In 2005 Nokia released an updated 6230i model (RM-72) which includes a 1.3 megapixel camera, 208×208 screen resolution (65,536 colours), a slightly larger display, a raised selection button in the midst of the scroll key, and a modern menu.
It is also standard UMS (USB mass storage device class) compliant, i.e. no proprietary drivers are required to transfer data to and from the device's memory card. It weighs 99 g (including battery BL-5C) and the dimensions are 103 mm x 44 mm x 20 mm, 76 cc.
The BL-5C battery that comes standard with it will last about 150–300 hours, depending on usage.
This model was available only in GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz; Nokia did not release an 850 MHz version for the North American market.
The next model in the 623x series is the 3G GSM/WCDMA Nokia 6233.
Appearance
The graphical user interface was overhauled, and many of the icons featured on the 6230i are the same as those now used uniformly across almost all new Nokia phones. Notably, the menu icons on the Nokia 6230i are animated, as opposed to the previous model which were static.
The phone has seven built-in themes ('Basic', 'Circle', 'DotSpace', 'Dots2', 'Microdots', 'Waves', and 'Window'), and users can download more. In addition, users may customise the color of the borders, and the battery and signal bars.
The operating system does run more slowly than on the 6230, possibly due to the increased processor drain of the higher resolution screen. Nokia also removed several options from menus, such as: brightness control, and the ability to automatically overwrite text messages in the Inbox/Sent Folders. These changes have brought widespread complaints.
Security
The phone can automatically lock after a set time, starting from five seconds of no activity. In addition to the auto-lock, users can lock with a 'keyguard', which prevents unauthorised use of the phone. The code it uses is the standard security code. If the user gets this code wrong three time, the phone is 'locked out', whereby no-one can gain access for ten minutes.
Users can chose to protect their phone by enabling a PIN. When enabled, the phone will prompt users to type the PIN, and on success the phone will grant access. Users can also protect their SIM card, which is standard phone practice.
Organisation
The Nokia 6230i has organising software, such as: calendar, alarm clock, to-do list, notes, wallet. The 'Wallet' is a password protected area where users can store bank card details, tickets, receipts, and personal notes. Users can set different profiles within the 'Wallet', for example 'work' or 'personal', whereby different card details, for example, can be stored. There is an e-mail application, but it must be set up by the user's mobile phone network.
Phone Book
Further to storing mobile numbers, users can add e-mail addresses, home-phone numbers, an image (shows when contact calls), PTT addresses, postal addresses, web addresses, notes, and user ID.
Contacts can be put into groups, for example 'work colleagues' but such groups do not appear to be usable for text messaging. There is a Distribution List feature under Messages where users can send group SMS (Only available with the 6210).
Users can add sixteen voice commands (also known as 'Voice tags'), whereby users can say a contact's name and the phone will automatically call that contact (only if you individually set a voice per person).
Connectivity
The Nokia 6230i is GPRS enabled. It features a GPRS Class 10 connectivity at up to 48 kbit/s. It is also EDGE enabled at Class 10 offering speeds up to 236.8 kbit/s. It also has a infrared port and is Bluetooth enabled, making it one of the few phones to feature both infrared and Bluetooth.
Media
The Nokia 6230i features an integrated music player which can play mp3 and aac (Advanced Audio Coding) format files. The music player has an inbuilt Graphic Equalizer and the ability to create and save custom equalizers. Up to seven different equalizer settings are available. The phone plays exceptionally high quality audio. The Music Players also includes the ability to play music via Bluetooth. It also includes a Media Player to play video files in 3gp formats. The video recording is done in 3gp format as well. The phone also includes a Radio (headset is required to be connected) in which 20 radio channels can be saved. Auto tuning of frequencies can be done automatically. The Nokia 6230i also features a Voice Recorder with up to 60 minutes of voice recording.
Push to talk (PTT)
The Nokia 6230i features Push to talk (PTT). Push to talk (PTT) functions as a two-way radio. The PTT option is available only if enabled by the service provider.
Extra Applications
The phone also has a basic calculator, countdown timer, and a stopwatch, which has two settings: '
Collection Folder
Users can download new applications (through WAP) which are stored in a folder named 'Collections'. However, Nokia included three applications. 'World clock II' allows users to view time zones across the world; the graphical user interface highlights the current time zone yellow, and allows users to navigate, left or right, across the world, showing the city at the centre of the time zone. 'Converter II' is an excellent application for converting anything from currencies, grams, pounds, and so forth. Through the 'Options', users can customise the conversions to suit their needs; this is especially useful when currencies alter in value. The final application is a translation tool ('Translator'). For example, if a search query is 'help', then the application will show five translations (English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian). The problem is that you can only put 2 MB of applications regardless the size of your Multimedia Card or the internal memory you have.
Bugs
A few bugs have been reported with this phone:
When using a bluetooth audio device together with voice tags, the ringing tone is always ascending, even when ascending is not selected. The only temporary solution is to reset the phone, although the problem comes back when using bluetooth and voice tags again. This bug is still present in the latest firmware.
Sometimes for no reason, the display lights up for a few seconds and then goes out again. - This happens when the phone battery depletes by one "bar", which may be seen as pointless as the lights coming on would increase drain on the battery.
Sometimes for no reason an image or video clip is copied.
In the music player, when selecting an entry in the playlist at a position higher than 255 the player has a wrap around bug and will play the entry 255 positions before the one selected. For example, if entry 260 is selected entry 5 will be played, if entry 300 is selected entry 25 will be played. This is caused by the music player using and unsigned integer to store the selected track. This bug is present on the 6230, 6230i and early versions of the 6233. The work around is use the playlist to see the entry number, then go back to the currently playing entry and type in the number of the entry you want (jump to).
On newer firmware version of the 6230i the camera is unable to process images that are bigger than 786kb. This can be experienced when taking pictures at top quality setting in 1280x1024 mode of scenes with lots of fine details, like the leaves on a tree. You will sometimes get a message like "Unable to save" because the image processor in the camera module does not have enough memory to create the compressed JPEG file from the image sensor data.
While the 6230i is able to use a 4GB MMC card (provided it is formated with FAT16) it will fail to enter mass storage mode when a 4GB MMC is present.
On older versions of the BL-5C battery, the internal chemicals would leak/react while charging for long periods of time. While this is rare, Nokia offered a free replacement.
