu so the most often used features can be accessed with one click of the soft key.

A major criticism of the Nokia 6230 is that the five-way navigation button is almost unusable, which makes selecting an option a hit and miss affair. Thankfully, Nokia has recognised this and changed the button slightly in the new model by adding a Select button right in the middle. We feel this makes a marked improvement compared to the hassles we experienced using the older model, and it certainly makes navigation easier. Unfortunately, Nokia has kept the same keypad style, and we found the keys hard to press, and we tended to press several together at once.

The 6230i has a 1.3 megapixel camera, and this can take photos at 160 x 120, 320 x 240, 640 x 480 and 1280 x 1024 resolutions. Video capture is supported and videos can either be MMS length (25s) or set to the maximum amount of memory that is left. For music lovers, an MP3 player is included, as is an FM radio.

The 6230i has 32MB of integrated memory and supports an additional MMC card up to 512MB. The back of the case and battery have to be removed to swap the memory card. Nokia claims the battery lasts for 3 to 5 hours of talk time, and we were able to use the phone for just over 2 days before having to charge it.