Nokia 6555 Cell Phone Review - Value & Comparisons
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Alfredo Padilla Published on February 29, 2008 Comment on this |
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Value (6.0)
The Nokia 6555 is currently available from AT&T for free after a $50 mail-in rebate and two-year contract for the black and red version. If you want the Sand color you'll have to pay $50. You can't find a price much better than free, but of course you have a lot of options in free or near-free handsets. Also, when you're signing a contract the coin of the realm is the amount of time you're tying yourself to the carrier, not just how much comes out of your pocket for the phone. That being said, the Nokia 6555 is a pretty solid free handset. The software is fully featured for a basic phone, and although it's not the most stylish handset, we did find the hardware to be solid. Our biggest concern would be the all-plastic construction, which might lead it to break too easily, and the poor talk time, so keep a charger handy. If you're willing to dish out $50, though, we'd recommend the Sony-Ericsson W580i, which is a superior handset, as we'll discuss below.
Comparisons
Samsung SLM - The SLM is definitely a prettier handset than the Nokia 6555, but it comes at the cost of controls and a keypad that are much more difficult to use. On the other hand, the SLM is a better music phone and we like that you can purchase tracks from Napster directly on the device. It might be a wash if not for the fact that the SLM is significantly overpriced at $99 with a contract. If you're willing to pay that much you can get a much better phone, and it's an indictment of the SLM's price that it only holds its own with a free phone. Given the choice we'd go with the free 6555.
LG Venus - This one's fairly easy - the only things the LG Venus has over the Nokia 6555 are good looks and a fancy touch-sensitive control pad. You're going to pay an extra $200 for those things, something we don't recommend. That's not to say you can't get a nicer phone than the Nokia 6555 for $200, just that the LG Venus isn't that much nicer.
Sony Ericsson W580i - The W580i was one of our favorite handsets from last year, and with good reason. The built-in Walkman software provides an excellent music playback capability, its camera performed admirably for its class, and at $50 with a contract it's very accessible. If you can afford it we recommend you pay the extra $50 for the W580i over the Nokia 6555.
Razr2 V8 - The V8 from T-Mobile was the best of the Razr2 phones we reviewed last year and it's certainly a superior handset to the Nokia 6555 in many ways. First of all it's much more stylish, the camera was better, organizational features are as good or better, and multimedia features also trump the 6555. Of course you're going to pay for those improvements, as the Razr2 V8 will cost you $200 with a contract. For that much money you could invest in a smart phone that has more capabilities than either of these handsets. If you're willing to pay the price, though, we can say you'll be getting a better handset than the Nokia 6555 in the V8.
Nokia N75 - As the first of Nokia's N-Series smart phones to be released with a U.S. carrier in a long time, the N75 brought a lot of expectations with it. Unfortunately those expectations were not met, as the N75 was hampered by a poor camera, terrible battery life, and a sluggish interface. Is it better than the Nokia 6555? Yes, especially for those looking for the e-mail and organizational capabilities that you can only get from a smart phone. But for those who want a multimedia device the Nokia N75 just doesn't bring that much more to the table than the 6555, and at $200 with a contract you'll be paying through the nose for the privilege of getting a sup-par smart phone. If you're never going to use the smart features, save yourself the money and go with the Nokia 6555. If you do want a smart phone you'll be better off with a BlackBerry Pearl or Palm Centro.
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