Nokia 8600 Preview

Although not yet announced by Nokia, details of the sliding Nokia 8600 phone have now been released by the Carphone Warehouse group who say the the 8600 will be available from 30th May onwards, exclusively to CPW and its companies throughout Europe such as the Phonehouse, OneStopPhoneShop and e2save.

Clearly closely modelled on the Nokia 8800 Sirocco, the 8600 is a stylish slider phone aimed at fashion conscious consumers and executives. Featuring an unusual smoked glass sliding cover, the Nokia 8600 certainly scores well for "wow factor". Other features are a general improvement on the 8800 series, with a 240x320 pixel display, quad-band GSM support for worldwide roaming, and the Nokia 8600 also has a 2 megapixel camera, 128MB of internal memory and an FM radio.

As well as the stylish semitransparent cover, the Nokia 8600 features quite a lot of stainless steel in its construction which brings the weight up to a heft 140 grams while adding significantly to the 8600's structural strength. Despite the weight, the Nokia 8600 isn't a 3G device although it does have 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM with GPRS and EDGE. Of course, the Nokia 8600 also has Bluetooth and an MP3 player.

One major limitation is the lack of any memory expansion - the Nokia 8600 just has the 128 MB of internal memory and no more can be added. The 8800 suffered from a similar problem. This means that the available memory can fill up pretty quickly with photos and music tracks which limits the enjoyment to be had from the handset a little. The battery life isn't great either, with just 3.5 hours talktime and 10 days standby time.

Despite the shortcomings, one thing that the Nokia 8600 will have is common with the original 8800 and later 8800 Sirocco is looks, and the overall design and usability of the 8800 has appealed to many people in the past. This device certainly won't suit everyone - especially when you take price into consideration - but it is appealing in many ways.

The Carphone Warehouse say the that the Nokia 8600 should be available from the 30th May 2007 on the O2 network in black, exclusively to them at launch. More details can be found here and here. In the UK the 8600 will be about £140 with a £35/month contract.