Review of the Nokia 6086 Design and User Interface

Review of the Nokia 6086 Design and User Interface
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Introduction

nokia 6086

The Nokia 6086 was released back in November 2006. It is designed to be tucked away easily and used with as little effort as possible, this clam shell design phone comes with two displays that make using the phone in its closed state a possibility for simple tasks like checking the time, calender alerts and phone and message alerts. With its remarkably friendly form factor, let’s see how the rest of the design compares.

Design (4 out of 5)

This clam shell Nokia phone comes in pearl gray or warm gray colors. The Nokia 6086 comes with a length of about 92 millimeters and a breadth of about 46 millimeters; while the depth is about 23 millimeters. With those dimensions the Nokia 6086 weighs about 84 grams

When closed, the front face on the Nokia 6086 houses a secondary external monochrome display and the camera. With the face opened, the Nokia 6086 has got the earpiece on the top half above the hinges. Thiere is also the primary 1.8 inch display.

Below the hinges there is the soft key panel which houses the five way scroll keys for controlling navigation. Right above the five way scroll keys on either side is a soft key button. One used for exiting applications while the other is used for selecting menu items and program options. Below the five way scroll keys are the two buttons for controlling voice calls. There is the green call start button and the red call cancel buttons. Below the soft key panel there is the alphanumeric key pad with a dedicated Nokia menu key.

Both sides of the Nokia 6086 are quite plain with no controls placed in these areas. The back of the Nokia 6086 is reserved for the battery which sites in its housing together with the SIM card.

The bottom part of the Nokia 6086 has the jack for connecting the Nokia phone power charger.

User Interface (3 out of 5)

The Nokia 6086 is controlled primarily through the five way scroll keys and the two soft key buttons. To navigate around the Nokia 6086 you simply press the menu soft key to access the 3 by 4 menu icon grid. When inside the menu list you can navigate between applications and other operations using the five way scroll keys to launch an application, and select it when it is highlighted with the marked soft key.

To receive calls simply answer by pressing the green call button or using the marked soft key. You can cancel or end calls using the red cancel button. You can make calls by either keying in the number in the numeric keypad or navigating the address book and selecting a user. You can also use voice dialing to make phone calls to contacts in the address book. To write text messages and key input into the organizer and address book you can use the numeric key pad in T9 mode or traditional text input mode.

Using the settings menu you can follow the prompts to change the theme of the Nokia 6086 as well as change the wallpaper.

Features (2 out of 5)

nokia 6086

The Nokia 6086 comes with two displays. The primary CSTN display that supports 256K colors and has a resolution of 128 x 160 pixels. The secondary display is a monochrome display with a resolution of 96 x 68 pixels. The Nokia 6086 phone supports vibration alerts, polyphonic, AAC and MP3 ringtones.

This Nokia phone is capable of accessing data through GPRS, EDGE and Wi-Fi. You can also pair the Nokia 6086 with other devices using Bluetooth or USB though the pop port.

There is internal storage of 5MB on the Nokia 6086 as well as support for extended memory using the microSD card format.

The Nokia 6086 phone also comes with a VGA camera with support for a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels for still photos. Video recording can be achieved at a resolution of 128 x 96 pixels.

Email and MMS messaging are supported in addition to SMS. There is a WAP 2.0/xHTML web browser on board the Nokia 6086 which you can use to download Java based applications and games. This Nokia phone also serves as a MP3/MP4/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA music player as well as having a built-in FM radio all backed by a speakerphone.

Performance (2 out of 5)

The Nokia 6086 is not so good when it comes to data connectivity. Speeds are basically average as compared to other high end mobile phones using the same data network. The call quality on the Nokia 6086 is quite decent and it does not drop calls even in areas with low signal quality. Where this phone does a good job is in canceling a fair amount of background noise.

The battery life on the Nokia 6086 is quite good as well. This phone will give you well over five hours with a standby time of about 250 hours. This already tells me that in stand by mode this phone uses quite an amount of battery power.

All in all this phone has a fair performance considering its lack of features.

The Verdict (2 out of 5)

In general the Nokia 6086 is a good phone for basic usage. It will not let you down during calls and is good for messaging operations. This phone is not the best choice when it comes to Internet browsing. The screen is not very high in contrast and the speeds are too slow as well. Other than that the Nokia 6086 is a great looking phone which feels sturdy and is very friendly to handle. For a fair price of US$16 this phone is worth getting. Since it has been on the market for a while, The Nokia 6086 may not be easy to find.

Take time to look at the reviews on the Nokia 5250 and the Nokia 7510 as you compare them with the Nokia 6086.