Nokia 6280 Review
» 07/05/2006, 12:32:06 / / / Subscribe
The first thing you need to know is that the V3 Razor whilst not the best in software (when it first came) is probably the most well made handset I have ever had the pleasure of in my hand. In comparison to ALL other handsets, design wise, it's leaps ahead. Why am I saying this about a V3 when it's the Nokia 6280 that I am going a review about? Well, the built quality of the 6280 feels like Lego in comparison to the V3 Razor. Of course that's because it's made of plastic rather than an alloy. The slide action on the 6280 is actually pretty good, it doesn't feel like it's going to fall to pieces after a few months even if it is a little jerky. When I got the handset I had no problems getting the 64meg memory card slotted in, the sim and the battery. On first switching it on it needed to let the SIM card talk to the network which I am always dubious about. Probably just the handset registering the fact it's a 3G one but still, being a geek, I like to know what's going on. Copying all my numbers to the phones memory was a breeze and one of the first things I noticed about this handset was it's speed. The V3 was a slow handset even when I got it but you got used to it. This handset is around two even three times the speed. Getting everything else set up was easy the only bug bear was my answer phone settings which for some reason had not been stored to the SIM so a quick dial to T-mobile and it's was sorted.
The first thing I was confronted with was a desktop type display. It had shortcuts, memo's from the organiser and a notes area. Nice, perhaps we'll have to see if it syncs with my Palm, if it does I'm going to fall in love with the handset. It has the usual kiddie Nokia type navigation which has nice, visually speaking, icons with animation. Nothing new really but clean and obvious, which always helps. One of the first things I wanted to test was the WAP because I use it frequently and not only just to settle arguments in the pub so I fired it up and due to the 3G it's way WAY faster. I was impressed with the built in browsers capability to display web pages, the only thing it failed on was unordered lists that have been styled into menus. A small disappointment as this is a popular thing to do these days but that doesn't mean anything as of course I can download a mini-browser as an application to it.
Text messaging on this handset is very different and a little bit of a headache to get used to coming from the iTap predictive text to the T-9 again is a big difference. I like the iTap way of doing things, it was easy and intuitive compared to the T-9. I soon got used to it and I have yet to figure out why when responding the number is displayed and not the persons name, although for the most part I know peoples numbers it's a confidence knock to have to go back and check if you're not sure. I think it's actually something to do with copying your numbers across from the SIM card because I have noticed that the name of the person is entered in to the "last name" field and not the first.
The handset has a better battery life than the V3 but I think that's probably to compensate for the fact that when the bluetooth is switched on all the time it's a drain on the battery. The V3 doesn't allow you to do that. Call quality is as good as the V3 and the 3G stuff I have yet to try because I don't know anyone with a new enough handset yet heh. Applications seem to work pretty easily but you don't seem to have any way to bluetooth them to someone else which is a bummer. The camera is excellent in daylight and awful in lower light settings and although it has a "flash" it's more a spotlight and causes glare on the right hand side of your pictures (tip: a piece of rizla over it helps). Like I mention though, the quality of the pictures is good in normal conditions and although I have not tried all the gimmicks the way in which the pictures are re-sized for sending in MMS is quite good. Connecting the Nokia software was easy but obviously for me it's a small disappointment that it's Winblows only. Though to be fair I wouldn't use a great deal of the functions offered on it and I have tools on my Linux installs that can perform pretty much all those functions apart from the full back up stuff. So no real hit there.
If you want a handset that is almost like a very mini PDA, you like your MMS and the web on your phone then this is probably the best out of the latest handsets that offer 3G compatibility. I would recommend it, anyone that is coming from a V3 to this will need to time to get used to the size of the handset, we really were spoiled with the Razor V3's build quality and simplicity. The 6280's attempts to bridge the gap between the mobile phone and a PDA are worth respecting, it already has huge amounts of themes you can download and creating them yourself is really easy (I'll be writing an article on how to do that for both this handset and the V3 soon). Java applications install and run really easily which is something Motorola really didn't get down before the release of the V3, which was a real annoyance to me as a developer. With an ample 64megs of removable memory as standard along with the handsets own 8megs makes for it to be ok for a small MP3 player. The radio is much the same as all the ones that Nokia has put on there handsets. I never bother with the games so *shrugs* for them. Not a bad handset at all IMHO.
Overall: 8/10
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Comments:#1. neil
07/05/2006, 19:39:45
07/05/2006, 19:39:45
That will do for me! Just need Orange to start offering it as an upgrade now!
#2. tek
07/05/2006, 20:00:21
All I can say it switch to T-mobile, the flex plans they offer are unmatched by any other provider! I pay £35 a month and get £185 worth of credit added to my account each month. For an Extra £7 I get unlimited (yes UNLIMITED) WAP usage. The handset was for free too.
Worth looking at! 
#3. skeddy
07/05/2006, 20:31:51
Have you come across the problem of application switching yet ? That was a pain in the arse for me, if I was down the pub and WAP'ing. Couldn't get used to exiting the browser and having to read texts, then logging back in.
The theme designer from Nokia is amazing, if you can get a Linux port of it, and I'm sure you'll be able to knock up a decent Tek theme in a few hours.
Best bit of software, Opera, ideal.
Glad you like it, I couldn't get on with it!!
#4. tek
07/05/2006, 20:41:58
Too be honest no not yet but then I'm not so arsed - texts aren't that important that I'd come out of an application to read one.
As for the themes, you don't really need to use the designer that nokia offer. Just get the .nth file and change the extention to .zip and unzip it, change the images to what you like, edit the theme xml file, re-zip, change the extention back to .nth and upload to handset via bluetooth. Job done. Already got me own custom theme 
- I might download that theme thing though, just didn't want to register for it so I just examined the .nth file headers, saw it was a PK compression header and knew that a zipping tool would work...
#5. gurion
08/05/2006, 11:02:02
When you boot up a handset with a new SIM in it, several things happen.
1 - SIM Gets Device Profile and customises the SIM Toolkit and any applicaitons that may be there.
2 - Device attempts attach to network using ICCID (from the SIM) or more usually IMSI (top secret code that ID's *you* (and your SIM) to the operator) and IMEI of the devcice.
3 - Network does some stuff with HLRs / Authentication etc.
4 - Network attach (hopefully)
What is actually cooler is what happens when you normally boot up your handset...I've used probe tools (ooer) before now during a boot (called an ATR in SIM world)....you can see the entire contents of the SIM address book, any SMS stored on the SIM.....way cool.
Of course it's all encrypted and that's a pretty secure interface.
Ah the days of writing SIM Applet code and looking at complicated GSM Specifications....
Now all I do is hassle techies to get my OMA DM and FOTA services working!
#6. tek
09/05/2006, 09:07:37
Nice one gurion - I've always had a fair knowledge of the handshake to connect to the network so I guess it was the Device Profile stuff you talk about and the fact that this was the first time the SIM had connected to a 3G service?
