Nokia 6131 Review

[Charlyee]

The Nokia 6131 as you know, is the Eurasian version of the Cingular 6126 planned for July 05 launch.

The firmware details are:
V 03.50
31-3-06
RM 115

I am using it with a 64K, 3G SIM from Cingular.


Overall:
1. The built quality is excellent and has a solid feel to it. It is rubberized black with silver trim and looks quite elegant and professional.

2. The phone is narrow enough that it fits unobtrusively in the jeans pocket.

3. The push button for the flip is on the right side of the phone, so if you use your left hand to open it as I do, it needs a little bit of practice.

4. The camera button on the side of the phone can be activated with the phone closed, so could be a problem in the pocket or while holding it. It is not as sensitive as the SE 520i and in 3 days I have accidently activated it only once. The keys can be locked out to prevent this if it becomes a problem.

5. There is slight (<1mm) play on the lid in the closed postion, that I am not too happy about. I have read other people have the same situation so it may just the way the phone is.

6. The outside screen is large and in the dormant position shows the time, missed calls, VM, text etc.

Battery
The phone came with a 50% charged battery . I played with it extensively for about 6 hours (sorry viewfly) before it finally died. I charged the battery fully and played with it extensively, made an average no. of calls and messaging and the battery died in about 24 hours. After that charge the battery has lasted 36+ hours so far with average usage but still playing with customization.

Earpiece volume:
The earpiece volume is lower than my last 3 phones (6681, QTEK 9100, PEBL), but it is more than adequate for me. I have to put it to 10/10 in noisy environment like a car with windows down and 7/10 in my office.

Miscellaneous
1. Setting up Pop3 E-Mail, Media Net, and MMS were a breeze thanks to the Nokia website. I have not been able to make the Video messaging work, I don't know if it is because it is an unbranded phone so when the 6126 is out I will have a better idea.

2. BT is flawless. Setting up a synch. schedule was extremely easy and flawless. There are a couple of things I don't like about the way the ToDo list is presented but it maybe an operator error and I may have to resort to reading the manual for it....

2. The voice recognition is built in and although I don't use it, it ia another difference with the 6131 that the names are spoken with a clipped british accent and I have to work to make the phone recognize it.


To Be Continued...........

[viewfly]

Thanks for part I Charlyee. Let us know more, and if you think the phone is a 'keeper', even if that means only 1 year for you.

Are you willing to replace the Pebl with it?

[Charlyee]

Originally Posted by viewfly

Thanks for part I Charlyee. Let us know more, and if you think the phone is a 'keeper', even if that means only 1 year for you.

Are you willing to replace the Pebl with it?

viewfly, every phone is a keeper for me for for the first month.... . Seriously yes it is a keeper but as you know I like bar phones and do want to get back to one eventually.

About replacing the PEBL with this, that is a hard decision, the PEBL does have phenomenal call clarity and I do like the phone. It is a good phone but the UI drives me nuts and function wise it can not come close to the the 6131. Ideally I want to keep both.

I tried the camera out this morning. My 6682 took excellent pictures, both have 1.3 Mp cameras, so I am posting a side by side comparison:

The one on the left is from the 6682 and it looks slightly more crisp than the one from 6131, atleast in my eyes. Overall though the camera quality is quite good.

[kjo]

Hello Charlyee

Yes it does take nice pictures. Both of them actually.
Now when I run my cursor over the two pictures though..the left one says nokia 6131west, and the right one says 6682west... so now I'm confused as to which one really took the picture, as you said the one on the left was from the 6682.
I think the one on the right looks like it's brighter to me. I don't see a huge difference, just brighter. But that's me

I'm glad you are having fun with your new phone. I can see how the little gap on the top flip would bug you. I kind've wondered about that in the pictures. wow 16.7 million color screen huh? That's a lot of colors. More colors than I could actually pick out of the screen

Well continue to have fun!

[walkguru]

Originally Posted by Charlyee

viewfly, every phone is a keeper for me for for the first month.... . Seriously yes it is a keeper but as you know I like bar phones and do want to get back to one eventually.

