Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #126651 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Nokia
• Model: Nokia6230virgin
• Released on: 2005-03-03

Manufacturer's Description
Packed with powerful features, brilliant communication tools and rich multimedia capabilities, the Nokia 6230 helps you conquer busy days. Connect seamlessly to the world with Bluetooth wireless technology and EDGE. Experience a richer browsing experience with it's xHTML browser. Be updated and entertained by streaming news, sports broadcasts, movie trailers and live music video feeds. Send compelling multimedia messages2 with the Integrated VGA Camera and Video Recorder. Store it all on the high-capacity MultiMedia Card and finally, chill-out to some cool tunes on the built-in Digital Music Player. Do it all on with phone - the incredibly ingenious Nokia 6230!

Customer Reviews

Nice phone, service does not do what I want
I am new to mobiles. I started with the Nokia 1100, which is cheap, has a huge battery life, and gives me phone calls and texts. I was tempted by the 6230, which has great reviews, but why would I need it? Finally I decided I needed it for: web browsing, email, and picture messaging. The sad fact is that, with Virgin, you do not get any of these perfectly (as of May 2005).

You can send pictures to email addresses, but the recipients cannot reply. Picture messages to phone or email take hours to arrive. Although the phone supports plain emails, Virgin does not (I spent a lot of time calling customer service).

You can surf to websites, but, as ever, it is not that simple. I went to my favorite used-book site, and it came up fine. I entered details into the search form, and then got a bunch of messages about redirection, followed by "Unknown Response". Virgin says that this is because the site does not support WML. I tried the trick of using google-wml and google-xhtml and google-imode to view the site, but these did not work either. The site worked fine when I used an iMode phone in Japan a year ago! I hope the UK catches up soon.

Not everything works out of the box. You have to go to the Virgin website and send settings for MMS and enhanced WAP. When you select a MMS service, do *not* select Virgin Enhanced, but use the second "Picture Messaging" in the list of services. This precious fact is brought to you by an hour or so of frustration.

The phone does not come with the USB cable, called DKU-2, although you can buy one from Amazon. The software CD that came with the phone did not see the phone on the USB port (yes I installed the cable drivers first). But if you download the latest software from the Nokia web site, then it works. Synching with the Outlook address book and calendar works great, and is very cool.

The phone itself is sweet. The central rocker key must be pushed very carefully directly down to select a menu item: very often it rocks to one side and shunts you into some menu that you do not want. I suspect this will only get more annoying with time. And, although the screen goes dark sooner than you would like, to save energy, the battery only lasts a couple of days between charges. I can't say much about the games, because I do not care, but the kids seem to like them. Having an mp3 player is conceptually nice, but I have a Creative Muvo and prefer to burn its batteries on music.

All in all I was tempted to return the phone due to the internet disappointments, but will probably keep it. Perhaps I will try another carrier, though.

Full Specifications
Full Specifications

General

Tri-band Operation
EGSM 900, GSM 1800, and GSM 1900 networks in Europe, Africa, Asia-Pacific, North America, and South America where these networks are supported
Automatic switching between bands

Size
Weight: 97 g (with BL-5C)
Dimensions: 103 mm x 44 mm x 20 mm, 76cc

Display and User Interface
27.3 mm x 27.3 mm display
Active TFT color display
Supports up to 65,536 colors within 128 x 128 pixels
5 lines for text in basic mode with 16-pixel font
Three soft keys with five-way scroll including select function
User configurable right and left soft keys
List and grid menu

Integrated VGA Camera
Resolution up to 640 x 480
Self timer function (10 sec)
Phone display used as a viewfinder
Standard, portrait, and night modes
Photo album in Gallery
Gallery for storing and editing images
3 image quality options: High, normal, basic
Integrated video recorder: 3GPP spec (H.263 video and AMR audio packed in .3gp format)
Integrated video player: 3GPP spec (H.263 video, MPEG-4, and AMR audio packed in .3gp format)
Video streaming: 3GPP spec (H.263 video )

Phone Features
Personal shortcuts
Alarm clock
Stereo FM radio
Radio as alarm clock alert
Automatic volume control
Extensive calendar with busy view of the week, improved notes view for each day, snooze on calendar alarm
Notes view for each day
To-do list (up to 30 entries)
Automatic key guard
Wallet
Stopwatch
Countdown timer
Wallpaper: Full-screen color image
Animated color screensavers
Changeable color schemes
Calculator

