Nokia 6682 Phone (AT&T)

Amazon.com Hands-On Review

The 6682 is Nokia's latest Series 60 smartphone for the U.S. market. It is based on the 3G-capable 6680, which is available in some other parts of the world. The triband GSM 6682 will work on both of the U.S. network frequencies (850 and 1900Mhz) as well as on the 1800Mhz GSM band used in many other places in the world. The 4.6-ounce (131g) handset is a bit large, but one can forgive that in light of the 6682's other features--like a video-capable 1.3-megapixel camera with flash, a RS-MMC memory card slot, a large 262k color display, and the ability to play stereo MP3 files when used with a headset.

The Nokia 6682 features a reduced-size Multimedia Memory Card slot (64 MB RS-MMC card included).

The 6682's keypad is equipped with the standard array of keys and then some. Dedicated menu, edit, and clear buttons straddle the somewhat cramped, but still usable, numeric keypad and softkey buttons. The 5-way directional controller that sits directly below the display is comfortable to use as well as accurate. On its side you'll find a small chromed door that conceals the hot-swappable memory card slot. The back cover of the phone conceals the battery compartment and has a protective slide that is linked to the camera. Sliding the cover open reveals the camera and starts the camera--even when the keypad has been locked.

As a Nokia Series 60 smartphone, the 6682 has a vast array of both commercial and freeware/shareware software that can be installed. These applications range from games to e-mail applications to VPN support. This latest version of the Series 60 user interface adds what Nokia calls the Active Standby display. The Active Standby display is something akin to the Today screen on a PocketPC device, showing current tasks and calendar appointments, as well as a user-configurable set of icons that act as shortcuts to commonly used applications. You still have the option of using the old standby screen, though, in which case the four directions on the d-pad controller can be used as shortcuts in lieu of the icons.

The Nokia 6682 features a 1.3-megapixel camera (1280 x 960) with flash, 6x digital zoom, night mode, and black-and-white mode.

In terms of data support, the 6682 supports both GPRS and the newer and faster EDGE standard. USB connectivity is also possible with a Nokia Pop-Port compatible USB cable. Bluetooth wireless support offers yet another means for connecting to a desktop or laptop PC. It also means that you can use the 6682 with Bluetooth headsets as well as with other devices, such as GPS units like Nokia's own LD-1W.

If you are into messaging, the 6682 will let you hook up with both IMAP- and POP-based e-mail accounts right out of the box. SMS and MMS picture messaging is also available, and all of the message types are wrapped in one of the best all-around messaging apps available on a mobile phone today.

While the messaging app is good, the contacts manager in the 6682 is even better. Plus, you can use the freely available Nokia PC Suite software to sync up your 6682 with your desktop computer so that your contacts, calendar appointments, task list, and notes are available when you are away from your computer.

Nokia claims that the 6682 lasts for up to 11 days of standby time, but that claim is very optimistic. With any kind of usage at all, you should expect no more than 3 or 4 days of standby time. However, we did manage to get 6.5 hours of talk time out of the 6682, more than 50% better than what Nokia claims it is capable of.

Overall, the Nokia 6682 is great phone. There is a lot of software available for the Series 60 platform, and combined with all of the goodness that is baked into the 6682, you end up with what is simply one of the best smartphones available anywhere today.

Pros:

1.3-megapixel camera
RS-MMC slot
Large 262k color display

Cons:

Somewhat large
Only average standby battery life

What's in the Box:
Nokia 6682 handset, stereo headset, lithium-ion battery, travel charger, user's manual, application software, 64 MB RS-MMC card, and USB data cable.

--Reviewed by Michael Oryl, editor in chief of www.MobileBurn.com

Amazon.com Product Description

Built on the now-legendary Symbian Series 60 smartphone operating system, this mobile office companion continues Nokia's long tradition of delivering innovative, feature-packed handsets that work with you to help you get work done. With a 1.3 megapixel camera, support for EDGE high-speed data, a powerful music player, Bluetooth, push-to-talk capabilities and a whole lot more, the Nokia 6682 is a new powerhouse on the block.

Design
The 6682's gorgeous screen sports 176 x 208 resolution, as well as support for a whopping 262,000 colors. Just below the display is a five-way selection button that allows you to navigate and control the phone's menus and features, and the unit's internal antenna means there's nothing to snag or break off. The rear of the phone houses the 1.3 megapixel camera unit, which is protected by a nifty sliding cover. While the phone ships with 8 MB of embedded memory, An MMC memory slot allows you to expand it. The unit ships with a 64 MB expansion card.

