Nokia 6131 Review

Now that is interesting. Good News! Join the rest of us in our enjoyment of VM icons.

 

Has anyone gotten 3GP streaming to work? I've tried on several websites and nothing works. I always get a "no response" error message:

- www.zoovision.com
- test.orb.com

 

I never tried...not much interest here for that. I think Charlyee may have, but got the same result as you.

 

Something weird has been happening to my phone. It's happened about 3x in the past week.

Out of nowhere, it will just drop a call. Then the screen will go white, then flicker, and then the image will finally show up on the screen.

Has anyone else experienced this problem? Thanks in advance.

 

This sounds like a random reboot I get every once in a while. It happened once when I was on a call, but more often it's when I'm answering the call. Happened with 3.70 before and 5.50 now. Performing a factory reset seems to straighten the phone out for at least a month.

 

Yeah, mine is occurring during a conversation--very annoying. It's like a double whammy: 1)I'm getting a call dropped, and 2) my phone is kinda restarting.

This really sucks. I really like the phone, but I expected more from Nokia. I came from SE back to Nokia BECAUSE of their quality phones.

 

I haven't had a reboot during a call. It usually happens when using a Java app, though. But so far 5.5 seems to be behaving better than 3.7 as far as reboots.

Speaking of other things, I really like how you can hook-up the 6131 to your car's stereo using the AD-46 adapter and either listen to your MP3s or have a normal speakerphone conversation. The AD-46 has a built-in microphone and an Talk/End button so you can answer incoming calls without even touching the phone. The echo-cancellation is excellent on this adapter as it has survived all my tests, so the mic does not pickup the caller's voice coming from the car speakers at all, hence avoiding the "echo" effect back to the caller. People can hear me just fine and I can hear them very clearly through my car's stereo. You just gotta keep in mind to have it near your mouth for best sound to your callers. The Talk/End button also doubles as a "Next Track" button when listening to your music. Both the phone and the AD-46 adapter are definitely very well fine-tuned devices as far as sound quality/engineering on both incoming and outgoing audio.

Also, I find that the 6131 doesn't interfere with my car's radio (GSM buzz noise during a call) as much as other GSM phones I've had. You have to have the cables that go into the cassette adapter virtually touching the phone for you to hear some kind of buzzing. With the Motorola, I remember I had to always scramble around to position it correctly to avoid GSM buzz interference.

 

I have not had problems with re-boots during calls or otherwise either. I've had the phone since the beginning of Sept.

The AD-46 is interesting. I did not realize that it had a microphone; I thought it was only for wired stereo headsets.

I'm looking for christmas 'stocking stuffer' ideas. How does this thing hook up? A reasonable length of cable between the phone and AD-46, then a tape cassette wire between the AD-46 and your car's tape deck? Is there enough room to clip the AD-46 to your shirt collar?

Also, does it require batteries? It seems to have a RF pre amp for the FM radio too.

BTW, have you looked at any of the BT Stereo headsets with microphones attached to them?

 

The AD-46 has a cable (about 3-ft long) and one end connects to the pop port on the phone, and the other end has the adapter with a standard stereo 3.5mm jack.

You can connect any stereo headset, cassette adapter or phono-to-RCA cable to it so you can connect the phone to your car stereo, home stereo or any standard stereo headset. On the AD-46 adapter, you'll also find a button that you can use to answer/end calls, or to advance to the next track when listening to music. Next to the button, there's also a small hole which is the microphone. On the opposite side, you'll find a clip which you can use to attach the adapter to your clothing.

It is a very convenient gadget that allows you to hear phone calls through your car stereo, answer/end calls, and play your MP3s on anything you can connect it to. In fact, you should be able to connect it directly to your computer speakers, since they also use the standard 3.5mm connector. On an incoming call, the 6131 will pause the player, you answer the call by pressing the AD-46 button, speak through its built-in mic while listening through your car's speakers, and end the call by pressing the button again. The 6131 will then resume music where it left off. It is important to keep the AD-46 near your mouth to ensure the other caller can hear you clearly. Although I've had it laying near the emergency brake (between the front seats) and callers can hear me and understand me, although not very clear. You have to keep in mind that the microphone is in the adapter, so I just hold it near my mouth and my callers won't even be able to tell I am using anything other than the regular handset. In fact, they can't even tell I'm driving!

It is worth mentioning that the AD-46 will also allow you to use the 6131's built-in FM radio. I've found that it has slightly less reception capability than my car's radio.

 

Thanks Bobolito. Does it use batteries?

Nokia has such an amazing array of accessories for their phones.

I like this one. It is a small remote camera (1.3Mp) that has motion detection, IR lights, and video. You SMS the camera and it sends you back an image or video, or it will automatically send you an SMS or picture based upon motion in the room. It also has BT, so you can control it when it BT range.

It also has a temperature sensor to tell you the room temp. The PT-6 http://www.europe.nokia.com/accessorieslink?s=PT-6

Only drawback is it works for 900/1800 only. They have a neat array of BT car systems too. They are mostly advertised outside the US however

 

Ha ha-that a way! Good to have you in the club still!

I have version 3.5 also. You don't have the automatic key lock then, do you?

 

Ahh, you made the right choice. BTW, did you renew for 2 years to get the price break with Cingular?

 

I would REALLY love pushing the side button & having the screen light up. That is one of my biggest gripes with the 6131--when you push a side button & the stinkin' volume comes up. That really annoys me. It would be great to get rid of that!

