BARCELONA, Spain - Nokia's participation on the market of devices that are focused on location-based services has been reinforced with the announcement of the Nokia 6710 Navigator, introduced at the Mobile World Congress 2009.

On the GPS field, the Navigator line has been improved with Nokia Maps 3.0, a digital compass, a dedicated navigator key, zoom bar, geo-tagging, and the Nokia CR-111 car holder in the box, instead of the new CR-109 model.

In terms of general features, the 6710 ranks as high-end device, having HSDPA and HSUPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a 3.5mm audiovisual jack, microSD memory card support, and a 2.6" display.

There is also a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, dual LED flash, Carl Zeiss optics, and video recording at VGA resolution (640x480 pixels) at 30fps.

The device runs on the Symbian OS9.3 operating system, with S60 3rd edition Feature Pack 2 software platform. It is powered by a ARM 11 600MHz CPU, and supported by a 950mAh battery.

The look of the new Navigator is similar to its predecessor, the 6210 Navigator - in terms of keypad layout. The actual design and build quality is much different. The 6710 is not glossy, and feels stronger and tougher, like an actual phone.

What also changes is the size, especially because the 6210 had a 2.4" display, while the newly-launched Navigator has a 2.6" screen. The sizes change from 103x49x14.9mm to 104.8 x50.1x14.9mm, a difference of millimetres.

The weight impressively stayed the exact same, at 117g. Unfortunately, the weight distribution gives it a heavy feeling.

A major change was the adoption of the "banana-look", which makes the phone tilt on the keypad area, similar to that of the T-Mobile G1.

Considering the layout of the frontal part of the phone, there is an ear speaker and a secondary camera - intended for video calls - above the display; between the display and the keypad there is a metal stripe that works as the zoom bar; while the keypad consists of two soft keys, menu key, clear key, calls keys. and navigation button.

The numeric keypad feels solid, and well-spaced. There are blank sections on either side of it, to rest one's fingers.

The left side of the phone contains a large camera shutter button, and a large volume rocker.

There is a microUSB and a microSD memory card slot on the left side of the phone. The slots are well fabricated, and open in a sophisticated manner.

The 3.5mm audiovisual jack, before only used in multimedia phones, is included on this Navigator. It is located on the top section of the phone, the same place the charging point is placed.

The bottom of the phone is left simple, it was chosen as the location of the microphone and the lanyard loophole.

All the lateral sections of the phone are painted in a different tone of the phone's colour, creating a minimal, yet smart contrast.

Lastly, the speaker, camera, and flash are positioned on the back of the phone. As the speaker is in this section, the phone curves slightly to allow the sound to pass through.

New phones begin to bear GPS functionality, which means that LBS has become part of the convergent system. There is no need for a GPS, or a camera-focused phone.

The 6710 actually behaves as a multimedia phone, although it will be successful among those drivers who wish to have a phone that behaves as a GPS device; and among those cyclists who don't want to spend money on another device. It could be that the 6710 is the last of its line, if sales are not successful.

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