Calling Features
The 6682's address book is only limited by the amount of available memory, and it can store multiple phone numbers, as well as physical and email addresses. Meanwhile, the 6682's built-in speakerphone makes it easy to talk without having the phone to your ear. Polyphonic ringtones are included, as is a vibrating alert, and you can use your favorite music as ringtones. Meanwhile, more ringtones can be downloaded from Cingular's MEdia wireless web service. Ringer IDs let you assign specific ringtones to particular callers, while picture ID technology lets you similarly assign images or pictures to callers. You'll also get name-based voice recognition dialing to put you in touch with your contacts quickly. The phone's Bluetooth connectivity means that your favorite Bluetooth headset is fully compatible and, as mentioned, the 6682 also ships with push-to-talk capabilities, meaning you can have walkie-talkie communications with other push-to-talk subscribers in your contacts list.

Messaging, Internet and Tools
With support for the MMS (multimedia messaging service), the 6682 can send picture, video and text messages (Cingular messaging charges apply). When coupled with the 6682's camera, MMS opens up great opportunities for robust messaging. Instant messaging is also supported, and the phone ships with a built-in email client that supports POP3 and IMAP protocols, as well as Microsoft Office-based email attachments, and push email services.

Getting on the Internet is easy with the 6682. It supports the GPRS data protocol, as well as the new, high-speed EDGE wireless data service. When used with a Cingular Wireless Internet Express data plan and the phone's USB or Bluetooth data capability, the phone can be used as a wireless modem for laptops and PDAs. There's also a built-in web browser for MEdia downloads and mobile web browsing. Cingular's MEdia service lets you receive and send emails, read news headlines, get weather updates, download games and ringtones, and more. T9 text entry, a technology that makes it easier for people to enter words and text on handsets, is built into the unit-- a plus for mobile email and text messaging users.

The 6682 supports PC synchronization standards via USB or Bluetooth, which means you can manage and synchronize contacts, calendars and other data with your PC. Nokia's PC Suite application makes this process a breeze. You can also use Bluetooth to connect a wireless keyboard for efficient text entry. And because the 6682 is Bluetooth 1.2 compliant, it supports faster data rates and extended range when communicating with other Bluetooth 1.2 devices. A number of handy software tools are bundled with the 6682 including a voice memo recorder, a calculator, a calendar, and an alarm clock. Plus, a wide range of applications are available for Symbian devices like the 6682, such as mobile document editors, spreadsheet apps, and much more.

Imaging and Entertainment
All work and no play might make the 6682 just another smartphone. The built-in megapixel camera also features an LED flash for low-light shooting, and it can captures video clips (up to one hour in length, 176 x 144 resolution), as well as stills. When shooting stills you can take advantage of a 6X digital zoom, as well as night, and black and white modes. Nokia's XpressPrint technology allows direct photo printing from a compatible USB printer (cable included) without using a PC.

The phone supports playback of MP3 and AAC audio files, as well as streaming or locally-stored 3GPP and RealMedia video files, so you can use it as a mobile video and music player. Picture effects and custom screensavers, as well as backgrounds and themes, can be set up to fit your personality. And don't forget that the 6682 is a powerful gaming companion with support for Java and Symbian games. Many games are downloadable via the Cingular MEdia service.

Vital Statistics
The Nokia 6682 weighs 4.62 ounces and measures 4.23 x 2.19 x 0.86 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 4 hours of digital talk time, and up to 11 days of digital standby time. It runs on the GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/1800/1900 frequencies. The phone comes with a one year limited warranty.

What's in the Box
Nokia 6682 handset, stereo headset, lithium-ion battery, travel charger, user's manual, application software, USB data cable.

Customer Reviews:

Good phone.......2007-11-18

Been using this phone over a year and never has a single problem with it even I dropped it several times.

Solid Phone, Solid Features.......2007-09-25

My favorite phone thus far. I use and review plenty of wireless technology and I am glad that this is the one that goes home with me. Synced with my Mac in literally less than 3 minutes.

Heavy and hard to use.......2007-09-20

I hate this phone.
Pros: good reception, many features.
Cons:
Keyboard is tiny and hard to press the right one.
Worn out easily near the edge.
As heavy as a brick.
Very slow bootup.

