I got to play a little today with the new Nokia 7600 (for work research purposes… of course). If you’ve seen it already, you’ll know it’s an odd shaped device with it’s curious “seed-like” shape, with a central screen and the keypad constructed around it. However, after using the device for a few hours, I can only concede that Nokia’s design lab up in Finland had been hitting the vodka a little too hard.
It’s not a bad phone by any means; the screen is sharp and clear, the speed and functionality of the device are all top notch. Streaming 3G video starts almost instantaneously with 3′s “QuickPlay”; the camera is crisp, clear and fast; it does SMS, MMS and everything else you might expect; the games aren’t too bad; it has the ubiquitous polyphonic ringtunes; its form and keypad are reminiscent of the clean white lines of Apple’s iBook; it has Bluetooth and infra-red support; hell, even my 12” PowerBook talks to it quite happily too over Bluetooth.
In fact I think it’s jolly good all round. Apart from that frickin’ keypad. It’s been coming for a while, but I honestly believe Nokia’s achingly hip handset designers have truly gone for form over function to the detriment of the product as a whole.
Maybe it’s the latent Jakob Nielsen inside me or whether it’s (oh, alright) the fact that I’m getting on for 30, but in all honesty I haven’t got the time or the patience to learn a completely new and seemingly counter-intuitive method of using a phone keypad. That said, your average teenager will probably love it.
If you’re considering it, definitely try before you buy. It’s a capable device by anyone’s standards, and unless you’re desperate to make use of 3′s video-calling, you’ll find it the smallest and lightest option for 3G in the UK right now.
I still think they put Finlandia in the water cooler up there though.