The Nokia 6265 Reviewed

[tanveer 59]

Since I had written a long review of 6255, I feel compelled to write another one and as detailed or probably more.

This is the fifth phone that I am using with Reliance so comparisons with the previous ones (incidental as well as intentional) will be frequent.

I have come to realize that it is difficult for me to keep myself away from a much hyped gadget (which of course fits in my budget). So I finally gave into the temptation and bought this phone a couple of days ago. I haven't experimented to my heart's content as yet, though I would begin writing and keep on improving and modifying with time.

I will be using Photos as well in between just to emphasise certain points though it might be a source of inconvenience to people on dial up.

Here we go. Overall it has been a good initial association with this gadget so far. There are some glitches and some shortfalls which I will try to highlight as well.

And please I don't work for Nokia neither for a rival company. The views and opinions expressed here are solely mine and are in no way intended to force the reader to try the product or prevent him from doing so.

The Review

Let us be very clear about a few facts.

First, Nokia 6265 is the most advanced CDMA phone launched till date by Nokia. As rightly pointed out by someone there was a Symbian OS based phone planned for CDMA platform but either it was not launched or withdrawn and we presently have no details about it.

Second, for the Indian markets I think it is the most advanced CDMA phone for any company. I am not too impressed with the Moto and its pruned features except probably for the looks.

Third to my mind this is the best looking phone on reliance so far. Thus far, I thought LG 6000 was, but this one beats it by miles. Also probably, the slide is in and the flip is out.

Now let's analyze the features

The Exterior

This one is a departure from Nokia s typical shapes and forms. The slide design resembling its GSM counterpart 6270, is a nice change from typical Nokia shapes. The smooth small grain finish and round edges give this phone a sleek look. Like the previous one, no Reliance label anywhere on this one either. The absence of antenna as opposed to 6255, makes carrying and handling a bit easier.

There has been a lot of discussion about the color of this handset. Well it is not the one shown on the website and probably that one wont ever be launched. This was the case with 6255 brown and black color. The color is a dark steel grey and not the silver that you would presume. Perhaps the pic will help you visualize better.

The weight is lesser than 6270 and 6255 as well. And it feels smooth to have in hand.

There is a small sliding cover on the right edge of the phone that covers the headset jack, but it slides a bit too easily. THey should have had a latch or something of the sort so that it remained shut. There is also a small port for Infra red on the right side. Never used it so can not comment about its utility.

The left side has the volume up down key. This one is a little hard to my liking.

The camera key is present on the left edge near the bottom part. When the phone is held in the horizontal direction, this rotates to right upper edge and can be easily used like the camera click key. The display of course acting like the LCD of digital cameras in this case.

The Front

With the slide closed,

Only 5 buttons and the navigation key are visible

The right and left soft keys, The call and the power key and the central select key and navigation key. The central key is very soft and comfortable to use unlike 6255 which had a very hard central key. The only concern about keys and especially these keys is that these have a metal finish and I am not sure that their color/ polish will stay for a very long time. Hopefully I am proved wrong and it will last the distance.

The display is amazing and the screen is 340x240. I have used 7230 which was a 262k display but the display was smaller and did not bring about the color resolution as well.

The display has the signal strength battery strength the digital clock and Reliance logo. Thankfully, this logo small and not a big one in the center, it can however be personlaised.

The small earpiece is just above the display. There is a small LED indicator that blinks to show that the phone is active. I have seen such a thing on Samsung but I dont remember a Nokia Phone with such a feature.

With the slide opened,

There is the keypad on the back piece. Since the navigation and soft keys are on the front piece, the keypad only has the number keys. Of course these can be used for other things like messages etc. These keys are soft but they are smaller and more closely placed than 6255 and 7230 so it makes smsing and gaming a little uncomfortable.

You can make a call without opening the slider. The recently called number will be easier to dial but if you are going to search your directory, it is easier done through the keypad, unless you can take the pains of scrolling through all the numbers with the navigation key. Calls can be answered easily with the slider closed however.

Smsing again can be done both ways. Forwarding a message to a distribution list can be done with the slide closed but to compose you have to open the slide and to send to a contact, it is more convenient usking the keypad itself.

