For some reason or other, we've managed to get our grubby mitts on a Nokia 6030 for awhile. It's a basic budget phone, but still.
Starting off, we'll admit that the 6030 doesn't quite have the snot value of it's luxury cousin, the Nokia 8800, but we will say that it is one of the better looking budget phones around. (See pictures after jump, pity about the overtly boxy exterior; we much prefer sensuous curves like those on the Nokia 6100) More importantly, it is the first budget phone based upon the newest iteration of the Nokia Series 40 interface, and, like it's relatives ...
Update: Following a comment by a user, we checked to see if there was a data cable available for the Nokia 6030. There isn't, and the Nokia 6030 FAQ additionally states that there is no data synchronization. As such, ignore the comments below regarding data synchronization. While there are many users who do not use data synchronization, we here at symplification do consider it to be an integral feature in this day and age, and recommend that you purchase an alternative unless you are certain you will never use it.
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For some reason or other, we've managed to get our grubby mitts on a Nokia 6030 for awhile. It's a basic budget phone, but still.
Starting off, we'll admit that the 6030 doesn't quite have the snot value of it's luxury cousin, the Nokia 8800, but we will say that it is one of the better looking budget phones around. (See pictures after jump, pity about the overtly boxy exterior; we much prefer sensuous curves like those on the Nokia 6100) More importantly, it is the first budget phone based upon the newest iteration of the Nokia Series 40 interface, and, like it's relatives the 8800 and 6230i, the interface is good.
In addition, while it lacks the lovely high resolution display, the display has been upgraded to 65K colors - and this is a huge difference. It's sub-pixel text rendering, or perhaps it's just a better screen? Having a 4K color screen phone (Nokia 3120) next to this one reveals a stark difference; the Nokia 6030 has a screen which obviously brighter and more readable. Also, the interface is, in certain ways, more polished than that of the Nokia 8800 (although I fully expect a future firmware release to improve the 8800); Mostly minor tweaks - amongst other things, you can move java applications between folders.
The buttons are also superior to those in the Nokia 8800, purely because they are substantially larger. Messaging is simply better, even though it's acceptable or even good on the Nokia 8800. And as with all Nokia's, the basic phone functionality (talk/message) is excellent.
Unfortunately, the phone only has ~3MB of memory, which is probably sufficient. With this little memory, it's almost a virtue that the phone has no camera. Also - while the charger is the same, note that the pop port has seemingly gone out of fashion. What we have instead (look at the first photo below) is good, because it will allow a data connection and a headset to be used at the same time. But - why chose a non-standard interface port (the usb-mini port is almost the same size) and force a change in headsets! I'll admit the last 2.5mm headset I had was for the Nokia 8850, which is rather antiquated, but.. but...
In summation, this is a very acceptable phone. The memory is likely to be sufficient for syncing with outlook (I use only 138Kb for 300+ contacts with multiple details, and while I have no idea how to check calendar usage, 3MB is not insubstantial), the radio functionality provides an adequate replacement for an mp3 player at a pinch, and battery life is quite good, possibly because it uses the same battery as the Nokia 7610. Expect to be able to use the phone for 3 days without charging. Pity that no usb cable connector is packaged, and that no-one you know will have one, either, because it's a -new- interface connector.
Of course, you should remember that a Sony Ericsson T630/T610 has a larger 65K screen and bluetooth and camera, and probably costs the same.
