SINGAPORE: There was a time when a mobile phone was just a mobile phone.

These days, the mobile phone has to have a plethora of attributes — from fancy multimedia options to global positioning system (GPS) capabilities — to entice the feature-thirsty modern consumer.

Well, the Nokia 6210 Navigator is here to show the way!

The quad-band 3.5G HSDPA-enabled phone sports the same slider-phone shell (available in black or red) of its predecessor, the 6110 Navigator, with only a slight facelift and weight loss.

Upgrades are minimal, like an improved 3.2-megapixel camera with 20x digital zoom, a slightly bigger 2.4-inch screen with accelerometer rotation, bigger 120MB user memory, updated Symbian OS 9.3 with USB2.0, and a microSD card slot that supports up to 8GB of memory.

Button layout and user interface are intuitive, in archetypal Nokian fashion. There are even mini-pullout doors for the USB and microSD slots.

However, accessing the battery compartment and SIM card slot at the rear is an arduous task as it involves opening a stubborn back cover with no opening mechanism.

Despite its elegant looks, the overall build of the 6210 feels a bit plastic, and the front screen is a superb notice board for smudges and fingerprints.

The top alphanumeric pads are also slightly hindered by the slider.

Luckily, typing SMS or email is still a breeze with the competent predictive text option.

Voice reception is crystal clear in various locations, from lifts to the MRT.

While the 6210 has almost all the connectivity options like GPRS and HSDPA, it lacks WiFi support, which has become ubiquitous.

Loading Web pages via HSDPA is fast, but using the directional pad to surf and view Web pages on the small screen makes for an inferior Web surfing experience compared to that on touchscreen phones like the iPhone.

The 6210 has good multimedia featuresand includes FM radio and voice recorder. Song playback is surprisingly good, and you can tweak equaliser and audio settings, and create playlists.

Video playback is average, with the ability to view clips in landscape mode, thanks to the accelerometer.

The phone comes with assisted GPS (A-GPS) support, which uses the cellular network to increase the speed of locking onto GPS satellites.

You have the option to turn off network-based GPS to avoid incurring data charges.

The phone uses Nokia Maps with a free six-month live navigation licence, which means you have to pay a subscription fee beyond that.

The time taken to lock onto the GPS satellites is inconsistent, ranging from a few seconds to 93 seconds.

Once locked on, the GPS works enthusiastically as long as you don't venture indoors.

Even when I was driving through the CTE tunnel, the phone quickly regained its position when I came out of the tunnel.

It also recalculates the route in a few seconds whenever you deviate from its suggested path.

The phone's screen is visible even in bright sunlight, and the voice giving you directions is so loud that you must be deaf to miss your corners.

But looking at your location on the small screen is straining. Even though the screen shows your speed and distance travelled, the information is so small that you might meet an accident if you try to peek at it.

You don't have to worry about that when you are walking.

There is an interesting digital compass that uses the accelerometer to rotate wherever you walk, so that you stay on your bearings.

You can also search for points of interests, like the nearest restaurants and cinemas. It's an online search though, so you’ll have to incur data charges again.

The Nokia 6210 Navigator (S$678, without operator plan) certainly performs competently in terms of navigation. But the subscription-based navigation software and the lack of WiFi might just be too big a deterrent for some. - TODAY/fa