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The Nokia 6682 smartphone is the replacement to Finnish phone giant's 6620, and - like its predecessor - the 6682 is based on the Symbian Series 60 hardware platform (albeit running the newest version, 8.0, of that operating system).

Although the 6682's capabilities place it firmly in the category of smartphones, the Nokia design clearly emphasizes the "phone" in that term. Clad in an off-white plastic shell, the 6682 measures a svelte 4.27 x 2.17 x .81 inches and weighs a mere 4.62 ounces.

There is a price to be paid for the small size—the 6682's keypad, which is bathed in a stylish purple backlight, is small and has no space in between the keys, which can cause errors for the hasty, fat-fingered, or if you're just not paying close attention while dialing.

Sight & Sound
The Nokia's 2.2-inch, 176 x 208 resolution display (with a 262,144-color palate) is smallish by the standard of most smartphones, but it's also bright, clear, and crisp, even in strong sunlight. The screen's excellent readability is due at least in part to a light sensor located just above the display, which monitors ambient lighting and tweaks the display and keypad backlight accordingly.

At first glance, a small slot on the top of the phone seems like it's for memory expansion, but its actually the 6682's external speaker, which provides clear and loud audio for speakerphone calls. Although you can put the phone into modes that squelch or completely turn off the ringer, there's no unfortunately no vibration mode (a feature which in the opinion of this writer should be de rigueur on all mobile phones).

Power
The 6682 is powered by a 220 MHz processor, and for memory expansion the device employs Reduced-Size MMC cards (a.k.a. MMC Mobile) which plug in behind a hatch on the side of the phone. To supplement the 6682's meager 10MB of internal memory, a 64MB card comes with the phone (as does an adapter so the card can be read in a full-size card reader). In fact, most of the 6682's installed applications reside on the card.

The 6682 uses a 900mAh Li Ion battery that's rated for between 6 to 11 days on standby and 3-6 hours of talk time, and based on my time with the phone, those projections appear accurate. You don't get a cradle to synchronize and charge the phone, so you must perform those functions via separate cables.

It lacks built-in Wi-Fi, and since there's no expansion port capable of accommodating an external wireless card, you won't be able to add it, either. Chances are that you probably won't miss it though, since the phone is EDGE capable which, although I could manage only 45-50 kbps (using a test for mobile devices available at www.dslreports.com/mspeed) made for a decent online experience. Web browsing chores can be handled by the provided basic browser, but Opera is also included with the 6682 and is a much better choice.

Camera
The cornerstone of the 6682 is it's built-in 1.3 megapixel camera with an integrated flash that in addition to still photography can capture up to an hour of motion video (subject to storage availability). Unlike many similarly-equipped phones, the 6682's optics are safely ensconced behind a flip-down cover which activates the phone's picture-taking mode when opened.


Camera Close-Up

Although you wouldn't necessarily know it from the camera's stated resolution, the 6682 actually takes serviceable snapshots by cameraphone standards. The 6682 also supports PictBridge, so when the time comes to print a photo, you can do so by connecting the phone directly to a PictBridge-compatible printer via USB cable.

When you're not snapping pictures, you'll appreciate the 6682's Music Player application along with the excellent stereo headset that comes with it (It also provides an inline microphone and button to activate the voice memo function.)

Software
The 6682 comes with a fairly extensive collection of bundled software, and although the phone isn't targeted at the business crowd, a number of productivity applications are provided. You can view PDF documents using Adobe Reader LE, and the QuickOffice suite includes a trio of applications- QuickWord, QuickSheet, and QuickPoint—that are document-compatible with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. (The catch with QuickOffice is that the bundled version gives you read-only access to documents. To edit files you need to ante up $14.99 for the fully-licensed version.)

The messaging application supports file attachments in e-mail for all of the above formats plus graphics, video, and audio files, and Nokia's PC Suite lets you synchronize your e-mail (as well as contacts, appointments and to-do list) with Microsoft Office or Lotus Notes or Organizer. An InfoPrint utility is also provided to let you wirelessly transfer small amounts of text (from e-mails, address book, calendar, etc.) to a Bluetooth-enabled printer.

Other applications provided with the 6682 include photo and movie editing tools, as well as Nokia's LifeBlog software, a mobile blogging tool which lets you organize, annotate, and post the multimedia items you accumulate in your travels.

Availability
You can currently buy the tri-mode (GSM 850/1800/1900) Nokia 6682 from Cingular; the carrier is offering the phone for $299 with a 2 year service commitment.

Conclusion
Unlike many smartphones, the Nokia 6682's raison d'etre is more about lifestyle enhancement than business productivity (and that's not a bad thing). If you're looking for a relatively inexpensive device to use more for picture-taking, music playing, and basic browsing than keeping in touch with the office, the Nokia 6682 isn't likely to disappoint you.