Nokia 6126 / 6131 / 6133
Phone Scoop Review
Sep 8, 2006 by Eric Lin
An in-depth review of Nokia's new flagship feature phone. Find out how this stylish GSM clamshell stacks up. Updated with a video review. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
excellent flip phone
I have owned this phone for over a year and it is one of the best phones I have ever used. I was surprised that the Nokia performed so well. And that is based on using over 40 phones since 1994. Carrier: T-Mobile, Location: San Francisco Bay Area, Used as: mostly as a phone with some text messaging (about 30 text's a month including picture messaging).
Pro's:
+ Excellent reception
+ Great volume at ear-piece
+ Easily works with blue tooth devices
+ Solid feel (rubberized type texture on exterior)
+ Excellent screen quality (inside and out)
+ Reliable (always works, even where signal is low)
Con's
- Battery life could be better, but it is not all that bad
- Need to lock the keys (menu-*) to avoid activating the camera while in pocket
- Interior of case (inside flip) does pick up scratches from dust or particles you may have in your pocket. Not very durable on shiny interior bezel, but keys and screen continue to work flawlessly.
This phone was replaced with another excellent Nokia, the 6086 which has the same great "no dropped calls" RF characteristics as this phone. I hope to try the new Nokia flip phone T-Mobile is selling when my contract renews this year.
Noka! What Else would you expect?
I have had this phone for about 8 months and it has been awesome. The screen is rich and vibrant, taking pics is a snap when you have it on the right setting for the phone. Call clarity is awesome very few dropped calls.( I live in an area that is very rural and does not have a lot of cellular reception. No surprising when the phone transmits at 1.5 watts! (Sometimes I am the only one with reception in my area when my friends use the same network and have nothing) Call clarity is awesome. I love the bluetooth! I able to be at work and listen to my tunes via mp3 player in the phone, and best of all I can tune out my boss. JK
Pros:
Call clarity
Reception! Reception! Reception!
Bluetooth compatible to listen to MP3 player on a regular bluetooth headset
Awesome Display
Loud speakerphone
Voice dial works with SIM and Phone memory alike
Seamless function between SD Card and phone
Camera 1.3 Mega-pixels (lots of different modes)
Auto keylock after one minute of closing phone (So no more pictures of your pocket)
Standby menu on main screen that is programmable
Cons:
Battery Life is poor.(Expected when transmitting at such a high wattage though)
When not using bluetooth the phone has to be held just right for you to hear in the ear piece, if not held at the exact position then you cannot hear very well.
The exterior rubberized coating around the phone peels off after only 3-6 months usage on the phone
I gave this phone a 4.5 because just of the very few cons, but other than those I will have to say that using this phone has been a delightful experience.
I love it!!!
I have had this phone know for about one month and all i have to say is that its been excellent!!!
I previously owned the samsung a707(also known as the sync) and the reception on that thing wasn't that good. So i went online and bought a go phone from at&t and just put my sim card in the phone and it works of my plan i currently have.
Pros:
Nice, Bright screen
Battery life is pretty good if you take off all the screen savers and stuff(I use it alot, texting, web surfing and talking and it easily lasts me a day or if not more)
Nice durable feel
Very loud ringer
Nice ear piece volume
Excellent signal (best i ever had with at&t)
Nice mp3 player and camera
Cons:
Sometimes my phone just beeps and then it restarts during a call, doesn't do it alot but i makes me think that their is a glitch.
All in all this phone is good. I'm really happy with this purchase and i would recommend it to anyone.
Excellent all arround
I gave this phone a 4.5 for its overall performance and value.
Pro's
Reception...excellent even in marginal service areas
volume ear piece is loud and clear and speaker phone volume is phenomenal
features this phone does everything I need and a little more
camera decent image quality and resolution and it actually zooms....
Display both are large and vivid!!!
con's
Battery life is poor...I wish there was an extended cap battery avail
finish flakes off outside and around main screen after a few months.