Smart phone - really smart.......2007-04-05

I have been using this phone over nine months now and I didnt have any problems yet.
Bigger displlay is very advantageous. It has good sound quality. Also the mp3 player is good.
The phone software is easy to use and comes very handy in adding contacts or sycnchronizing calender from pc.
Camera - its ok. You cant really expect much from a phone camera. But takes quite good pictures if there is enough light. The pics are blurry in low lighting conditions.
Battery life is good too.
Cons - Its bit bulky. Can be uncomfortable to hold in hand and talk for a long time.
Doesnt come with auto keypad lock. But the software can be downloaded for free.
People have complained that phone hangs, I have faced that problem only once.

Overall its a good phone I will give it 4/5 rating.

A great phone that offers the freedom of customization.......2007-01-17

16-Jan-2007
Feedback about Nokia 6682 phone based on my personal experience

Pros:
1) The menu keys are fully customizable in standby mode. i.e. You can customize what you want to access with the essential keys, when your phone is not in use. Remember when you are in a call, the phone has its own preset assignments to these keys, which I don't think could be customized. So this is only applicable when the phone is in standby.

You can customize the left selection key, right selection key, up menu key, down menu key, right menu key and left menu key to your own requirements. Customizing 6 keys for my own requirement was more than enough to quickly access all my favorite menu items.

You have a variety of options to choose from in order to assign which key does what.

For example I have assigned the keys as follows:

Left selection key => Camera
Right selection key => Profiles (where I can choose what is the current profile for my phone i.e. Loud, silent, mild - remember the profiles themselves are customizable. i.e. You can create your own profiles as you wish).
Down menu key => Contacts
Up menu key => Clock (where I can set the alarm etc.)
Right menu key => Phone settings (where I can assign which keys to do which function)
Left menu key => Call logs
Menu center key => Gallery (See comment # 9 in cons about Menu center key)

CUSTOMIZE your keys!!! Though it takes some time this provides you the freedom you want with the phone and believe me it is worth the time!

2) The profiles are customizable (See my related note above) and you can create your own profile. OK, you ask what is a profile? Profile is how you choose your phone's behavior. For example 'Loud' could be a profile where you can customize your phone's behavior for an incoming call, messages, key presses etc. Say in 'Loud' profile you can choose to make the phone ring loud for an incoming call, beep loudly for incoming messages, beep on key presses, vibrate on an incoming call etc. You can create your own profile and assign it your favorite name.

3) The phone has a separate 'backspace' key. So when you punched something wrong (Say a phone number) you can simply use the backspace key to erase one character at a time.

4) The phone has a separate menu key. To access the menu you simply press that menu key on the bottom left. But since I have customized the functionality of 6 of the other keys (as mentioned above) I rarely have the necessity to access the phone's menu per se.

5) Separate 'voice command' key on the left side of the phone. To dial someone by voice, just press and hold that button and then speak the name of the person etc. to call their number.

6) Nice camera. The pictures I took have come out pretty good so far. And of course you can use those pictures as a wall paper on your phone.

7) Though the keys are small, they are so precise smooth and nice to press, you don't have any problems dialing a number etc.

8) Great silvery look

9) Of course, a separate memory card slot where you can insert your memory card filled with whatever you want to. Music, pictures, videos and all those nice stuff. How much you store is up to you. Of course more you want to store, you need a higher capacity memory card.

10) The hands free that comes with the phone is really good, though it is a bit long and I haven't figured out how to shorten it using the adjusters provided. The stereo effect when you talk is pretty good. You will really enjoy it.

11) Of course, the blue tooth. I haven't found any issues with it. I have a logitech blue tooth. It took some time for me to figure out how to use it, but once you get hooked to it, nothing like the blue tooth freedom. I haven't tested the limits of the blue tooth with this phone, but you do get those disturbances once you start moving away from the phone. But that is the price to pay for the wireless freedom I guess. Also sometimes people say that they hear some clicking (or other) sound while talking on the blue tooth set, but that problem isn't unique to this phone.

12) Sturdy: Yes, the phone is a bit bulky. But that in turn means that is robust and sturdy, particularly for a person like me, who doesn't really handle it very gently! It fits nicely into the pant pocket.

13) Key pad lock: Since this isn't a flip phone, it is essential that the key pad of the phone be locked before you put it inside your pocket. Otherwise you can make unintended calls to random numbers! Locking the key pad is the same as any other Nokia phone. To lock the keypad simply press the left selection key and then press the star key. To unlock do the same again.

Note: Because of the fact the left selection key enables the lock feature, you will notice a delay when you use the left selection key to access the functionality to which you have assigned it. This is because when you press the left selection key, the phone doesn't really know if you are trying to lock the key pad or if you are trying to access the menu. After a couple of seconds if you didn't press the star key, then the menu item will show up.

