Not long ago, I published a list of my top three Nokia phones of all time – some of you were surprised to find a ‘dumbphone’ listed there – the venerable Nokia 6230b. Hailing back from 2004, the 6230b was one of the most advanced phones of its time. It was the first phone I remember that supported EDGE Class 10 (all others at the time were only Class 4) and its compact size included such ‘futuristic’ technologies as Bluetooth, a VGA-resolution camera, and a full-sized MMC (MultiMediaCard) slot for extra storage.
Of course, this all sounds lame in today’s world, but it’s still a cool little phone. On my previous post, I received a comment from Craig, with whom I had actually traded a 6230b years ago – I gave him my 6170b (another spectacular phone, btw) as an exchange. Craig mentioned that he still had a 6230b laying around and offered to send it to me, which is just plain awesome.
The phone arrived yesterday, and I’m already enamored by it, just as I was 7 years ago. Of course, there are some challenges. For starters, I don’t have any of the old fat-barreled Nokia chargers around anymore – luckily my friend Vikki was able to hook me up. I also don’t yet know how I’m going to get my contacts on this thing – I gave up SIM storage years ago and solely rely on Google to store my PIM info nowadays.
In any case, now that I have a charger, I’m going to attempt to use the Nokia 6230b for an entire day. I’m anxious to see how well I can get along with a dumbphone for the day, that’s for sure.
Ricky Cadden 
The 6230b was an incredible phone. I got mine in November 2005, a few weeks after I ordered my Nokia 770. I wanted a phone with data that had bluetooth and the fastest possible EDGE available, and it was the only logical choice.
It served me very well until I got my E71 in June of 2009. My Palm PDA had died, and Palm had stopped selling all of their PDA line, so I was forced to switch to a smartphone, and I wanted 3G for tethering. Really though, if Nokia had built a 3G 6230, I probably would’ve bought it. A modern 6230 paired with an Android tablet would be an incredible combination.
Ooooh, it *so* would.
It’s really cool. If I’m gonna get a secondary phone again, I will definitely give a search in the flea market.
Sorry about not sending the charger Ricky…I had one “just sitting there” as well. I just ASSUMED the guru had an old Nokia charger somewhere…oops!!!
Absolutely no worries – I got it taken care of. I DO have about 15 of the new small barrel chargers around the house, lol.
I really do love this thing, man. Thanks so much for sending it along.