We've got a project on for the next 3-4 months which is targeting MIDP 2.0 Series 60 devices, so earlier this week I arranged an upgrade from my old (Series 40) Nokia 6230 to a shiny new 7610.

First impressions: wow this thing is complicated. It shipped with several pages of applications, many of which I can't immediately see how to use: chat, presence, and positioning for instance. Others seem to duplicate functions: RealPlayer, Video Clips, Vid. Editor, Movie, and Camera all seem to overlap in functionality, and it's confusing. The default menu of this phone really needs to be cleaned up for first-time buyers.

It's slow - too slow. Starting the camera takes several seconds, and it shouldn't: this stuff needs to be instant. Even a half-second delay between pressing a key and an action occurring is too much. It makes the 7610 feel like a computer, not a phone.

On a positive point, the screen is beautiful and the camera is great; LifeBlog I've yet to look at in depth, but the video editing tools are quite cute and further emphasise this thing as a tool for both creating and consuming stuff. I also like the way the WAP browser is now called "web" and uses the full screen of the handset by default - no more giving up 1/4 of the screen height to the Nokia status pane.

And BAH: no iSync, and no LifeBlog for Macs. I know Mac users are a minority, but aren't we an unusually vocal minority? I'd love to write about how great this stuff is...