I'm very tempted to send it to get it upgraded. I gave my sister my old phone though, and now I would have no phone for a few days.

 

On 5.5, once you have the keys locked the external screen backlight won't come on with any button except for the power button. You only get a message saying "keypad locked" which also comes up if you press the power button, but only stays on for like a second and goes away allowing you to see the regular display with the time, date, battery, signal, etc. So if you are in the dark and want to see the time or signal level, your only option is the power button.

If the keys are unlocked and you press one of the volume keys, you get the volume level which stays on for like 2 seconds and then goes away allowing you to see the regular display. Doesn't bother me at all. If you press the power button then you get the profiles list which is even worse because that won't go away unless you open the flip and hit "Exit" and if you press the camera button you get the camera which won't go away either unless you open the phone and hit Exit. So when the keys are unlocked the best thing to do is to press one of the volume keys to light up the display.

There seems to be a bug with the auto-keypad lock and I remember this happening on 3.7 as well. Sometimes when you are in a call and the call ends without you pressing any button (either they hang up or the call drops) the keypad lock will activate itself right away. Sometimes when I am finishing a call I just let the phone end the call on its own rather than closing the flip or pressing End because I want to do something else. However, it is annoying that as soon as the call ends the keypad locks right away without giving me a chance of doing anything. Again, this doesn't happen all the time, only at random times. I don't remember if it happens when I have a headset (Bluetooth or not) connected to the phone. Normally, the auto-keypad lock should trigger after 60 seconds, not immediately. However, I have never had this behavior happen when I press the End button to end the call or when I close the flip.

Viewfly, the AD-46 doesn't need batteries because it is just an adapter. I did discover another couple of things: when you are using the FM Radio, the button on the AD-46 will let you cycle through the radio stations saved in the phone. Also, when in idle mode, you can press and hold the AD-46 button and it will trigger the voice command prompt so you can say a contact name or another voice command.

 

If I'm not mistaken, it only happens when you answer the call while the keylock was active. Once the call ends, it goes back to locked state. It happened that way on my old 6820 as well. Obviously, having a headset profile set to auto-answer triggers this most often, but I think it's true for all cases of answering the call with the keylock on.

 

Thanks Bobolito. I thought it might require batteries (and the nokia site seemed to imply it) because of the FM preamp

BTW, all those functions you mentioned also exist on the HS-23 stereo/earbud/microphone set that comes with the 6131. Plus, if your in FM or MP3 mode, holding the middle black button will bring up Push to talk (which is useless for us here). All this functionally has been standard with nokia headsets since my 6230.

I love Nokia's!! I had to laugh when the first itunes phone came out and it shows the guy dancing to his phone, answering the phone, and going back to the music...old hat stuff!! Been doing that for years.

 

Update: I realized this also happens when you initiate the call via voice-dialing when the keylock is active. So basically when the call happens while the phone was in the keylock state it'll go back to the keylock state at the end of the call (unless you press some buttons during the call).

 

dmapr, thanks for the info. That was hard to figure out.

Viewfly, the FM amplifier is probably for the signal, not for the sound. The wire on the AD-46 or HS-23 are the actual antennas.

 

Yes, I assumed from the info below that the antenna amp is for the RF, and those normally are powered. So I now assume the AD-46 gets some power from the Pop-port. That better.

What confused me was the generic warning at the bottom of the AD-46 page, about only using Nokia batteries,etc.

I find the FM recepton and sound better on the 6131 than my 6230. In particular, I think the loop design in the HD-23 is better.

Thanks.

AD-46 Audio Adapter
Enables listening to a compatible Nokia device's FM radio or music player with standard stereo headphones of your own choice
Remote control with answer/end for phone calls
Improves FM stereo reception with integrated antenna amplifier
Long cable and clip attachment
Volume control for select models

 

Whew, it took me 2 days to read through this whole thread. And I don't think I will attempt the long one on howard.

I really like this site and particularly this thread. It shows how helpful members are. And your opinions definitely make me considering this 6131.

Members who have owned different brands, how would you rate/compare SE and Nokia? I am also interested in SE w810i which is somewhat close in price and N73 which is much more expensive. However, I do like candy bar form factor little more. Charlyee you know what I mean

 

If you decide to go with the W810i I think you will be happy, I have had the phone for a month now and so far I am very happy with it. I to am partial to bar phones and the SE has been a nice replacement to my beloved 6230.
The only complaint I have is the left and right soft keys cannot be changed to your preference, other than that if you are looking for a feature rich solid performing music phone the SE would be a good choice. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions , and thank-you Charlyee.Oh and welcome to WA.

 

Funny, I just started reading his post. I wonder the reasons he didn't keep 6131.

The SE sub-forum seems less traffic than other sub-forums here or am I wrong?

 

Sorry I should have mentioned that about the 6131,also remember your area and phone choice varies. Charlyee was correct for the reason I no longer have the 6131, and it got good reviews I personally was not impressed with the phones RF compared to my SE and the 6230. Also keep in mind if you should choose the 6131 it is a European version of the 6126 that Cingular was supposed to get and Cingular does not support the 6131 should you have any problems. Good Luck

 

Interesting. I don't have anyone with W810i to compare the RF against, but a former coworker has a 6230 and in our estimate 6131 held it's own. Our office building has a few tough zones and both phones were losing signal and switching to T-Mobile roaming more or less simultaneously. Of course I'm coming from 6820, which has very poor RF, so it's understandable I was excited .