If the NOKIA 6020 were here during the time I was in high school, I would not have spent my allowance in the Glorietta or in Harrison Plaza playing car racing, bowling or taking lots of Neoprints. This is because NOKIA’s latest handset will have probably attracted my generation of juvenile arcade lovers.
With a 2-color cover and weighing in at just 90 grams the NOKIA 6020 is light, simple and cool. The volume button is easily found on one side of the phone and the push-to-talk (PTT) button is located on the other side. Both buttons are quite sensitive. Not locking the phone’s keypad could mean accidentally activating these controls. The loudspeaker is also located on the phone’s side and this allows hands free calling.
Aside from its unique façade, the phone features a VGA camera; a camcorder that can record up to 50 seconds of video; Internet browsing; Java downloading; a 65,536 color screen; instant messaging with “Presence” enhanced contacts; multi-media messaging; e-mail and chat; and customizable color themes.
The phone is very comfortable to handle given its mono block form, 15 soft keys on the pad and a 5-point joystick in the middle. Pushing the joystick upward will automatically activate the camera with standard, portrait or night modes; and video. It also allows users a chance to take a timed self-photo. Pushing the joystick to the left will open the Write Messages menu; pushing the joystick to the right opens the PTT groups menu. The Contacts menu can be accessed if the joystick is pushed down; and the main Menu list can be opened by just pressing the joystick. The joystick is very user friendly.
The NOKIA 6020 remains true to the Nokia motto Connecting People. It is very useful for users who go abroad because it has tri-band coverage and it automatically switches between bands.
The PTT button and the ‘My Presence’ option are among the features of this phone that make it different from the rest of the phones on the market. According to the manual, the PTT button allows the user to make conference calls. As to the ‘My Presence’ feature, it allows the user to be ‘seen’ by other contacts. Unfortunately, this feature has to be supported by our local, cellular phone service providers.
I must admit that the 65,536 color screen is impressive. The pictures I took using the NOKIA 6020 are better than the ones I took using another NOKIA phone. Understandably, this is how a 128 x 128 pixel resolution works. It also has a lot of designs to choose from when I wanted to edit my photos. However, I wish the phone featured a larger memory because it can only store 3.5 MB of information. The images taken using the NOKIA 6020 can be transferred to a PC using a USB cable with a pop-port. But this cannot be bought easily because no one knew what a pop-port was in the malls I went to. Anyway, I found that I could send pictures via multi-media messaging or, for economically challenged users, via infrared. The size of the pictures I sent were 640 x 480.
Customizing the phone’s Settings can take a lot of time for the user since the phone really offers a wide variety of profiles, themes and even downloads. The NOKIA 6020 allows the user to have free rein over Personal and Go To shortcuts both on the left and right soft keys. The main Menu view can be accessed in two ways, via Grid or via List. It has also an extensive organizer with a calendar, a to-do list, notes and a wallet that allows me to store my credit card number, PIN and passwords confidentially.
The NOKIA 6020 comes standard with a battery, a standard charger and a User manual. Ideally, the phone has up to 3 hours of talk time or 14 days of stand-by time. Given its features and its price, this phone is a knockout.