The Back

Smooth as you like with the brand name, camera, the flashlight and the self image mirror. The battery cover is not protruding as was the case with 6255. The flash to my mind is a waste. I wonder why they have flash with Camera phones. Havent seen one decent quality pic taken with flash on.The overall shape is impressive

The lower edge

has a port for the Data cable/ pop port (DKU2 works just fine) and the power. Both are located in the back piece. The power pin of the circuit that works with this phone is smaller and hence different from all the other Nokia phone chargers that I know of, with the possible exception of 6270 which again has one similar to this. My friends N80 too has a similar one. They however have provided another small wire adapter, that helps connect it to the old charger. I am not too sure about this tough.

The upper edge has a small slit for the loudspeaker in the front piece and the Mini SD card slot in the front piece.

Edited September 24, 2006 by tanveer

[tanveer 59]

The Menu

If you have seen the menu of 6270, you will know that it is not much different, except maybe for the options of PTT and Web icons, which are not present in this phone.

The menu has the following items in it

1. Messages

2. Call register/ Log

3. Contacts

4. Camera

5. Gallery

6. Media

7. Settings

8. Organiser

9. R world

10. Extras

11. RUIM options

The phone supports text, voice, minibrowser as well as multimedia messaging. Text message section has the usual features like write message, sent messages folder, archives, outbox, templates, my folders and distribution list etc.

Like the 6255, distribution list is a send to group like feature where you can make and save a list and later use it to send messages to multiple recipients. You can have a maximum of 10 contacts in the distribution list. I am not too sure about the number of lists that can be created.

If messaging was easy with Nokia phones, it has become easier with this one. Two features that I have liked in messaging with this phone are:-

a) there is an option of using the recently used numbers for sending messages. A feature that was present in such basic phones as 6130 but have been lacking in Nokia Phones. and

b ) It allows you to go to the next message In the inbox without having to go back to the main inbox folder. Say you have received a message from "A" and the next message is from "B" in the inbox folder. While reading "A's" message you can just press the right key of the navigation key and hop on to the next message from "B".

There are options for prompting to save,never save and always saving the sent messages. Delivery reports can be set according to preference, whether you want to receive them or not. You can change these settings as and when you like. Needless to say, the phone supports the T9 input.

SMS to many feature is present in this phone, however SMS to group is lacking. That of course can be compensated by using Group contacts in the distribution lists. SMS to many is also helped by the recent used list making it convenient. I however would not have liked to have the distribution list contacts to be in the recently used list, since it is already convenient to access those.

The SMS storage capacity of Nokia CDMA phones ahs been a let down, since they can not be stored on the phone expandable memory. If you delete the unnecesary templates etc., you can store up to 130 messages on this phone. As of now, there is no way that you can save the messages in memory card.

Like 6255 in case you want to exit writing a message and continue later or you accidentally press the end call button the message is automatically saved and you can resume later. This is a saviour because the end key and the clear key (right soft key) are closely spaced and sometimes by mistake you can press the end key. Were it not for this feature, half of my messages would be deleted.

MMS can be sent to other reliance phones and email ids. Someone mentioned that there was some problem initially in sending and receiving MMS. I have not faced any problem receiving and sending them.

The size of this MMS has been increased to 600kb in this phone. I dont think the images will be resized when sent to phones that have a smaller capacity ofr incoming MMS. The MMS is click and send. The number of letters that can be attached to an image or a video is 3000, this was 5000 in 6255, and 1000 in 7230.

I have not ventured into Minibrowser messages and have absolutely no idea about their utility. Anyone having knowledge and experience may please clarify.

3. Contacts and Phone Book

The phone book has a memory for 500 entries with maximum of 5 numbers and a note for each entry. Picture and tones can be assigned to the contacts. Also tones and logos can be assigned to the groups.

The RUIM has a memory for 250 numbers and not 250 entries.

One feature which was lacking and hence irritating in 6255 was inability to assign Gallery tones (not the nokia default tones) to individual contacts. Thankfully this has been rectified in this phone.

There is a caller group feature with 5 preset groups, namely Family, friends, business other and VIP. You can edit the names and settings for these groups.

Saving a number is simple as usual. Also saving a number from sms and from the text in the message is present increasing the convenience in saving numbers.

4. Camera

I have always believed that a camera phone can never substitute for a camera, whatever its resolution and a digital camera can not substitute for a video camera and so on. These new phones prove just that. It’s a 2mp camera but then without optical zoom I don’t see any fun having a camera with only digital zoom. The color resolution is not very good and there is small grain in most of the pics. Hoever pics taken in the daylight seem to be real good. Same is the quality of the cam of 6270 of one of my friends or probably a little less. Someone has also posted a few pics on another thread. Sometimes however it surprises you with the quality of the pics.

