While I might not have been all that impressed with Nokia’s 8600 Luna when I met with Nokia the other night, I really loved their new 6500 Classic. The Classic is a very thin (9.5mm) candy bar handset that supports quad-band GSM/EDGE as well as the 850 and 2100MHz UMTS 3G bands. It is constructed somewhat like Nokia’s thin flip phone, the N76, in that the rear cover actually fits around the entire bottom of the device, sliding off when needed. This helped Nokia keep everything nice and tidy, even it if makes removing the cover a bit difficult at times.

But due at least partly to the close fitting components, the 6500 Classic feels really solidly built for a phone with such a thin profile. But it isn’t just thin, it’s a fine looking device that has its multimedia bases covered as well. The QVGA resolution display was bright and sharp, and the 6500 Classic comes with a whopping 1GB of internal storage for music and photos from its 2 megapixel camera.

In short, the 6500 Classic looks like a great little device for people that want something thin, stylish, and able to latch onto both GSM and 3G networks throughout the world. It should be available for purchase some time this summer, though we still don’t know in which markets outside of Europe we will find it.

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