About replacing the PEBL with this, that is a hard decision, the PEBL does have phenomenal call clarity and I do like the phone. It is a good phone but the UI drives me nuts and function wise it can not come close to the the 6131. Ideally I want to keep both.

I tried the camera out this morning. My 6682 took excellent pictures, both have 1.3 Mp cameras, so I am posting a side by side comparison:

The one on the left is from the 6682 and it looks slightly more crisp than the one from 6131, atleast in my eyes. Overall though the camera quality is quite good.

i can not tell the differance, both are quite good. when i take pictures with my 6682 i use, 1280x960, seams the picture is better, but thats just me.

[Charlyee]

Originally Posted by kjo

Hello Charlyee

Yes it does take nice pictures. Both of them actually.
Now when I run my cursor over the two pictures though..the left one says nokia 6131west, and the right one says 6682west... so now I'm confused as to which one really took the picture, as you said the one on the left was from the 6682.
I think the one on the right looks like it's brighter to me. I don't see a huge difference, just brighter. But that's me

I'm glad you are having fun with your new phone. I can see how the little gap on the top flip would bug you. I kind've wondered about that in the pictures. wow 16.7 million color screen huh? That's a lot of colors. More colors than I could actually pick out of the screen

Well continue to have fun!

Hi Kelli,good catch you are right, my mistake sorry.... . The one on the left is from today with the 6131.

Some more update:
I went to BestBuy to get Micro SD card, the sales person said, oh that's a very nice phone, I have been eying that myself, where did you get it from? So I said it's top secret and gave him WA's web address to join & browse....

The Micro SD card is hot swappable even though you have to take out the back cover to do it.

I tried out the speaker phone, it is loud and crystal clear.

I downloaded the blank operator logo, the same one that I had for the 6230 and it works perfect, so now the screen is completely uncluttered and even more beautiful.

Intersting thing about the battery, it has beeping for the last couple of hours and I have made about 15 mins. worth of phone calls with it and it still isn't dead. This will be a good 2 days with heavier than normal use and I have no issues with that.

To Be Continued.........

PS: Another one of our members Steven2420 got the 6131 and also on Friday, but typical of a Marketing VP, he is making the engineers do all the work.....

[kjo]

Originally Posted by Charlyee

Hi Kelli,good catch you are right, my mistake sorry.... . The one on the left is from today with the 6131.

Some more update:
I went to BestBuy to get Micro SD card, the sales person said, oh that's a very nice phone, I have been eying that myself, where did you get it from? So I said it's top secret and gave him WA's web address to join & browse....

The Micro SD card is hot swappable even though you have to take out the back cover to do it.

I tried out the speaker phone, it is loud and crystal clear.

I downloaded the blank operator logo, the same one that I had for the 6230 and it works perfect, so now the screen is completely uncluttered and even more beautiful.

Intersting thing about the battery, it has beeping for the last couple of hours and I have made about 15 mins. worth of phone calls with it and it still isn't dead. This will be a good 2 days with heavier than normal use and I have no issues with that.

To Be Continued.........

PS: Another one of our members Steven2420 got the 6131 and also on Friday, but typical of a Marketing VP, he is making the engineers do all the work.....

sounds like it might be a keeper
Don't forget to post some pictures one day...so we can see the pretty screen

[josephd]

Great review Charlyee! Glad you like your phone (for now) Good luck and enjoy your new toy.

[bobolito]

Charlyee, thanks for your review.

As a 6131 owner, I'm sure you can answer these questions: what are the options for recurring alarms? For instance, can you set the alarm for every day, or once a week, etc. What about the calendar? Are calendar events capable of triggering an alarm? How flexible are the calendar events as far as recurrence? Can you enter a calendar event that happens once a week for instance? Thanks.

[Charlyee]

Bobolito,

1. Yes you can set the alarm for 1-7 days.

2. Yes the calendar events can trigger an alarm.

3.The calendar recurring events are pretty flexible , every day, every week, every 2 weeks, every month, and every year. The only thing I cannot seem to be able to do is pick certain days of the week for a recurrance pattern, for that I have to do 2 same events but recurring on 2 different days......