I feel that the color balance is not so good. My 6255 gave better results is terms of color. 6130 has a little bias towards red. 7230 was ok. GTRAN was like mmmmm…. Lets not talk about it. It was a .1 MP camera anyways.

There are various modes standard, movie and night mode. The options for Image size are 1600x1200, 1280x960, 640x480,320x240 and 160x 120. Similarly there are options for image quality high medium and basic. Movie mode is better but the resolution is not so good. The clips are recorded in 3g2 format. There is the option of zooming in and out during recording a movie clip. You have the option of recording the clip with or without audio. The maximum length of the clip depends on the memory of your card. The flash is no good. I don’t see any point why it should have been put in the phone. Similarly the night mode is waste. While using the night mode, the exposure time increases so much that there is a high likelihood of getting a blurred pic. The lag that was so pronounced between the click and the shutter in 6255 has been substantially reduced in this phone.

Images are in JPEG format and stored in the images folder of the gallery. You can move them to the memory card as and when required to free up space in the gallery or you can change the default storage folder of storage for pics and videos to your choice. Similarly the default title can be changed.

Default mode can be changed between video and picture. There is the provision for self timer as well. Camera sounds can be switched on or off.

5. Gallery

Nothing much new. The gallery has default folders for images, video clips, music files, graphics, tones and recordings. Add to that the memory card where you can store your music, images and videos. The new options that have been added that were not present in 6255 are themes (which 6255 did not allow) and Received files, which is the default folder for files received from Bluetooth devices.

There are various capacity memory cards available. The type used in this phone is mini SD. The default card provided is 64 MB. This is too less for a phone that has 2MP camera (and hence big image sizes) and MP3 player. Nokia provides a Mini SD card of 512 Mb with 6270. They could have done the same. Don’t know if it was Nokia or Reliance that played truant in this case. People have used upto 1GB cards with success. I enquired and found out the price for a 1GB Mini SD card as 1400 (varies from 1400-1700) in Nehru Place in Delhi.

6. Media

The media player has a provision of playing online media but when I click on it, it launches the browser and takes me to Nokia on the web. Will have to explore this part to know more about it. Music player is good. I haven’t found a sea of difference between the quality of 6255 and 6265 though. It can play MP3 and aac format. The rewind/ ffw problem has been solved by Schumi. Loudspeaker is much better than 6255 as in the voice does not break. The pop port headset provided is amazing, though the ear pieces rpovided are big and at times uncomfortable. The sound clarity and resolution is excellent. You have to listen to believe.

Same is the case with radio, reception is good, but you have to have a headset (pop or the other) inserted which acts as an antenna. Once tuned, you can switch to loudspeaker mode but you have to keep the headset plugged in which acts as an antenna. I have used the headset in the jack provided on the top edge and it works though it does not match the clarity of the pop port headset. Like 6255, there is a media equalizer as well with 5 preset settings and two customizable.

There is a voice recorder which has a default limit of 3 minutes which does not depend on the memory selected. Like 6255, there is no option to record conversations. I have used only GTRAN 4020 that allowed such a thing to be carried out.

7. Settings and Organizer dont have anything much novel.

8. Connectivity

You can use Cable (DKU-2), Infrared and Bluetooth to connect to a PC. I have tried Bluetooth and Cable and they work perfectly fine. I have also used both to connect to internet. The same commands in the advanced settings that I used for 6255 were applied here and the connection was simple. I don’t use Nokia PC suite to connect to the net.

9. Extras WAP and Surfing

This is something that a lot of people especially Anujit will be interested in, so I will be putting the pictures as well. There are two options to surf the net in this phone. You can either use the default browser given in the R world menu or you can install the third party software and surf. I have tried both the things.

The default browser is a bland one and displays pages in the WAP format. The good thing here though is that it has the options for autocomplete like in many windows programs

The third party browsers give you a very sophisticated feel and hence are easy to work with. Most of us have installed opera mini and I personally have found it to be excellent. It displays pages in the HTML format. I have used it to post on rimweb as well. It is little cumbersome but vital when you are away from your terminal.

They do allow you to open images as well, but if you want to download them, it asks you something like “Are you sure you want to download xyz image? The browser will be shut down if you press ok”. When you press ok, you are taken to the default browser from where I have not been able to download any image.

