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Gsm In the crowded midrange market, subdued elegance and a decent feature set give Nokia 6555 its edge. With two quality displays, a great keypad and 3G support, the 6555 is a great blend of elegance and functionality.
Cool features
* Stylish clamshell design
* 2-inch QVGA 16M color TFT display
* User friendly keyboard
* UMTS and EDGE support
* up to 4 GB microSD memory card support
* Adequate music player
* Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP profile
* microUSB connector and 2.5mm jack
Some disappointments
* Fingerprint magnet
* Basic 1.3 megapixel camera with rather basic interface
* Memory card slot hidden under the battery
* No FM radio
* No video calls support
* No headphones and memory card in the retail package
Nokia 6555 is a midrange 3G-enabled handset, Nokia's latest clamshell offering. The design has to bring to mind the popular push-to-open Nokia 6131. While the Nokia 6555 lacks the auto-open functionality, the 3G support is one of the strong points of this stylish clamshell.
Thin and black
When compared to the 6131, Nokia 6555 is 8 mm taller and 4 mm narrower, keeping the same thickness. The actual dimensions are 99.6 x 44.3 x 19.6 mm, at a weight of 97 g. I tested the black model, but Nokia 6555 is also available in sliver, red and beige. The colors only vary on both the front and rear framing; the middle glossy sections on the face and the back of the handset are always black.
The design of the Nokia 6555 reminds me of the KRZR K3. The 6555 is another Nokia clamshell, like the N76, to feature a chin at the foot of the lower flip, ala Motorola RAZR bunch and its look-alikes. In Nokia 6555 the chin is reclined to match the etched end of the flip, giving the handset its sharp profile in both open and closed position.
Three connectors are on the sides of the phone: At the bottom on the right is the charger plug, while the 2.5 mm headphone jack is at the top and the microUSB port is on the left next to the wrist lanyard eyelet. The side of the flip finds the dedicated camera key and the volume rocker.
The rear panel is the battery cover. It bears the chrome-colored accents like the front. The battery cover removes easily, but could've been a lot more solid - a bit of pressure gives you audible creaks. Underneath is the reasonably capable 1020 mAh Li-Ion battery, quoted at 300 hours in stand-by and 390 minutes talk time.
The SIM bed and the microSD card slot are found under the batter cover as well. The memory card cannot be hot swapped; the handset must power off before inserting or removing the card. Nokia 6555 supports microSD cards of up to 4 GB capacity, but, sadly, none comes with the handset.
A great keypad
Opening the phone open shows two silver frames - one for the display, the other surrounds the alphanumeric keypad and the control and navigation buttons. Nokia 6555 has a comfortable D-pad, surrounded by equally praiseworthy soft keys and Call and End buttons. The End key also serves as a Power button.
The alphanumeric keypad is also comfortable size. All the alphanumeric buttons have notches at the top for better touch orientation. Fast typing without looking at the keys requires some practice but, in general, the keypad works out quite well. The white backlighting contributes as well.
Display: pure quality
Nokia did not pinch pennies with the displays. The screen properties are similar to the Nokia 6131. it would be tough to find a clamshell to beat the Nokia 6555 in the display department. The external display is 256K-color TFT of a 128 x 160 pixel resolution and 22 x 27 mm size. Inside you get a primary 2" 16M-color QVGA display. With the handset closed, the external display shows all: signal strength, battery status, operator name and current date and time.
After a predetermined time the screensaver gives way to a digital clock and date, well readable under most lighting. Notifications of missed events also get displayed alongside, so you won't have to flip the phone open to check missed calls. Under the external display is the loudspeaker.
Series 40 5th Edition
The Nokia 6555 runs on the Series 40 5th edition UI. This version is seen in quite a number of recent releases by Nokia. The active standby mode is a standard S40 feature. The confirming center of the D-pad launches the main menu and the two soft keys can be assigned a variety of functions.
Each direction on the D-pad can be assigned a function: the selected shortcuts can then be set to appear on the display when active standby is off.
The main menu is viewable four different ways: list, grid, grid with legends and horizontal tabs. There are seven preloaded themes and additional ones are available to download.
Nokia 6555 offers a practical voice control with no voice tag pre-recording and it works with many of the phone's features. The phone's firmware can be updated through the GSM network. New versions are downloaded and installed on the go, without needing a PC.
In the events log, the S40 5th edition doesn't merely notify of a text received or missed call, it also displays the contact's name and the time of the event. An interesting option allows the user to configure the behavior of the mini display upon flipping the phone closed. The options are switching to standby or keeping the actual screen.
Only one megapixel...
