The Nokia 6300 is an extremely fetching stainless steel gem with an excellent pedigree. It weighs in at only 94g and only 11.7 mm thick yet packs in a host of features including a superb 2-inch 16M TFT colour QVGA (240 x 320 pixels 31x42 mm) display a 2 megapixel camera with zoom expandable memory integral MP3 player and FM radio

Depending on picked font size and current application the display can hold up to nine text lines (or even more) and up to three service lines. The 6300 adopts dual-interface layout with dedicated volume keys to the right side - handy when this key doubles as the zoom-button in camera mode. All keys are evenly lit in blue which is comfortably visible in various environments

And when the text message in-box is full the 6300 can be set to overwrite automatically old messages with the new incoming ones so you need never miss a text again.

The volume of 64-tone polyphony is enough for almost any conditions: the receiving part also equals all other phones of the current generation and the silent alarm is sufficient to be felt while the handset is in pocket.

The 6300 utilises a 760 mAh Li-Ion battery (BL-4C): good to go for up to 3.5 hours in talk mode and up to 330 hours in standby. It takes the phone less than 2 hours to charge from empty to full.

For a handset offering a golden price/quality ratio and equipped with a brilliant display good specs and reliability the Nokia 6300 is definitely one for the short-list.