One problem that remains unresolved is of frequent connection errors. It sometimes takes upto 3-4 tries to connect but at times I have noticed that for sessions of even half hour duration I haven’t had a single error. Might be a problem at reliance end. People who have used 6155 can tell if they too experience the same.

Performance Features and Flaws

R World

R world experience has been altogether different. It is somehow seems quicker than any of the phones I have used in the past. Also there are certain applications that are not opened but are rather downloaded to the folder of your choice. I have noticed this with R bill and City guide (might be happening with other apps as well.) These apps in the form of java applets are then launched later and connect to the network and directly take you to submenu of you choice. Say I need to access city guide, once I have downloaded the city guide application, I can just click on it and it will directly take me there, other wise I will have to go like R World>> Membership>> Guides>> City Guide.

Applications

Many other applications can be used on this phone as opposed to the S40 2nd edition phone (read 6255) that I was earlier using. The applications have to be in Java format and no sis files work as opposed to the Symbian phones. Google maps was really impressive, however they do not have maps for India, but the maps for New York and London were shown in great detail. There are certain satellite images available for India akin to Google earth. The largest size of applications that can be used is 512 kb.

Games

Gaming has been another nice experience on this phone. The phone allows Java Games to be played. I have downloaded and played a few games on this phone and the visuals are really impressive. I again miss the keyad of my 6255 while playing games.

Themes

A number of themes have been tried out by me nad various other members and work well. The large screen and the rich color resolution make these themes look really attractive on this phone. I particularly liked the Smokey, Juventus, Hell and Spiderman themes that I have downloaded from various sites. The problem as pointed out by someone, and experienced by me as well is that the tone settings are also changed once you change the theme. Some themes have their own ringtones, others use the default Nokia tone. This is very irritating if you want to keep the tones the same but want to change the visuals.

Miscellaneous

The voice tag and voice commands as given in the user manual can be used by pressing the names key which however is replaced by R world short cut. This can however still be used by the same R world key (the Right soft key).

The messages can be locked. This protects them from being inadvertently deleted.

I have found the ear piece in the headset to be a bit uncomfortable.

Also I would have liked the phone with the slide closed to be a bit bigger than what it is. It would have made a perfect fit in the hand then. Not that it slips or something but would have made better grip.

The front display and the camera lens cover are at the same level (flush) with the rest of the body. That makes them susceptible to scratches. Phones that have the display panel set a bit deep are protected from the wear and tear.

The keypad could have been a bit bigger. I perhaps compare this with 6255 which had bigger better and probably as soft keys in its keypad. That would have made prolific smsing comfortable.

As I have already said, the connectivity option or rather BT should have been a separate menu item. The shortcut 7-9-1 helps though.

I also would have liked the Mini SD card slot cover to be a bit more solid. It is placed in the location corresponding to the IR port in the 6270. Also it does not appear as fragile in that phone.

Conclusion

I have realised that whatever the make and the model of the phone, you will never be satisfied with it. One of my friends the other day could not find a file he had saved in the memory card of his phone and was livid that there was no search in his phone like the search tool we have in the windows. In another review that I read on one of the forums about another phone, the reviewer was angry that though his phone has meeting profile but it does not automatically switch to meeting profile when he has saved meeting time in his calendar. So the more the technology advances, the more will our demands be.

Also I dont think it is fair to compare any two phones but comparisons seen inevitable when talking of gadgets and also when such expensive ones are being talked about. Some will like this phone, some wont. I dont want to change or influence the opinions of others but just attempted to give my 2 cents (its actually much more than that).

All I can say is that I am satisfied with the performance of this phone and so I was with most of the phones in the past with the exception of GTRAN. As new phones keep cropping up, you feel the need to update your gadgets and so you buy a new one, rather than being dissatisfied with the old one.

Edited September 24, 2006 by tanveer

[Vishal Gupta 4]

Really a gr8 work tanveer!

< Topic Pinned >

PS: Members can post their comments now!

[anujit 0]

Cool review Tanveer.

The only thing that is keeping me from getting the phone is the wap browser! People whats your take on the browser? Can you access the net through the phones browser???

[tanveer 59]

If that is the only thing, I think you should buy it. It has really good wap speed. I use Opera mini and it is really good. It gives connection errors at times, but otherwise surfing is really good

[mastermunj 10]

@Tanveer

@Schaumi

You guys have done a very good review of the phone.

Everything listed donw by u guys are enough to know for buying this device.

But somehow, am still thinking about the SMS thingy.

I send and receive daily minimum of 50 sms which i can not store in my current handset (Lg RD 5130) but wish that can save them all or atleast few important of them for minimum a day time.

