Nokia 6101 / 6102
Average Ratings
Solid Phone
Good phone and great reception !!! I had a Motorola V551 before and I was convinced Cingular service was terrible, this phone changed my mind. My service has been FLAWLESS since I got this phone.
6102 is a very good/solid phone
Best flip phone I've owned in a while (including my Razr). Not sure why all the hype over the audio. I think it's fine. Reception is what's very noticeable. Hardly any garbling when I'm talking to others. Internet is fast.
Only reason I give it a 4.5 is lack of bluetooth.
Only minor complaints
Pros:
Solid, quality feel in my hand.
Fits very nice against face, good "curve".
As expected, great reception.
Color screen is awesome! Very clear and crisp.
Loud ringers.
Fast and responsive menus.
Cons:
Only comes with a couple ring tones, and no plain ones.
At maximum volume, ringer is over modulated and distorted.
The side buttons are small and very much "out of the way" so you will not be pressing them by accident like on other phones. People have compared this phone to the Motorola V600 and it's nothing like it. It's lighter, and smaller by just a bit. I wouldn't not call this a large phone, nor would I call it tiny - it's a medium sized handset. As I mentioned, the ring tones it comes with are horrible, and there are no basic ringers. The FM radio on it is pretty handy and very clear.
The unit itself looks very sharp and is easy on the eyes. It is very light so it fits in your pocket nicely. The reception is just as good as my old Nokia 3220 and I have no complaints about the call clarity either. No dropped calls. The keypad is nice and just big enough to make pressing buttons comfortable. I love Nokia's use of "profiles" too. I don't understand why others give such bad scores, this is definitely a top notch phone.
I subtract a point for lack of basic ring tones and the silly unicorn antenna when so many other phones are without antennas these days.
Could Be Better
I had the 6101 for six months and it was not the greatest phone. The memory capacity is terrible. I was always having to clean out my text messages and image folder to make more room. The video quality was terrible. The text message process was a pain.
However, the phone was very durable. I smashed in the trunk door of my car and it still works. Nokia never fails to impress me with durability, that's for sure.
I can't say this is the best phone, but I can't say it's the worst phone either. I didn't have any problems with reception and I didn't have any dropped calls. If you just want something basic that works, this is the phone with you. If you want to be impressed, this is NOT the phone for you. I have a Samsung e635 now, and even though it lacks the video option, it's much better than the 6101.
Not a Fast Performer
I purchased the 6102 from my local Cingular dealer hoping that it would be a very close match in features as the Sony W600i. It DOES have most of the features of the Sony, but has a few nagging flaws. First, is the fact that Cingular decided that we should have to buy the headphone dongle seperately, unlike as with T-Mobile, it's included in the box. Second, the menu functions are rediculously S L O W!!! When you hit the "menu" key, it takes a full 2 seconds for it to perform that particular function. Rediculous! When you access the "games" folder, it takes about 5-8 seconds to go through things there. And let's not forget about the measly little 4MB of "storage" space. Now, as far as use goes, it is really simple to use. I only had to use the instruction manual for one particular instance and that's it. Call reception was usually fairly good, only had a few instances of dropped calls. For some reason, the signal level fluctuated more than on my W600i I have now. Not too bad of a mid level phone, but there's better to be had.
PROS
Easy to use
Good reception
Good batt. life
Pic quality surprisingly good for a VGA camera
Stylish
Good "bang for buck"
Great blue-tooth operation
CONS
S L O W and sluggish menu functions
Not enough storage and no expandability
Not enough options to customize phone
Phone would need resetting periodically
Good basic phone
I've had both the T-Mobile version (6101) and the Cingular Version (6102). They both worked the same to me. They were both good basic phones.
Pros:
Good signal
decent camera/video
Fm radio played excellently.
Ringers were loud
Cons:
Small-as-hell memory
Low video time
Overall, I was pleased with these basic phones, but it was definitely time for bigger and better things.
One of the best cell phones
Pros Reception, call quality, long battery life, elegant design, interface, external caller i.d., Speakerphone, FM Stereo
Cons None
The 6101 is one of the best cell phones for performance i.e. reception, call quality & excellent battery life. It has an elegant design w/ one of the best keyboards which I normally operate with one hand. There are six programmable button positions. Top left is a Go To which can be set to a list including Ringing volume, Silent, Missed calls, mailbox, etc. The central navigation key has 4 customizable positions- upper, lrft, right & lower which works great on phonebook, down to select & rock back to center to call. Shortcut button on right can be set to one item like Calendar, Alarm clock, Radio, etc.
FM Stereo radio is included with a stereo headset. Sound quality is at least very good though most would call it excellent. Phone calls mute the radio, play the ring tone & can be answered which works nicely.
External caller I.D. screen with signal & battery strength & clock can include date.
Speakerphone can be turned on during a call.
Camera has 3 quality settings & a night mode. The high quality setting works very well in both normal & night vision mode. Best for relatively close up shots as seems to be typical for cell phone cameras. Zoom can be used to check focus after a pic. is taken.
Games can be deleted.
Battery life is as much as double some others. (Talk time about 6.5 hrs.+)
NOKIA got this one right!
Better Than Most
I just switched to T-Mobile from Nextel. The first phone I got from T-Mobile was the Samsung e635. It's HORRIBLE! I don't recommend it to anyone! I got the Nokia 6101 as a replacement after reading all of these reviews. Overall, it is a pretty good phone. The camera could be a little clearer and it doesn't have a flash, but that's why you buy a digital camera and next expect perfection in a phone. The sound is clear and loud. One of the only other tiny complaints that I have is that there are not a lot of ring tones that come with this phone which is a little disappointing. Other than that I really have no other complaints. The FM radio is also a plus. It surprisingly gets pretty decent reception and is handy if you don't have an ipod or anything along those lines while out and about. I have not experienced any dropped calls in regards to the phone, which is what I experienced greatly with the Samsung. If you're looking for a phone that actually works like a phone with a few extras, I suggest this one!
wow
bought this phone...
side key broke so my volume was stuck on low for about six months untill i learned how to fix it...
paid $150 and now its free...
yeah.
good phone for free! NOT anything over that...
My favorite phone so far
I work in the wireless industry and this has to be the best Non-blue tooth containing flip phone out right now. Nokia used to be king, and then flip phones came back in style and Samsung,LG and also Motorola became the top 3 brands. Nokia faded because no one wanted brick phones anymore. Now they have come out with a whole new fleet of top of the line flip phones. This model the 6102 or 6101. Is near perfect for the average consumer.
First Off I have read reviews that say the volume is too low. I do not know where this is coming from. It is the Loudest phone I have ever owned.It is louder than the Razr. The camera quality is 3 notches higher than my Sony Erricson and about the same as my LG(which is good).
It has FM radio, Speakerphone,Infrared,Edge High Speed,Video(up to 1 and half minutes, which like 10 times longer than the Razr can record) and still camera. It also has IRDA and every basic feature you can think of. Nokia is back on top.
Pros: everything listed above plus; very long battery lfe, and very nice sleek,compact design. very, very good signal(on Cingular AND T-Mobile), tri-band.
Cons: low memory. Outside screen is is 1990's game boy style.