The Nokia 600 is one of three new handsets announced by Nokia when unveiling Symbian Belle recently. Want to know more about what it has to offer and how it compares to Nokia's current smartphone lineup? Then read on as we cover the key facts. 

Say hello to Symbian Belle, Nokia's new smartphone OS

We've seen some fairly significant changes in Nokia's Symbian lineup over the past month or two. New handsets have been announced, Symbian Anna is now out in full force, while the even bigger Symbian Belle update is on its way, and Nokia has changed its handset naming convention into the bargain.

So where does the Nokia 600 fit into all this? Well, from its name we can tell that it slots in between the more entry-level Nokia 500 we learned about a month ago, and the higher spec Nokia 700 and Nokia 701 it launched alongside a couple of weeks ago.

That's just for starters though – let's delve a little deeper and cover 10 key facts about this new face in Nokia's smartphone portfolio:

Smart design
The Nokia 600 specialises in entertainment, and it has an attractive, vibrant look and feel to match. From the front it doesn't look dissimilar to some of Nokia's C Series smartphones, but the distinctly curved body and versatile colour options – including pink and lime green – give it a style all of its own. 

Compact dimensions
The 3.2-inch screen and compact dimensions makes the Nokia 600 a welcome alternative to the great giant-screened beasts that are coming to dominate the smartphone market. With measurements of 111 x 53 x 13mm, and a total weight of just 100g, this is an eminently pocketable handset. 

The Symbian Belle difference
The Nokia 600 will be in the first wave of handsets to launch with Symbian Belle on board, which means it will offer features like customisable homescreen widgets right out of the box. And having been designed for Symbian Belle from the ground up has added significant when it comes to another key Symbian Belle feature – NFC support – but more on that later.. 

Impressive display
The Nokia 600's screen size is a compact 3.2-inches across – the same as the likes of the Nokia C6-01 and Nokia C5-03 in the current lineup, but thanks to the 360 x 640-pixel resolution you can rest assured that you won't be at a loss when it comes to quality. 

Powerful processor
We were pleased to see the Nokia 500 announced with a 1GHz processor on board, and Nokia has repeated the trick here. That should give the Nokia 600 plenty of oomph where it matters, whether you're playing tunes or working on documents – or both at the same time. 

Snappy camera
Audio is the Nokia 600's specialist subject, but that doesn't mean you're left short in the camera department. A solid 5-megapixel full focus stills resolution is partnered by 720p video recording capabilities, while there's also an LED flash and geotagging capabilities on board. 

On-board speaker
Music is a subject close to the Nokia 600's heart, and it's able to share that love with the world thanks to the powerful on-board speaker. It features an internal antenna too, which means you don't have to plug in headphones to listen to the radio, which is – quite literally – music to our ears. 

NFC set free
We touched on Symbian Belle's NFC capabilities a few points ago, and the Nokia 600 will be one of the first handsets that will be able to take full advantage. That means effortless file transfers between compatible phones and easy syncing with accessories. But on the Nokia 600 it also means the inclusion of NFC-optimised releases of Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja, which could bring a new dimension to multiplayer gaming.

Storage options
You're well covered for storage on the Nokia 600, with a 2GB complement of internal storage on board to be getting on with. You also get a 2GB microSD card in the box as standard, but you can add as much as 32GB more if you so choose.

Battery life
With all the features on board the Nokia 600, you're bound to be leaning heavily on its battery, but fortunately the diminutive dimensions of this Symbian Belle handset haven't left it short on battery life. The 1200mAh cell on board is good for up to 15 hours of talktime and 600 hours on standby, while if you're planning a marathon music appreciation session your Nokia 600 will be good for 60 hours of unbroken music playback before it needs charging up again.

We'll no doubt be hearing more about the Nokia 600 and more specifically Symbian Belle in the weeks to come, but we'd love to hear your initial impressions of this pint-sized music heavyweight, so feel free to give us your thoughts in the Comments below.