The slide out keypad is well spaced and springy without being creaky, while the slightly concave control area under the display helps separate the buttons and raise the large, ridged D-Pad and menu button slightly proud of the panel. Under this navigation key is a blue compass-shaped Navigator button, for activating the Nokia Maps system.
Screen legibility is important if you’re looking at maps, and the display used here is a decent-sized 2.4in screen, a bright and clear 320 x 240, 16m-colour affair. It’s not as big as most touchscreen phones, or a standalone in-car satnav, but it does the job.
An accelerometer provides motion-sensing orientation of the display
Inside the phone, an accelerometer provides motion-sensing auto-orientation of the display depending how it’s being held. It works during menu operation and a number of other features, including the browser, RealPlayer video player, image gallery, music player, and one of the installed games.
The 6210 Navigator’s menu system is a typical S60 set up, with half a dozen user-definable shortcut options lined up as icons on the top of the standby screen, plus soft-menu shortcuts. The main menu and sub-menus are busy, with plenty of applications and options to play with, but the phone responds quickly to button tapping, even when several applications are open at the same time.
The most direct route to the Nokia Maps application is via the blue Navigator key. Tap the star-shaped button, and the headline A-GPS system kicks in. Nokia Maps starts up, and usually within 30 seconds we'd found our precise location pinpointed on the map. It can take longer – Nokia reckons between a few seconds and several minutes – depending on where you are, but in our tests it was a pretty consistent and trouble-free process, much as it was with the N82 and 6220 Classic.
As well as the A-GPS technology, there’s a compass mode that you can calibrate with some flicking of the wrist. Designed to help pedestrians, this orientates the maps automatically to match the direction you’re looking in.
COMMENTS
@Trialware
I agree.
I have a 6110 Navigator, which includes (the use of, not updates) maps and full navigation for life. Why on earth would I want to 'upgrade' to the 6210 when the nav functions only last for 6 months?
I bought the phone specifically for the satnav, as I dont use it anywhere near enough (probably 10 times in the last year) to justify purchasing/carrying a dedicated satnav device. Nokia's offerings become a whole lot less attractive if the nav expires after a period; and anyway, with this government's attitude to roads its hardly as though map updates are essential to keep the nav up to date with the thousands of miles of new motorways opened every year, is it? ;-)
Trialware
"Nokia includes a six-month licence for its Drive and Walk step-by-step navigation package"
What happens after six months? Does it just stop updating the maps or does it stop working at all and requires to pay to extend the subscription? The sad thing is that it's very likely that such bait&switch phones will eventually push the cheap dedicated satnav devices out of the market. Same thing that happened with PDAs - why would you need one if your phone does everything? Except that you have to pay subscription fees for the privilege to squint at the small screen.
Re-using model numbers?
Have Nokia made more than 10000 numeric phone models now and having to start again? There is already a 6210 - it was a fine phone, no-nonsense business phone.
When are they going to remake the 2110?
Damn
I had a 6210 for years, and never worked out how to enable the colour screen, GPS, 3G, camera etc. I might have kept it if I knew it could do all that!