I have been in cellular sales for 6 years and this is the most reliable nokia flip I have seen to date and for the money it packs a lot into a reasonable package...If nokia could increase battery, they would have a perfect 5 from me.
worked great until...
This was a great phone...
Pros:
picture quality excellent,
both LCD screens were bright & clear, interesting selection of ringtones, convenient button to open the phone,
radio function worked clearly,
reception was ALWAYS great (even in elevators and in concrete basements)
Pro-then-con:
Exterior of the phone is smooth & rubberized, which was very pleasing until it started to nick and peel...revealing how cheaply made it was.
HOWEVER, after ~4 months of ownership a glitch appeared. Quite suddenly --I didn't do anything to it-- whenever I tried to attach a picture to a text message, the phone would simply go blank (kicking me out of the text msg screen) or completely shut down. After several calls to TMobile, we discovered that the problem occurred when I changed any of the settings of the phone from the factory default settings (ie, using my own picture as wallpaper).
I LOVED this phone. They sent me a replacement...same problem...they sent me another replacement...same problem.
Oddly enough, another TMobile friend of mine got the same phone and has never had an issue.
Con:
generally cheap manufacturing: the exterior was easily-nicked, the battery cover didn't fit snugly and popped off sometimes, the body was generally squeaky around the seams
Great overall flip phone
Pros:
Large and bright screen
Loud speaker for tones and speaker phone
Push to flip button
Easy to use and highly customizable software
Size is just about right
Cons:
Battery life-With heavy use you would probably have to charge every night
Camera-pretty bad despite being 1mp
Camera button on the side always gets pressed accidentally turning on the camera when the phone is in your pocket, only way to avoid would key guard which is silly on a flip phone
Flimsy battery cover and fall off if not careful
Mp3 ring-tones blocked on 6133 (T-mobile)
I like this phone because you are given endless options for customizing the menus and the shortcut buttons. The screen is very nice but you pay the price with shorter than average battery life. Uses a new charger which very few other Nokias use, so you may have to buy new ones.
Sound quality is pretty good with T-Mobile in Chicago IL. Calls rarely drop and I do get reception in pretty bad places.
The only real annoying thing about the phone is the camera button the side. Everything else can be dealt with.
Nokia 6133
Overall a very user-friendly phone considering its features.
Pros:
External case finish attractive and non-slip
External display very large with great resolution.
Button to flip open very intuitive and better the the PEBL. Won't fly open and destroy hinge.
Ringtones loud and clear.
User frienly menus(typical for Nokia)
Bright illuminted keypad.
Very crisp, detailed inner display with 16M true colors.
Decent camera with video clips.
Clear and loud speakerphone.
Cons:
Lower battery life due to large high resolution bright color displays.
Limited ringtones and wallpapers.
On-off button is tiny and located just below the camera button on right side of handset.(Easy to accidentally activate camera-mode).
Location of antenna: Bottom of handset(People usually grab hand around bottom when holding handset possible causing reception issue).
Micro-SD slot located on side of phone and battery cover needs to be removed before inserting or removing it. (Weird location).
Other than those listed, phone is a very good mid-range GSM phone by Nokia. Not excessively overdone and not lacking much needed basics plus a few others.
Best Phone I've Found
Just got the Nokia 6126 a couple weeks ago and its a great phone. (I have service with Cellular One in Alaska)
PRO's
1. Great screen
2. Nice Camera (I have not had any problem with green pictures...seems to work just fine.)
3. MP3 player is a nice bonus.
4. Expandable memory up to 2 GB lets you take as many pictures and video and have as many ring tones as you could possibly want. Can also hold as much music as an Ipod.
The price. The next closest phone in comparison (With Cellular One) is the Krzr and that cost $400 vs. $250 for the 6126 and the only thing that phone has is a slightly better camera, which is countered with the 6126's higher resolution screen.
