Nokia Luna 8600 Review

Permalink: Nokia Luna 8600 Review by Franz Bicar

Nokia has never been afraid of trying out new things. Its daring and innovative phones have made a big impact in the market. Some of these gambles have turned out to be good, others however turned out to be a bust. One of Nokia’s not so successful model is the Nokia 8800. Now, we have its descendant, the Nokia 8600. It has a similar slider design with almost identical dimensions, but it replaces the 8800’s silver-steel casing with a more subdued black.

The 8600 features capabilities that are a lot better than the 8800. It has a 2 megapixel camera and stereo bluetooth support.

As mentioned, the 8600 is quite similar in design to the 8800, except of course for those slight tweaks. Though it retains the steel casing on its rear face, the all-black color scheme of the Luna looks a bit more professional. At 4.21 inches by 1.77 inches by 0.63 inch, the Luna is just about the same size as the 8800.

The Luna has a 2-inch display that is capable of showing 16 million colors. It has brilliant and sharp colors and has beautiful graphics. One thing that would probably detract users is that smaller text on the screen looks a bit blurred. However, the display has a variety of adjustable settings including power-saver and sleep modes. You also can change the font size and personalize the Luna’s standby mode to choose which features and information you’d like to be readily accessible form the standby display.

Below the screen, you have the Luna’s navigation controls. Completing the exterior of the phone is a micro USB on the right spine. The volume rocker is on the left spine on the top end.

As for its features, the Luna is a bit more advanced than the 8800. Luna’s phone book holds five phone numbers, an e-mail address, Web site address, a company name and job title, a nickname, a street address, a birthday, and notes. You can save callers to groups and you can pair them with a photo, a video, and one of 20 64-chord polyphonic ringtones.

Other features include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, a voice recorder, a speakerphone, instant messaging, an alarm lock, a to-do list, a notepad, a calculator, a countdown timer, and a stopwatch.

There’s also a stereo Bluetooth, speaker-independent voice commands and dialing, a world clock, USB mass storage, PC syncing, a unit and currency converter, Nokia’s Wireless Presenter for remote control of a PC, and a translator for converting simple words into Spanish, French, or Portuguese.

The Luna’s 2-megapixel camera takes pictures in seven resolutions, from 1,600×1,200 down to 160×120. You get a variety of camera settings including three quality settings, five color effects, a night mode, an adjustable white balance, a multishot mode, and an 8x zoom.

The camcorder shoots videos in two resolutions (176×144 and 128×96) with sound. Other options are similar to those of the still camera, and you can mute the sound if you wish.

What’s missing on the Luna’s camera however is the brightness setting. I also lacks flash and the protrait setting that most phones have.

The Luna’s music player plays tracks in a variety of formats, including AAC, MP3, and WMA formats. Its design is similar to those on other Nokia phones, which means it’s minimalist but easy to use.

Features include random and repeat modes, an equalizer, and stereo widening. Loading music tracks on the phone is easy; you can connect it to a computer with a USB cable and transfer your chosen tracks. The Luna’s FM radio offers 20 presets, but you’ll need the included stereo headset to act as an antenna.

The Luna’s music quality was satisfactory on the whole. The volume is a bit than the call volume, and the clarity is decent.

The Luna has a rated talk time battery life of 4 hours. According to FCC radiation tests the Nokia Luna 8600 has a digital SAR rating of 0.72 watt per kilogram.

Sources:
http://www.mobileburn.com
http://www.phonearena.com
http://www.gsmarena.com