I hope I answered all your questions, I really like the phone, the battery life is improving and I find the call volume quite acceptable.

[viewfly]

Cool Charlyee,

My Nokia 6230 does the same with the calendar and alarms, so I think this has been part of the standard Nokia's OS for some time.

My daugther went out and bought herself a pink Razr, so that is now part of the phone family. Good price too, $79 after rebates.

[Charlyee]

Originally Posted by viewfly

Cool Charlyee,

My Nokia 6230 does the same with the calendar and alarms, so I think this has been part of the standard Nokia's OS for some time.

My daugther went out and bought herself a pink Razr, so that is now part of the phone family. Good price too, $79 after rebates.

Yes it is the same as the 6230, now that I think about it.

bobolito, I also wanted to add that you cannot do a recurring "ToDo" in the phone, but if you have one on Outlook it synchronizes just fine.

The one thing that is bugging me is that the "ToDo" is in no specific order and sorting it by due date is an option but there does not seem to be any way to save that option, it always goes back to the random order.

viewfly, is the 6230 the same way? I don't remember.....

PS: The calculater is quite advanced, it has the trig functions, squares & roots.

[viewfly]

Originally Posted by Charlyee

viewfly, is the 6230 the same way? I don't remember.....

PS: The calculater is quite advanced, it has the trig functions, squares & roots.

Yes, it is the same. I never use the 'to do ' list anyhow.

hmm, the calculator sounds nice. the 6230 has squares, roots, but no trig functions, but I have those committed to memory, or is it that I should be committed for knowing them

[Charlyee]

Originally Posted by viewfly

Yes, it is the same. I never use the 'to do ' list anyhow.

hmm, the calculator sounds nice. the 6230 has squares, roots, but no trig functions, but I have those committed to memory, or is it that I should be committed for knowing them

I am the opposite I can not live without the "todo" list. I use it for project tracking purposes and have ever since my Palm Pilot days. I use the calendar only for meetings.

I agree you should be committed for knowing them, . I mean I know the 0, 30, 45, 60, & 90 but I do a lot of Power Factor calculations and the cellphone is the only device I am guranteed to have on me at all times.

[Charlyee]

bobolito, I have been reading about your concerns for the battery. The battery very easily survives way more than one day, in fact I am still playing with it and I get 2 full days on it.

viewfly, Guess what it does not have? The "wallet". I had really gotten used to it on the 6230 and the 6682 also had it.

I am liking the phone more and more. Everything seems to be superfast on it, the web browsing, mms, e-mail etc.

Everything works perfect except I cannot open a video message (I can send one fine). I get an error message saying "One or more message components have been deleted by MMS adaptation. Either the message was too large or the components were unsuitable for your terminal". Reading the Cingular customer forums there seems to be other phones both branded and unbranded, that have had this problem. I don't know if I will ever have a need for the video messaging to work but it would be kind of nice if it did. Does anyone have a solution for this?

Thanks

[kjo]

[quote=Charlyee
I am liking the phone more and more. Everything seems to be superfast on it, the web browsing, mms, e-mail etc.

[/QUOTE]

I'm glad you are having fun. It looks like a sweet phone. Hopefully one day they will do a video review on cnet so I can see how the button/flip opens itself. I had to show my hubby the Pebl so he could understand what I was talking about. My husband isn't in to cell phones like me ..as long as it works that's all he cares about. But he thinks it's "cute" when I get excited over the cool things my phone does. ha ha ha I'm a nut.. I 'm starting to think I need to get some professional help

[viewfly]

Originally Posted by Charlyee

bobolito, viewfly, Guess what it does not have? The "wallet". I had really gotten used to it on the 6230 and the 6682 also had it.

I am liking the phone more and more. Everything seems to be superfast on it, the web browsing, mms, e-mail etc.


Thanks

I'm surprised too. I store info in the wallet, but so far I haven't lost my real wallet, so it's a mute point for me.

But I actually thought that the 6131 would have the wallet and the US version 6126 would not. Hmmm.

[Steven2420]

The firmware details are:
V 03.50