Nokia 6280 Bringing video sharing and video calls to life

The Nokia 6280 is a 3G slide phone. It's not a smartphone, but has virtually all of the high-end capabilities that normally come with a 3G smartphone, but without the Symbian operating system. The fact that it has a conventional Series 40 operating system makes the user interface fast and responsive.

Music is catered for with a music player for MP3 tracks and Visual Radio. Sound output is in stereo, and a stereo headset is supplied. The phone comes with 74 Mbytes of built-in memory plus an expandable memory card - ideal for storing music and video. The 6280 also has an interesting and novel feature - video ringtones!

Connectivity is fully supported, with Bluetooth, USB 2.0 and infra-red, as well as super-fast internet access via EDGE or 3G, supporting download speeds of up to 384 kbps, and upload speeds of 128 kbps. Battery life is very good for a 3G phone.
The Nokia 6280 is potentially one of the best 3G phones currently available. However, it is very unreliable and there have been a variety of faults reported - from memory card faults, to shutting down and even total failure. It's a shame, but we really can't recommend the 6280.

As a late adopter of handset designs that stray from a classic candybar-style, Nokia has so far this year shown us two of its slider phones, the small and bulbous 6111, and the bulky 3G 6280. If you're looking for a more inconspicuous slider, you'd be better off with Samsung's D820, which shaves a couple of millimetres off the Nokia's thickness.

With the slider closed on the 6820, Nokia still gives you access to functions such as push-to-talk and camera mode, with dedicated buttons for each on the side. You can also browse the menu with the navigation key to read messages and make calls from your phone book.

Similar to Sony Ericsson's K750i, the Nokia 6280's viewfinder and shortcut key are orientated for landscape mode when taking pictures, so it feels somewhat like using a regular digital camera when you're taking snapshots.
Features of the Nokia 6280 include:

* 3G functionality (including video calling)
* 2 megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom and integrated flash
* VGA camera for video calling
* Display: Active Matrix, 262,144-colours, 320 x 240 pixels
* Music player with stereo output (stereo headset supplied)
* Visual Radio
* Video ringtones
* Messaging: SMS, MMS, Instant Messaging, email (SMTP, POP3, and IMAP4)
* Java games
* XHTML web browser
* Memory: 74 Mbytes plus miniSD card
* Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB 2.0, Infra-red
* WAP, GPRS Class 10, EDGE (up to 236.8 kbps) & 3G (up to 384 kbps download)
* Triband + 3G
* Size: 100 x 46 x 21 mm
* Weight: 115g
* Talktime: up to 3 hours (3G) or 4 hours (2G)
* Battery standby: up to 250 hours (2G or 3G)

The bright QVGA, 262,144 color display (320x240 pixels) of the Nokia 6280 highlights the phone's excellent photography capabilities. With dedicated camera and zoom buttons, the Nokia 6280 creates a natural, user-friendly conventional camera experience by operating the photography function in a horizontal landscape mode. Pictures and videos can be conveniently stored on the Nokia 6280's miniSD memory card.
Repair The Nokia 6280: