19th June 2006
Nokia have produced some interesting and innovative phones lately, but the Nokia 6080 is not one of them. Based on the incredibly dull Nokia 6070, the Nokia 6080 has a cheap 128x160 pixel CSTN display and a VGA resolution camera, an FM radio.. and that's about it. The Nokia 6080 doesn't even have Bluetooth. Internal memory is a puny 4.3Mb, and this can't be expanded. Fortunately there's no MP3 player and the camera resolution is so low that it shouldn't need much storage space.
Nokia's selling point here is that the 6080 has sleek looks, and it is a very attractive design. Clearly there's a little bit of inspiration from devices such as the LG Chocolate, but the problem is that the LG (and the rival Samsung E900) completely wipe out the Nokia in terms of specification. The Nokia 6080's good looks in no way compensate for its technical shortcomings. In terms of specification, the Nokia 6080 is more like a relic from the past rather than a modern handset from 2006.
We'd like to say that the Nokia 6080 is cheap, but we feel that Nokia's proposed cost of 180 Euros before taxes and subsidy is overpriced for what is essentially a very basic phone. The 6080 would be better suited in the Nokia ''2000 series'' of bargain basement devices, rather than the mainstream ''6000 series'' of phones.
Still, it could be worse.. at least the 6080 is an attractive enough design, and it's relatively lightweight at 91 grams. And if you care more about looks than features, then the Nokia 6080 might be worth considering.
Nokia say that the 6080 should be available from Q4 2006. Quite why there's so long a wait for a warmed over Nokia 6070 is anyone's guess.
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