Nokia is a company that remembers that mobiles phones are meant to be exactly that – phones, for calling and texting. The Nokia 3600 Slide is a slider phone that doesn’t pretend to be more than it is. There’s no fancy touchscreen, no apps, not even a QWERTY keyboard. It knows exactly what it is, and that’s no bad thing.

It’s well designed and styled, fitting neatly into both hand and pocket, and sliding open and closed smoothly and easily.

The keypad is well spaced, responsive, and very good for sending texts. Anyone who’s used a Nokia will be familiar with the onscreen navigation system, and those who aren’t will grasp it very quickly – it’s extremely intuitive.

Like all the latest mobile phones, the Nokia 3600 Slider comes equipped with a media player and a camera. The former is good, if not the very best, with support for most media formats, and also an FM radio and Bluetooth. The latter, however, is merely adequate. Although the camera has autofocus and an LED flash to support the 3.2 megapixel camera, the photographs are far from outstanding.

It’s not a phone that’s intended for extensive web browsing, as there’s no 3G or Wi-Fi. But those buying this handset are unlikely to be doing a great deal of that, anyway.

Anyone looking to upgrade a phone without buying a handset that offers more features than they’re ever likely to use would be very satisfied with the Nokia 3600 Slider. It looks good, and does exactly what it’s made to do – and does it very well indeed. No frills, no fuss, just good, solid performance.