Nokia 6233 review

Indeed, using the 6233 is very straightforward and you don't get the feeling that Nokia has added anything unnecessary or overcomplicated. At the same time, you don't feel like it's particularly lacking in the features department.

It has Bluetooth, infrared and 3G connectivity. There's an FM radio and MP3 player that supports MP3, MP4, eAAC+ and AAC files, and a video player that supports 3GPP, H.263 video, MPEG-4 and AMR files. The stereo speakers mean you can annoy people on your bus ride home or, more sensibly, use the speakerphone mode when you're driving your car.

The expandable memory slot means you can add more memory if you choose to, and the 6233 comes bundled with a 64MB card. You'll also find a Web browser so you can check out your favourite WAP sites, but don't expect the same level of Web browsing as on an HTC TyTN. There's also an email client so you can access your SMTP, POP3 or IMAP4 email accounts at the press of a button.

Other features include polyphonic ringtones, a voice recorder, a notepad, a world clock, a currency converter, voice dialling and Java games and applications.

Our only niggle with the 6233's feature set is the 2-megapixel camera, which aside from not having any light source for low light shots, or autofocus, is a little lacklustre compared with the cameras on phones like the Sony Ericsson K800i or Nokia's own N73. Another camera related problem is that there's no VGA camera on the front, meaning that you can't see the person you're talking to while making video calls.

We're also disappointed that there's only 6MB of internal memory, which means most of the data has to be stored on the memory card and not on the handset.

Performance
The audio quality on calls is clear and we didn't experience any sound distortions or muffling during calls. We could hear people clearly and we could have a conversation without raising our voices.

The 2-megapixel camera performs as expected and while it's acceptable for MMS messages or wallpaper images, it really doesn't make a mark compared to higher resolution cameras that are starting to appear on other phones.

The battery life is quoted at 4 hours of talk time, or just over 3 hours if you're using 3G. Standby time is quoted at 340 hours.

Edited by Mary Lojkine
Additional editing by Kate Macefield