Cons: (all cons are of low severity level)

1) I haven't figured out a way to 'Auto lock' the key pad of the phone (say after a few minutes of inactivity). I know there should be a way. I will call Nokia to find how to do that.

2) Sometimes I mistakenly press the power button on the right side, while trying to hold the phone and the phone switches off!

3) Vibrating feature isn't that great. It is just sufficient enough I guess.

4) The camera shutter cover is very smooth and sensitive. So sometimes when I put the phone into my pant pocket, it opens because it slides the opposite side. To prevent this, always try to put the phone bottom first into the pocket, since that will mean you will be pushing the camera cover up, which is what you do to close it.

5) It is always not obvious that whenever you are in a menu, you can see that there are several options available to you on the top. These options could be accessed by using the right and left menu key to scroll through the options. Though this is a pro, the reason I am putting it under 'con' is that this isn't very obvious, until you notice it carefully or get used to it.

For example if you got a missed call from the same number three times continuously, the call times of all 3 calls won't be obvious to you in the 'missed call' history, since it only shows the time of the last call attempt from that number.

But if you carefully notice when you are in the 'call log' there will be a 'notepad' like icon to which you can scroll using your right menu key to access all the call history. Here you will be able to get the time of all the missed calls from the same number. I wish they gave it directly in the call log.

6) The phone always remembers the last menu you accessed and will go deep into the menu the next time you open it. This could be a pro or con depending on your personal preferences. Say you accessed your 'call log' last time and you browsed through 'received calls', the next time you access the 'call log' it will DIRECTLY go to the 'received calls' page. But this time you might have wanted to access the 'missed calls' menu. So you will have to go back one step and navigate forward to the 'missed calls' menu.

It might take some time to get used to this.

7) I don't think you can make the phone display to be on as long as you want to do so. It always times out after a few minutes of course for power saving. I guess it has a 1 minute limit.

8) I wish they had a separate volume up and down button may be on the side of the phone. Rather you have to use the left and right menu key for that when you are talking.

9) The 'Menu center key' is not very accessible, in the sense it is hard to push it down. Rather most of the time you try to push it down, you end up pressing the up menu key or the down menu key. So the 'Menu center key' isn't that easy to access.

10) I wish there was also a 'separate loud speaker key', which I could simply press if I want to put the phone on the speaker mode. Unfortunately there isn't one. Hence you have to use the menu key to access the speaker, while talking.

11) You cannot initiate the phone dialing directly from the speaker mode. i.e. You cannot access the speaker mode when the phone is on standby. So if you want to be on speaker, you always have to make the call and then go to the speaker mode from the menu.

Other notes:

Nokia 6682 user guide: http://nds2.nokia.com/files/support/nam/phones/guides/6682_CA_en.pdf

How long have I used the phone? 1.5 months
I will add more pros and cons if I find out more!

Data capabilities: I haven't used the phone for much of its data capabilities for which it is known for. So I am unable to comment on those data features. So it goes without saying that I use the phone mostly for its 'voice features'. That begs the question, 'Am I making full use of this phone and its features'. The answer is a loud 'No'. And the question is 'If you are not using the data capabilities at all' do you really need this phone? I don't have a straightforward answer to that question. It depends on your personal preferences. But if you want that option included this is the phone to go with. But even if you only want a great voice conversation this is a great phone.

Where did I buy the phone? Amazon.com

Important note about buying at amazon.com : If you buy this (or any other cingular network) phone through amazon.com and you are switching from another network, then note that amazon doesn't provide number portability. For example if you currently using 'T-Mobile' and want to switch over to 'Cingular' and want to buy this phone on amazon.com, then you cannot retain your old phone number. Amazon.com will assign their own phone number once you place your order. After getting the phone, you might be able to port the old phone number (provided you haven't cancelled your T-Mobile or other account) by directly talking to Cingular. But here is the catch - if you port your old phone number directly by talking to Cingular (by passing Amazon.com) then you are breaking the 'Terms and conditions' of Amazon.com, which means you will be required to pay '$250' to Amazon.com for changing your phone number. This is applicable until 6 months after you buy the phone. After 6 months you can change the phone number. But it is a no brainer that no one wants to change their number in 6 months again!

Disclaimer:
The information I have provided above is based on my own personal experience of using this phone. Individual experiences may vary from one person to another.

Have a nice customization!
Karthikeyan Arunachalam

Cheap Consumer Electronics:

Cheap Consumer Electronics List

Cheap Consumer Electronics