CON's
1. Battery life. One solution for the person on the go is to get an extra battery and charge them both at night.
Try this phone! For the Price it the best!
Nokia's New, Sexy Body Also Has The Brains To Match!
For experience purposes, I've owned a Nokia 6620, 6230, N-Gage QD, N-Gage, 3200, 3120, and 8390. That's 7 other Nokia's. I'll break down my 6131 (Cingular, Central Valley, California) into brief catagories...
*PROS:
- Body: It has a thin, rubber coating around the phone that warms up wherever you hold it, giving a cozy feeling
- Screen: Monstrous screen with a resolution so sharp and clear, it does look like a laptop screen, as others had said
- Signal: Picks up in dark spots just like my past phones.
- Loudspeaker: WoW, loudest speakerphone, ringtone speaker, and music speaker I've heard on a Nokia - I actually have to lower the volume, rare on Nokias
- Bluetooth: seamless, Fastest. Upload and download rates have doubled, and as usual, not a problem. Plays music through headset
- Themes: its always nice to be able to cycle through themes occasionally
- Keypad: the best keypad I've used. Period. Large, separated, normal shaped keys, texting is fun again, not a chore.
- Browser: so-so speeds for WAP, on the sluggish side for a newer phone. It does send and receive MMS much faster now.
- Menu: series 40 is THE often imitated, never duplicated champion phone OS, and Nokia has spiced it up with bright colors, quick response, new options, more ways for shortcuts, extra options for images, full-screen picture ID, contacts, messaging, etc. It's starting to blend into the Series 60 look without all the heavy smartphone capabilities
- Media: 3GPP videos, flash files, mp3's, wma's, radio, you won't be bored!
*CONS
Earpiece: Hard to put earpiece correctly onto your ear, so it takes a bit of shifting around until you hear the person optimally.
Camera: 1.3 Megapixels of grainy crap. I really don't care though. I'm the type who's happy with a VGA camera. The camera's a novelty, not a deal-breaker for me. It does it's job wonderfully outdoors.
Battery: Yuck. This is keeping me from a perfect rating. Unplug phone from charger, fresh...replug dead phone in 12-18 hours.
From Motorola Pebl to Nokia 6131
T-Mobile user, Columbus Ohio.
Reception
This is the biggest issue for me. I don't care about cameras or EDGE and radio and going online with my phone and all that other crap. I want my phone to work wherever I am, and this Nokia does fine.
Call clarity
This IS the clearest sounding Nokia I have ever owned. There is no background hissing, no popping noises, no crackling noises, no wavey noises. The person on the other end sounds very good, just not as deep and robust as the Pebl.
The ear piece volume is adequate too. At full volume people sound good with no distortion.
Battery
Yeah, we all know the deal. It's not that good.
Build and form factor
This phone is really much thinner than the pics make it look. It's very nice and slim and feels good in my hand. I liked the feel of the Pebl better though, that soft black feel was awesome.
The Pebl felt bulky and heavy, much like it's name "pebble." The Nokia is skinny and slender, and fits nicely in my pockets. It's very light too, one of the lightest phones I've ever owned.
Opening the phone feels solid, no creaking noises or strange sounds. However, when the phone is closed, I can move the top part from side to side just a little bit.
Once you open it
The screen is beautiful, no doubt. Everyone has already said this and I just have to confirm how awesome it looks. It really is the best screen I have ever seen.
The keypad is great too. I like having distinction between the numbers. The keys are nicely lit so you can see them in the dark very easily.
The signal meter only shows 4 possible bars. Call me crazy, but I like to see more bars. The 6230 and the 3220 showed 7 possible bars and I liked that better.
The 'push to open' button on the side of the phone is very handy. It feels very solid, when I push it an audible click is heard. The side buttons are nice and flush too.
Conclusion
The 6131 is an elegant looking phone that performs just as good as it looks. I would recommend this phone, most definitely!
