I was pretty excited when I first heard about the Nokia 3650. I already had a 7650, which I liked, and thought that a lighter model that was actually triband could be a real big improvement. Well, the 3650 is now shipping in China, and I have one that has been reflashed with a PRE-RELEASE version of the English software. Let me repeat that:

The phone in this test is running a pre-release version of the English software and is NOT supported by Nokia. Many specifics could change by the time it hits other markets.

With that take care of, here are some quick specs:

• Weight: 130g, Size: 130mm x 57mm x 26mm, 139cc volume
• Triband GSM 900/1800/1900
• 4096 color display with 176x208 pixel resolution
• MMS send and receive
• Digital Camera image capture at 640x480 resolution
• Video capture: 3GPP MP4 formats
• 4 MB internal dynamic memory with a MMC memory card slot for expansion.
• Bluetooth, GPRS, HSCSD, Infrared port
• Java support for downloading of new games and applications

At 130 grams, it isn't the lightest phone on the market. It isn't even close to being the smallest, either. But it is passable when you consider the size of the screen and the other goodies (like a 13% larger battery than the 7650's) that are packed inside. Not great, but passable.

And while the 3650 is really a phone, it offers a lot more than basic call functions. Unlike the Nokia 9200 Communicator series, which was basically a PDA with an integrated phone, the 3650 is a phone with advanced PDA like features. It can synchronize with MS Outlook on your laptop, for example. It has a full calendar/to-do client, and a very nice integrated SMS/MMS/Email client. It's large color display make those applications usable, too. Sure, there is no thumbboard or a touch screen input system, but those are features of a PDA, not of a phone. On a phone, you make due with T9 for text input because you want a smaller and lighter device. But with devices like the Sony Ericsson P800 coming out to market at the same time, I am not sure that this phone is smaller and lighter enough. And in terms of input methods, a lot of people have already raised concerns about the 3650's new keypad design - a retro-rotary type layout. But we'll get to that later.

So, this phone is a bit of a compromise. Kinda like a PDA, but not really. Definitely a phone, but certainly not the smallest one out there. But it does offer a lot of bonuses.