Can u guys, plz take some more effort and try to figure out how many sms can be stored??

Thanks

[drali 6]

@ tanveer

great work Doc.

only FEW query.

1-can we open d attachments of emails as in window based phones(O2,Imate etc)

2-can we access all wap sites? HTML?

3-can we d/l images,ringtones,games,music ,videos thru data cable?

4-can v store sms on SD card or can v transfer it to PC thru data cable(U know my sms output)

[tanveer 59]

You can open the images.i dont think you will be able to open files not supported by this phone. Second all sites can be accessed. I am accessing rimweb through my phone only. Third. You can upload ringtones, images etc from your phone to pc and vice versa. Fourth. As of now there is no way to store sms on memory card.storing them on pc may be possible using opm. Will have to try it.

[drali 6]

@ tanveer

thanx for the speedy reply!

one thing more after sending d sms to d distribution list does the menu return to d inbox or to the sent items(like my 3125)& also clarify it again that can v access all the HTML sites and surfing d net on this is chargeable under DAPO or not.if yes wat r d charges?

gud nite!

[tanveer 59]

I have tried to cover many of the important features of this phone but still there would be so many things that might have been missed. You can ask your queries and doubts if any. However the discussion about the availability of the phone will be discussed in the thread titled “Nokia 6265 launched on Reliance Mobile” and other discussion about features in the “All about Nokia 6265” thread.

Thanks for you patience.

[KumaarShah 143]

Extremely great work, Tanveer. Keep it up.

The SMS count after removing all the templates on my phone is about 105 or max.110 only. Now how to get back the oroginal templates???

The RUIM phone contacts memory is only 150 on my RUIM and not 250. Maybe this is something similar to the 8K,16K,32K SIM cards available for GSM.

The WAP experience is really unique and great and the speeds are also commendable.

Thanks

[tanveer 59]

Thanks for your comments.

Cant comment about SMS but the RUIM shows 250 free in my case.

Maybe you are right about the RUIMs. You can enquire from WW or Nokia CC.

[tanveer 59]

Here is a pic showing the approximate size of this phone with slider closed.

Note: The color that appears in the pic is not the one that is available in our country

[kshah 452]

Tanveer, can you give me PRI file of this phone, I want to check WAP settings. I will post my finding based on comparision of 3125, 6225, 6155, 6235 and 6265 so than if possible non wap phones can use WAP. Also I want to try if RIMWEBIANS can save on RWORLD charges by using WAP bypassing WAP servers.

[tanveer 59]

Sure, will do that. give me a couple of days.

[drali 6]

Here is a pic showing the approximate size of this phone with slider closed.

Note: The color that appears in the pic is not the one that is available in our country

WOw!! wat a phone..... ye wala colour kahan milega bhai.

[tanveer 59]

Please do not discuss all this here.

Themes and other things can be discussed on Downloads for 6265 thread.

[Vishal Gupta 4]

All irrelevant posts hv been moved to their relevant topics...

Pls don't post ur queries here! Following topics will be used for queries/downloads regarding to this handset:

All About Nokia 6265, Discuss Here

Nokia 6265 CDMA Launched on Reliance Mobile Now !

Download Applications For Nokia 6265

[tanveer 59]

Thanks a lot Vishal.

Post #2 edited and some features and opinions added.

Do check them out and leave your comments.

For the rest Vishal has already mentioned the threads.

Thanks.

Edited August 15, 2006 by tanveer

[kool_as_seth 0]

Really a gr* work tanveer:: u have been so supported for REImwebians as i had read ur 6255 rewiw also and was planning to buy 6265 in a day or two ;

If possible then tell me how many chracters can be supported by ths fone in case of SMS as it is jus 140 in case of 6130

[tanveer 59]

Thanks buddy!

its 160 characters

[tanveer 59]

I would like to mention here that though I have mentioned in this review that WAP is working , it is not working on this/ other reliance phones at the present moment. When will it start working is a matter of specullatioon.

[indianwithluv 0]

Good Work Tanveer.

The video is not played in full screen like 6681. Is there any way to get it played in full screen.

[tanveer 59]

Videos are played in the full screen mode but with a white margin.

[indianwithluv 0]

Good Work Tanveer.

The video is not played in full screen like 6681. Is there any way to get it played in full screen.

Thanks Tanveer!

But is there any way to get rid of that white border as does not give the felling of seeing full screen.