| Review of the Nokia 6230b & 6230i |
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The following review replaces one I made for the 6230b in November of 2004. I recently had a chance to try a 6230i with some definite improvements and so I’ve combined the 2 reviews into this newer one. Last Updated: 23-Oct-2005 |
Before reading this review, please read Some Thoughts on Phone Reviewing.
At the time of this writing I’m not sure if Nokia will
release a “b” version that includes the improvements found in the newest “i”,
but I would presume they will. In that case, the only real difference between
the “b” and the “i” is that the “b” has 850 MHz support in place of 900 MHz
support.
The major changes to the phone are a far superior camera and a greatly improved
display, but otherwise the new 6230 and the old 6230 seemed to perform about the
same.
RF Performance
RF Sensitivity: When it comes to RF performance,
the Nokia 6230b is among the best GSM phones I’ve yet tested. At both 850 MHz
(on the “b” version only) and at 1900 MHz the phone can sustain a call in places
most other phones just cannot. At 1900 MHz both phones were even slightly better
than my Nokia 6310i, which has been the
standard-bearer at 1900 MHz for quite some time.
Some of the improvement can be attributed to the AMR CODEC, which Rogers now
supports. When signals get very weak the network switches modes and uses less of
the bits for the audio and more for error correction. This results in slightly
raspier sound, but with great stability.
Over-the-road Performance: Over-the-road
performance is about on par with other Nokia products, which is to say good, but
not stellar. I’d pick a Motorola V220 or
V300 over this phone for on-the-move calls.
Click on this link for a full description of
RF Performance, and how to interpret it.
Audio Performance
Tonal Balance: The tonal balance of the newer 6230i
is slightly less rich-sounding than the 6310i, but the difference is relatively
small and not particularly significant. You can only really tell that there is a
difference by literally comparing the two phones side-by-side in a simultaneous
connection to the same recording. Both the 6310i and 6230 possess tonal balance
that is quite literally as good as it gets. Only some of the Motorola V-series
phones can come close.
Sound Reproduction: Incoming sound quality is
excellent and earpiece volume was pretty good (thought not as loud as the
6310i). The 6230 processes Nokia’s
volume-boost feature, which increases the earpiece volume (even when you have it
set at max) when the background noise goes above a certain level.
My only complaint about the incoming audio is that it possesses a tad too much
sidetone for my liking. It isn’t a huge amount of sidetone like I found on the
recent review of the Siemens S46, but its
noticeable enough in a noisy environment to be annoying to picky users like
myself.
Sidetone is when the phone feeds a sample of the audio from the
microphone to the speaker so that you know that the phone is working. However,
when the sidetone is too loud it makes background din around you sound like
noise in the incoming audio.
Outgoing sound quality is quite good also, but once again it seems to be about
the same as most the better-quality Nokia models, in that it picks up a bit more
background noise than it should. Overall however, the phones sounds great both
incoming and outgoing (sidetone issues notwithstanding).
Click on this link for a full description of
Audio Performance, and how to interpret it.
Support Features
Speakerphone: The speakerphone feature of the 6230b
is surprisingly good for such a small phone. While the maximum volume of the
speaker isn’t all that loud, the quality of the sound delivered is exceptional.
In a quite room it is very easy to have a conversation using the speakerphone
feature.
Ringer Volume: The ringer on the 6230 isn’t quite
as loud as the one on the 6310i, but overall the phone can generate ringtones
that are loud enough to hear in a busy shopping mall or on a noisy street
corner. As always however, you have to ensure that you choose a ringtone that
produces the loudest sounds to hear it in a noisy environment.
Keypad Design: The keypad seems to be designed to
go along with the style of the phone, rather than to provide good ergonomics.
I’ve certainly tested far worse keypads, but the one on the 6230 is still not
that great. The 4-way cursor key is perhaps the worst of it ilk, as I found it
extremely difficult to press the button directly down (to select options)
without accidentally putting a bit too much pressure in one direction or
another. To be fair, the 6230i has a separate center button which is a bit easier
to press, but I still found it difficult to operate accurately. Overall, this is one of those keypads you absolutely must look at to
use effectively. It’s a bad design, with bad ergonomics.
Display: This is one area where the old 6230 and
the new 6230 differ greatly. The old phone came with the mediocre 128 x 128
pixel display, whereas the new 6230 sports a 208 x 208 pixel display that is
light-years better. With 264% more pixels the new display is really quite
gorgeous by comparison, especially for multimedia applications. Both displays
work well in bright sunlight and both have an excellent backlight.
Camera: I don’t normally review cameras any longer,
but the new 1.3 Megapixel unit installed in the 6230i deserves a special
mention. Unlike the truly crappy 640 x 480 camera that I tested on the 6230b,
the new camera is probably one of the best I’ve ever tried. The lens has to get
a lot of the credit here, because it produces excellent (and consistent) focus
across the entire photograph and it’s sharp enough to make good use of the 1280
x 1024 canvas that is has to work with.
Below is a sample photograph taken in Hong Kong by Howard Chu (the phone's owner), and with it I have included a blow-up of an area of the picture that demonstrates just has good the focus is.
In fact, the quality of the pictures that the 6230i can take is good enough to rival low-end dedicated digital cameras, which is an amazing thing given the overall size of the phone.
Low-light pictures aren't so great however, as they are
often very grainy and of poor quality. You'll definitely want to limit
your photography to well-lit subjects.
The 6230i is also capable of recording videos with sound. The quality isn’t as
good as the still pictures and the frame rate is a little slow, but once again
the excellent quality of the lens produces videos that (in a pinch) are really not
that bad.
Conclusions
I already liked the 6230b that I reviewed last year, but with the vast
improvements in the camera and the display the 6230i is an even better phone.
Lack of support for 850 MHz may put some people off, but the overall performance
of the “i” model is so good that urban users will probably want to get it over
the “b”. With any luck Nokia is planning to release a “b” version with the new
display and camera in the near future, and it will be one of the best-performing North
American GSM phones you can buy.
