The 6110 isn't svelte, though. Its dimensions, at 101 x 49 x 20mm and 125g, are similar to the N95 - although the 6110 is more rounded, with a slightly cumbersome feel. The overall aesthetic isn't really a patch on the N95’s angular elegance.
The 6110 has a regular slidephone arrangement, with decently large keys and a sensible, functional layout. Under the display is the handset's main five-way navigation and scroll control, flanked by the usual soft-menu keys and call/end buttons. There’s the standard squiggle-marked Menu key, next to which is a larger button marked with a compass icon - this is the navigator key that runs the on-board GPS system.
Extensive route planning options
In a few seconds you’re propelled into the sat nav software. The sensitivity of the GPS receiver - mounted at the rear of the earpiece - is good: better than the N95 for locking on quickly. It can locate your position in less than 30 seconds if satellite reception is sufficient, though you may sometimes have to wait for several minutes.
Once up and running, with your location displayed, there’s an extensive set of search criteria and route-planning options. With all the mapping and navigation on the card, network coverage doesn’t hinder the sat nav performance, as it could with Nokia Maps.
Thousands of points of interest – covering entertainment, historical locations, businesses, railway stations, banks, petrol stations, car parks and many more – are stored and easily accessible by search. You can scan through addresses by postcode or tapping in partial details, search across all categories with an immensely useful Free text option and choose your own landmarks for future reference. And - top marks for integration - you can feed in addresses straight from your phone’s contacts list. Clever and slick.
The phone performs searches and route calculations in moments, and there are options at every stage to make navigation less painful. Voice navigation instructions fairly boom out of the powerful speaker on the back of the phone, cutting sharply through any in-car din. On-screen instructions are presented on 2D or 3D maps, and it has a pedestrian mode for on-foot guidance without worrying about one-way systems.
COMMENTS
Vodafone PAYG?
Is there any point in getting a phone like this sim free to use on a PAYG network?
Which functionality can I expect to lose? Can I use 3G etc? I mostly crave the GPS for pedestrian mode so I don't get lost all the time and don't like contracts.
The lack of Wifi is a sore point too... Any chances Nokia have something up their sleeves to address this point any time soonish?
N6110 / N95
It's a pity they didn't implement standard gps interface. Although I can load tomtom, it won't find the GPS, I can use a bluetooth one, but defeats the object.
Route 66 is poor by comparison. I'm sticking with my N series until there is something better, like the Orbit, but with a decent camera.
Mr.G
I own this phone
The battery is only a problem when you're steaming audio over bluetooth and have the gps functions on. It'll last you only a few hours like that, but the only time I ever opperate the phone like that is in the car where it can be charged. Out and about, it's never run flat on me and I always leave the bluetooth on anyway.
Yeah, the camera is only average and the phone comes with a load of junk on it you can't delete, but you can move the stuff you don't want into a folder somewhere.
The only real downside to this phone, is the lens cover is difficult to open.
PS I got mine from vodafone for £40 as a regrade on my contract. All in, I think a very good phone at an outstanding price.
Bloody expensive maps
If you should desire to get all of Europe, it will set you back 8 x 50 Euro.
This adds up to a grand total of 400 Euro, and the same set of maps can be purchased as a complete pack for just 120 Euro from Route 66 if you buy them for any other phone.
Route66 even claim that the regular software won't run on the 6110, so this sweet phone is bait for expensive maps down the road.
Battery life
Everyone moans about battery life when using the GPS, it's the backlight that kills the battery not the GPS. Leave the backlight on full blast on any phone and it will discharge fast.
Use the option to dim the display between instructions, it lasts for ages then.
I have a Tomtom one v3 as well as a 6110, the Tomtom has 2 hours battery life, so I don't see the point about battery life being poor on this?
