Flip over the Nokia 6170
Nokia 6170
The product: With an exclusive lineup of candy bar handsets, Nokia users in the United States have had little choice in terms of design. But flip-phone fans need not fret any longer, as the company is now rolling out an assortment of flip mobiles. The 6170, which is one of the first in the series to hit U.S. shores, is a stylish silver model in a compact package. The 65,536-color internal display is a welcome change over Nokia's more low-resolution screens, and the five-way navigation toggle should make for easy menu scrolling. The feature set also is promising. There's a VGA camera, text and multimedia messaging, voice dialing and commands, and a speakerphone. The triband (GSM 900/1800/1900) 6170 is a world phone, and it also supports EDGE data speeds and push-to-talk calling (network dependent).

• Flip-phone design
• VGA camera
• Speakerphone
• World phone
• Support for EDGE data speeds

The prospects: We don't mean to be harsh on Nokia, but the candy bar form factor was getting a little boring. The flip design is a nice change, and the addition of EDGE support and a speakerphone should appeal to the corporate set. We wish it had Bluetooth, though, and we'll have to see if the eventual carrier can support EDGE and push-to-talk calling.

By Kent German, associate editor, CNET Reviews