At 175 euros (before tax/subsidies), the 3600 Slide is what I'd call a reasonably priced phone. For that price, you get a quad-band slider, 3.2 megapixel camera (dual LED flash, autofocus), smaller battery yet longer battery life (more on that later), FM radio with RDS, and TV out.

Now let's talk about what you don't get. First, there's no 3G/HSDPA connectivity at all. None. Whatsoever. So if connectivity is a big priority you'll have to look at either the 6600 Slide or 6600 Fold. Second, there's no A2DP, check out the 6600 Fold for that. Third, you won't find any of that tapping business on the 3600 Slide - it's far too cheap for that. (by tapping I mean the double-tap feature present on both 6600s that allows you to silence incoming calls, snooze the alarm clock, and perform other fun tricks).

And now for the oddities. The 3600 Slide has an 860 mAh battery - same as the 6600 Fold - yet according to the press release gets 5.5 hours to the 6600's miniature 4. Maybe it's the S40 Third edition platform? Either way, it's definitely weird.

The big "ooh aah" X factor here is background noise cancellation, or at least Nokia's first attempt at it on a handset anyway. It's funny - you'd think that cell phone makers would have introduced something similar years ago, as a way to improve the first basic function of the cell phone - talking. But I guess they got caught up in cameras and megapixels and music and all those other wonders.

At any rate, the 3600 Slide will start shipping in the - you guessed it - third quarter of 2008, for the everyday low price of 175 euros.

Tags: 3600 slide, phones, s40, slide

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