Nokia 6220 Classic: the successor to the 6120 Classic or an N82 without the Nseries branding?

Or maybe neither.
This phone is certainly "5MP for the masses".

But is it a true successor to the 6120 Classic?

Well, when I first heard about it, I naturally thought it would be (with the designated number and all). And it does follow the 6120, phylosophy-wise, in that it is meant to take something to the mainstream. But here is where the differences occur. The 6120 Classic took S60 'to the masses' (it's the cheapest S60 smartphone to date). The 6220 however will be taking the 5MP camera and the xenon flash to the masses (S60 is also running the show here, and more notably, it will be 3rd Edition FP2, as in the N96 and N78).
And then there's the price. When it will hit, it will be about 100 euros cheaper than the N82, but still more expensive than the 6120 was when it hit the market.
So, I now see the 6220 Classic more as a 'bigger brother' to the 6120 Classic (which will, undoubtedly, continue to sell very well), rather than a successor to it.

So is it an N82 without the Nseries branding?

This one is a bit harder to answer. Because everything seems to indicate that it is. At first glance, it has the same camera, roughly the same dimensions (it's actually almost a mm thinner than the N82), obviously also a candybar form-factor, it has aGPS, and so on.
And, as I already wrote above, it will be 100 euros cheaper than the N82.

But the thing is that the cheaper price will mean compromising in a few areas. It has a 2.5 mm AV jack (the N82 has the very standard 3.5 mm variety), the battery is 900 mAh (as opposed to the N82's 1050 mAh), the screen is only 2.2 inches in diagonal (N82-2.4 inches), no WiFi, and only a mono speaker.

And, just to keep things (sort of) balanced, here's one feature the N82 misses: to Ricky's pleasure, the navigation key lights up to inform you of new messages, missed calls and emails. And there's also the (much more important) software improvement, the 6220 Classic running S60 3rd Edition FP2, based on Symbian OS 9.3, which will definitely bring more eye-candy to the UI than we've ever seen on an S60 iteration.

So I must conclude that it might not be an "un-nseriesd" N82 after all. It will find its place in the market, below the N82, and above the 6120 Classic (price- and feature-wise) and will be a real must-have for those very much interested in camera capabilities and maybe less into WiFi, big screens and listening to music and who could live with having to charge their device at least daily. I know it sounds like an impressive list of compromises, but keeping the price of just over 300 euros (without taxes) in mind, I think it might become one of the S60 best-sellers.

Features not analyzed above:

The camera module is the same one used in the N95, N96 and N82. Video recording up to 640 x 480 (VGA) at 30 fps. The intensity of the xenon flash is not yet documented, but I expect it to be on par with the one found in the N82 (which is the strongest on the market right now). Obviously, recording video in dark environments will be almost impossible, since the flash will only work with stills.

An interesting fact is that, at least in theory, FOTA and FOTI are supported (which basically mean updating your phone's firmware over-the-air, without the need for a computer for this operation). I wonder if these will actually (finally!) work.

Full specs here.

More pictures here.

Hands-on video here.