Nokia 6270 Classic Reviewed: Improving On The Classic Line

Nokia has always made fairly solid products that perform well under most circumstances. I found no gaping or loose components on the Nokia 6720, which didn't really surprise me considering the devices basic candybar design which makes it's build simple to create.

The front side of the device is taken up completely by a 2.2 inch non-touchscreen that offers 16million colors for excellent output, while above that screen there's an ambient light sensor for auto brightness setting (I used it but also played around with manual settings) under that screen users are engaged with the typical number keys found on your standard phone along with two soft keys for quick access to options and exiting your apps.

Looking at the picture shown above the phone also offers a very nice 5MP camera (Not bad for a mid-range device). The camera as you'll notice also includes an LED flash that fits well with the accented camera lens area on the device. Flipping the device back over to the frontside you'll also notice the secondary VGA video conferencing camera, a nice touch that doesn't do much good for calls in the United States at this time.

Finally the right side includes a volume rocker and shutter key, while the left side includes an outer shell MicroSDHC card slot and a MicroUSB port for data synching. Both the MciroSDHC card slot and MicroUSB card slots share a protective cover which is a great addition for protecting your external memory and data syncing slot.

Finally the bottom of the device includes Nokia's proprietary charge slot and the 3.5MM headphone jack. Why in the word the 3.5mm port is on the bottom of the device is beyond me. It's annoying that my cable is bent upwards if I'm listing to my device and I want to change my tracks. With that being said the audio sounds great!

Overall the build factor is good and the device itself has a sleek design that's easy to hold in the hand, especially with the curved bottom portion of the device, while the simplicity of the design is great for users looking for a phone and not a Pocket PC.

While the 2.2 Inch display may offer 16 million colors and comes equipped with an ambient light sensor I wasn't impressive with the screens overall quality. Icons looks good and the screens were optimized for the size of the display, however the brightness on the display never felt fully utilized and fell well short of the newer Amoled screens that are popping up all over the mobile space these days.

Movie watching was decent with very little pixelation, however action scenes appeared more pixelated than I would have liked to view and in sunlit areas it was almost unwatchable for videos, pics or anything else for that matter.

The display isn't bad by any means but it's also nothing new. If one aspect of the Classic series should have been updated on the 6720 classic the display would have been a good choice.

Nokia is known for their XpressMusic phones which offer excellent media player capabilities and sound. On the 6720 Classic the player the following audio files are supported: MP3, AAC, eAAC+ and WMA. The player can sort tracks by your standard "Artist, Genre, Album and Playlist.

The device also allows tracks to be transferred using Bluetooth, USB or via the MicroSDHC memory card slot.

For users looking to "Tweak" their 6720's media player it also includes an equalizer with five different settings which includes: Bass Booster, Classic, Jazz, Pop and Rock. For the more discerning listener they can also use the equalizer bars to change the audios bass, treble and other functions.

The 6720 also offers FM Radio playback with RDS support. I was able to pull up every station my car radio received and the RDS function for supported stations pulled up the media files information almost immediately upon played. The FM Tuner was clear and concise and I rather liked it's simplistic use. One annoying factor I did notice was the same qualm I've had with other Nokia devices, it's way too simple to accidentally hit a key on the device and switch the radio station by accident.

The audio output whether from the device 3.5MM headphone jack or a Bluetooth offering are all excellent. I'd even put in on the same level of the Apple iPhone 3GS in terms of audio output.

Overall a decent music player with an even better audio output setup.

Horrendous is the best way I can explain the video capabilities on the Nokia 6720 Classic. The files support types are minimal, for example DiVx files require a third party application and scenes with high action sequences were choppy with a ton of lost picture integrity.

The one positive of the devices video capabilities was the real players ability to hand partial and full screen modes, while hiding the soft keys during full screen mode to allow the entire 2.2" display to be utilized.

I don't care if the camera can record videos because watching them is nearly painful. I would have expected better results given the 16 million colors of output and the quick 600mhz processor which should handle video streaming fairly well, unfortunately my expectations were more than defeated.

It's not the worst video playback I've seen, but it's not good either.

The 5MP camera with LED Flash on the 6720 offers outputs up to 2592 x 1944 pixels and every one of those pixels has been well utilized. The camera allows for three types of of shooting from low-res to high resolution. The highest resolution outputs some decent photos in normal lighting. Actually outdoors I was extremely impressed with the camera which didn't show any signs of undertones or overtones. Even indoor pictures were solid in terms of their final output.

I would have liked to see better low-light pictures, perhaps even a Xenon Flash that could have done a better job than the devices included LED Flash. I found that night time shots and early morning shots didn't hold the same focus of well lit shots. However, the camera's ability to auto focus with half a button press did help low light pictures.

I would rank the quality of this devices camera among the 10 best 5MP camera phones currently available. Falling just short of The N97 but ahead of the N95, but only for well light to medium lit areas.

Unfortunately that ranks falls to a 2 out of 5 when looking at the 15 frames per second VGA capabilities of the devices video recorder. Video is absolutely awful in almost every type of situation from low to excellent lighting and any type of movement is pixelated and looks awful. It amazes me that they actually changed the device to 15 FPS when the 6220 Classic offers 30 frames per second.

Basically Photo taking = Big thumbs up and video recording gets two thumbs way down.

With Quad-Band GSM capabilities the Nokia 6270 Classic offers true worldwide connectivity, while the included 3G antenna makes connecting to fast networks just as simple, while Edge/GPRS capabilities are also supported.

The device is unfortunately missing WiFi which was rather disappointing, but it does offer quick computer connections through its dedicated MicroUSB port and Bluetooth abilities with A2DP Stereo Bluetooth connectivy.

Users can of course use their devices MicroSDHC card slot in order to transfer music files, video files and other documents. Thanks to a dedicated side slot it's also very simple to transfer between different cards for personal and business files.

Finally the device offers a 3.5mm dedicated audio port that offers excellent audio playback on standard headsets from any manufacturer you choose.

Overall the connectivity options are excellent whether your looking to make calls, take advantage of data connections or listen to music over bluetooth.