I can't help feeling disappointed with the camera on Nokia 6555. In a world where 2 MP are the midrange standard, the 6555 is a 1.3 megapixel disappointment. Autofocus or LED flash are nowhere to be found. The lens is just above the external display in a slightly projecting ring that serves as the only protection against scratches, and finger smudges are just inevitable. Before taking a shot you will have to clean the lens - no way around it.
The maximum image size is 1280 x 1024 pixels and the default camera interface orientation is portrait. Image quality is passable if the light is good, but in poor lighting or in high-contrast scenes you will get excessive noise. Nokia 6555 is simply not capable of shooting close-ups.
The dedicated side key activates the camera and serves as the shutter button. Users will find white balance and picture quality, a self-release timer, burst, night mode and several color effects. Up to 8x digital zoom is also available.
No video calls
Nokia 6555 is another 3G capable device. Within Nokia, there's only one non-smart clamshell to offer video calling: Nokia 6267, also available as the T-Mobile branded version Nokia 6263. Along with dual band UMTS (850/2100 MHz for Europe and 850/1900 MHz for US), Nokia 6555 offers quad band GSM support at 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz.
The Nokia 6555 phonebook has space for 1000 entries. Each contact can be assigned five phone numbers, email, web and mailing address, birthday, company, working position and text items. Synchronization with Outlook is easy and trouble-free. Contacts can be placed in groups and assigned pictures and ringtones.
The searching method is standard gradual typing. The voice control is handy for calling your contacts. Push-to-talk support also available. There are no surprises regarding ringing profiles, the handset can also be used in Flight Mode without SIM inserted. The only way to accept an incoming call is by flipping the phone open.
Messaging
The supported message types are: text, multimedia, audio, flash and email. There's one editor for text and multimedia messages; inserting multimedia content (image, video, calendar note, etc) changes the editor to MMS mode. You can also pre-select the message time in the Message Settings menu.
Font size can vary when composing a message and A T9 dictionary is standard. 1000 characters is the maximum length of a text message, with the character count always displayed. The recipient number can be typed straight into the addressee box, inserted from the phonebook from the call log. You can set a contact as favorite and it will always appear as the first choice when inserting the recipient number.
The native email application is also found under messaging. The supported protocols are POP3, SMTP and IMAP4. The email client can handle up to five accounts. Automatic retrieving of email can be set, opting between entire messages or headers only.
Good organization
Monthly, weekly and daily views are available for the calendar. There are five types of events to set: reminder, meeting, call, birthday and memo. Each type of event has specific fields like start and end time, type of alert with various advance intervals, daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly repetition.
A handy to-do manager enables you to categorize tasks in three priority levels. Tasks can be alerted of, as well as marked off once accomplished and are easily synched with the calendar application. Text notes are available as well, limited to 3000 characters.
The other standard applications are a voice recorder with a 60-minute limit, stopwatch, countdown timer and a simple calculator.
Applications
Nokia 6555 has a currency converter, a world time application, the Opera Mini browser, along with the Yahoo search and Yahoo Go applications. Presenter allows you to remotely control PC applications from your device via Bluetooth, provided the Nokia Presenter application is installed on the computer before pairing.
MP3 yes but radio, no
The multimedia offerings are identical in the Nokia 6555 to other Series 40 5th edition handsets. Amazing is the absence of an FM radio. The music player is the enhanced version offering skinable customization. Playing in the background is traditionally available, sorting tracks by artist, album and genre is supported too. The player works with MP3, AAC, AAC+ and WMA formats. Several equalizer presets are at hand, along with a stereo expansion function. The music player interface displays on the external screen when the flip is closed but user control is limited to adjusting the volume by way of the side volume rocker. Bluetooth with A2DP support allows using a stereo wireless headset with your Nokia 6555.
In terms of connectivity Nokia 6555 is a more than adequate performer. GPRS and EDGE are reinforced by UMTS support with maximum transfer speed of 384 kbps. Nokia PC Suite connectivity over USB and Bluetooth is available too and Mass Storage is enabled. Memory card support of up to 4GB is another valuable alternative but, sadly, no card is shipped with the phone. Another notable absence in the retail box is the data cable. Nokia 6555 employs the microUSB variety.
Final words: Looks and 3G
The Nokia 6555 offers standard equipment and above-its-class elegance. In addition to the looks, the two quality screens and the comfortable keypad are indisputable advantages. In terms of functionality, there are no surprises, but the price tag promises none. The downright disappointments are the lack of FM radio, the cheap 1.3 megapixel camera and the thrifty retail box.
Even inside the Nokia family, it will be facing serious competition. Nokia 6131 continues to enjoy good demand, while 6267 offers a 2MP camera with LED flash, music player controls on the flip, video calling, VGA video recording and FM radio. It does lack however the finesse of Nokia 6555 which still has the attraction of affordability, style and 3G.
  
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