Messaging and Imaging

Multimedia Messaging (MMS)
Multimedia messaging (MMS) with compatible devices: Send and receive messages containing text, a sound clip, and an image or a video clip to other compatible devices
Max message size: Up to 100 kB per MMS

Email
Over SMS
Java midlet

Presence
Chat (Instant Messaging )
Presence-enhanced contacts

Text Messaging (SMS)
SMS distribution list
Up to 150 text messages or 50 picture/concatenated messages
Concatenated SMS: Send and receive up to 6 messages (885 characters) as a single message
Message register
Predictive text input: Support for all major languages for Europe, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and the Americas
Picture messaging: Send pictures with text to other compatible phones, 10 preset pictures in the phone, all replaceable

Templates
Quick and easy sending of predefined messages
Insert smileys with the editor

Imaging
Picture viewer
Storage of images uses shared user memory. See Memory Functions below
Images: 10 preset wallpapers, 10 preset SMS pictures, 5 preset frames, 10 preset clip art pictures in the phone
Image editing
Image editing features: Add a scalable clip art picture, add colored text, make the image smaller for contacts

Games
Java games
Beach Ralley II, Golf, and Chess Puzzle
Possibility to download new games
Two-player games over Bluetooth technology between compatible devices

Java™ Applications
Converter II: Converts currencies, measurements, temperature, etc
World Clock II
Translator
All applications user removable
Downloadable games and personal applications via Java™ technology (MIDP 2.0)
Max download size: 128 kB per application

Ringing Tones
Fixed ringing tones: 20 polyphonic and 10 monophonic tones

Connectivity and Data Transfer

Connectivity
Pop-Port™ interface
Connect wirelessly to a compatible phone or to a compatible PC
Connect to a compatible PC with Nokia Connectivity Cable DKU-2
Infrared
Bluetooth wireless technology
Send and receive images, video clips, audio files, and graphics
Install applications with Nokia PC Suite for the Nokia 6230 phone
Browsing XHTML (WAP 2.0) over TCP/IP stack
JPEG/PNG support in browser
Full OMA DRM for content protection
SyncML

Data Transfer
EDGE* Class 10 (4+1, 3+2): Speed up to 236.8 Kbit/s
GPRS (General Packet Radio Service)* Class 10 (4+1, 3+2)
HSCSD (High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data)*
Data transfer up to 43.2 Kbit/s in HSCSD networks
Multitasking*
TCP/IP*

*Note that these services require network support.

Call Management
Speed dialing: Up to 9 names, with keys 2-9
Last-number redial from dialed calls list (Dial key brings out the dialed calls list)
Automatic redial (max 10 attempts)
Automatic answer (works with headset or car kit only)
Call waiting, call hold, call divert, call timer
Automatic and manual network selection
Caller identification with image
Closed User Group
Fixed Dialing Number, allows calls only to predefined numbers
Conference call (up to 5 participants)
Vibrating alert

Voice Features
Voice dialing, 25 preset
16 voice commands
Voice recording up to 3 min
Integrated handsfree speaker
Automatic volume control

Software
PC Suite

Memory Functions
The following functions use shared memory that is dependent on the data quantity per item and shared memory available at a time in the Nokia 6230 phone. The shared memory pool is up to 6 MB. Possibility to get additional memory with MultiMediaCard (MMC).

Notes: Up to 3000 characters in one note
Email messages: Max 30 kB per message
Ringing tones in Gallery: 20 preset, all removable
Images in Gallery: 10 preset
Video clips: Record up to 2 MB (equal to up to 5 min); download up to 5 MB
Multimedia messages: Max message size 100 kB per MMS
Java™ applications: 6 preset, max download size 128 kB per application
Phone book: Up to 1000 contacts with all entries filled, in addition to SIM card contacts

Personalize
Java midlets
Games: Possibility to download new games
Polyphonic tones
Monophonic tones

Excellent Phone
Ive had the phone for a few weeks and am very happy with it. The pack also included a 32Mb memory card, a hands free kit (basic, but essential for the radio) and £5 of credit on the SIM.