The Nokia 6212 Classic is a lightweight 3G handset with a QVGA display and 2 megapixel camera, very similar to the Nokia 3120 Classic in terms of core specification. However, the Nokia 6212 has one key difference - it supports NFC technology.

It isn't the first phone to offer NFC, the Nokia 6131 NFC is a previous effort, but NFC compatible handsets are few and far between.

What is NFC?

If you haven't heard of NFC you're not alone. No, it's not Nebraska Fried Chicken, but Near Field Communication - a way for two devices to communicate with each other over a very short distance of around 10 centimetres or so, a much shorter distance than Bluetooth or WiFi. NFC can be used for information exchange, ticket payment or as a way to identify yourself.

Unlike Bluetooth, NFC works without pairing and relies on physical proximity. You basically swipe your NFC device near the other NFC device and the information exchange can occur immediately, rather like the contactless Oyster Card used in London.

The catch is that there are very few large-scale implementations of NFC anywhere in the world, with the technology mostly under trial. O2 have announced that they will try using NFC mobiles with the London Oyster system this year. In France, Bouygues Telecom has partnered with the Paris Metro for a while now, and the National Australia Bank, VISA and Telstra are trying out a contactless payments system called Visa payWave.

Nokia are also making a Bluetooth/NFC headset which pairs with the phone using the NFC connection first, rather than the usual Bluetooth passcode arrangement. This should make pairing a lot easier.

To a certain extent, the Nokia 6212 Classic is a solution to a problem that doesn't yet exist.. hardly anyone actually uses NFC at the moment, but Nokia is working on the principle that if you make the technology available, then perhaps the customers will follow.

Nokia 6212 Classic - Pricing and Specification

At €200 (around £160) before tax and subsidy, the 6212 is roughly the same current retail price of the 6500 Classic, although the 6212 has video calling, better video capture quality and an FM radio where the 6500 does not. The 6500 Classic does offer more memory and a slight better stills photographs. The similar 3120 Classic is a little cheaper at around €160.

For this, you get an 88 gram 3G phone with quad-band GSM, EDGE, and 3G support (WCDMA 850 / 2100). The 2" 240 x 320 pixel screen has 16 million colours, there's a 2 megapixel camera with flash but no autofocus, Bluetooth and microSD expandable memory (up to 4GB). Talktime is around 2.75 hours on 3G with a maximum of 12 days standby time.

Unlike other recent 6000 series devices, this is not an S60 smartphone. But it does have an email client, web browser and multimedia player. The sales package includes an AC-8 charger with a 2mm plug and a stereo wired headset.