Review Nokia 6131

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Nokia ignored the clamshell segment for a while ,so they introduced the new 6131 to compete with Korean products While Motorola and Samsung streaked ahead with their fashion models, Nokia was generally more focused towards its highly successful candy-bar range.The manufacturer has tried to create a solution that would be different from Korean models in terms of functionality and design.The main color of the phone is black but there are three additional color solutions - sandy, red and white.In all cases external display edging and case plastic is different. In case with black edition there is soft touch plastic, then additional color solutions don't have this one. Black edition looks most preferable one, as it also makes phone look slimmer. Review Nokia 6131

One of reasons for that is presence of silver edging on case side.Even if is not specifically designed to be a fashion set, it has all the basic multimedia features covered off, and it looks great.The model is from the middle class segment and the designers made an effort to make it look more expensive than it really is.For example battery cover has leather-like texture, although it is made of plastic.

The phone has the dimensions of 92x48x20 mm and the weight is 102 grams.Even if we can compare it to Motorola's RAZR V3 cannot be classified as "slim".On the left side we can find the volume adjustment button,on the

right side the camera activation button as well as the turn on/off button which may again cause some initial confusion for its loyal customers.With its help you can switch profiles without opening the phone. Interface connector was moved on top, and its cork which covers it is part of back cover. A slightly unusual construction, but it is convenient, you are not afraid to lose the cork, it is nicely fixed. Battery charger jack is open, and you can access it anytime. Headset can be connected only when handset is closed, when it is opened, upper part will be disturb it.

The loudspeaker was moved to bottom part of right case side. Besides several other peculiarities, this handset received automatic opening mechanism (it is mechanical, embodied with help of spring). You can see a button on top right corner, when you press it phone will open, and this operation occurs quite fast. While you can see the potential benefit of the push-to-open functionality, we found it a little unreliable with repeated use, and those we handed it to remarked that they were worried it might accidentally open in their pocket or bag. Closing the flip was sporadically unreliable too, in that generally you had to push and hold the flip completely down or else it would spring back open again.

On the front side you will find a 1.3mpx camera which we shall discuss later and the external display which has a 128x160 pixel resolution (20x26mm, 1.36 inches) and can display up to 262000 colors (TFT).The quality of the external display is good, although picture is not that bright,but when you are outdoors the information remains readable. You cannot read incoming messages when clamshell is closed, although the resolution is large enough for that. Caller's photo ID is shown in full screen mode, finally. As for unusual features, we can highlight color indication: you will see screen blinking periodically in case of missed call. This function can be disabled in settings menu. You can install custom wallpapers for external screen, and change basic settings

The main display has a 16.7 million colours present so the screen seemed brighter than any other Nokia we've seen.Unfortunately, this brilliant screen goes to waste somewhat though with a lack of 3G functionality. The keypad is made of plastic and features well-placed bulky buttons with fairly good click sensation. Speedy typing won't be a big deal with them. The four-way navigation key incorporates "OK" key and also ensures favorable experience. The keypad is lit in blue and visible in most environments.

The back cover doesn't expose any gap. Removing it you will reveal the MicroSD memory cards clot, located on the left side. Its construction match that of many today's models, like Sony Ericsson W300i, Sony Ericsson Z710i, Motorola v360 etc., which implies that hot-swap is enabled here. Another attraction of the 6131 is that no limit on maximum size of memory cards is set. This models uses a 760 mAh capable Li-Ion battery BL-4C. As the manufacturer claims, the battery provides up to 3.4 hours of talk time and keeps the phone on for 240 hours in standby mode or 12 hours in music playback mode. Full recharging time is 2 hours. There are no more capable batteries available for this model, at least official ones

As far as menu navigation goes, the Nokia performed extremely well, although the Series 40 user interface, particularly the 'active standby' icons, will be a little bit unfamiliar to traditional Nokia users at first.

Camera

The handset has a 1.3 Mpix camera, which is quite incapable in light of nowadays criteria, but still enough for a model coming from the mid segment. Despite the proposals, already armed with 2 Mpix camera modules, the 6131 is not a camera-centric phone and therefore carries one of the cheapest solutions, providing fairly poor quality. The following resolutions are supported: 1024x1280; 960x1280; 600x800; 480x640; 240x320 and 120x160. The last two minimal resolutions were added in order to allow taking snaps for wallpapers for internal and external display respectively. There are 3 JPEG compression types supported: default, normal, high. Since the quality leaves much to be desired in any case, better set compression to high - it won't make the photos any worse.The viewfinder can be flexibly accessed from both the main and the outer displays. Shutter sound may be turned off, the camera is equipped with a digital 8x zoom, though I wouldn't recommend using it. You can choose the place to store all photos in - this may be either the phone's memory or a memory card. The effects may be laid onto taken photos - does applying them beforehand make sense, it's up to you to decide. The following effects are available: False colours, Greyscale, Sepia, Negative, Solarise. Those, who are keen on multi-shooting, the camera offers a special mode, which enables you to take 3 pictures at a time. All settings are copied from the ones for single-shooting, including resolution. Below you have a picture taken with the camera from Nokia 6131 :

Picture is clickable

Video
The handset is capable of capturing video in 3GP extension with the resolution of 128x96 or 176x144 pixels. Quality has three grades like single shots. Though the maximum duration of a single clip may be limited, it's possible to go on recording until you have no free memory left. The quality is quite mediocre; it would have been strange to receive something different with such camera. All effects may be applied to video clips in the same way as to photos, their numbers totally coincide.

Music and radio
The media player supports formats including MP3, MP4, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ and WMAWhen you buy the Nokia 6131 you receive the HS-23 stereo-headset which has an average quality and it will come in handy only for talking but by no means for listening to music.Overall the audio quality, is much improved from previous models and is best with the genuine stereo headset provided in the box.

FM radio is also supported. Turning back to the standard headset, pressing the button on them will result in switching radio station.Both screens will display info on currently played track or radio station (though availability of such tags depends on picked theme for the external screen). The radio volume is higher than that of majority of mp3-tracks played back in the media player. Taking account of this device being not a music-centric one, the media player performs very well, although I suppose many will take Nokia 6131 as a music phone.

The Nokia 6131 runs on the S40 3rd edition platform and this has a few peculiarities

Demo-mode. Allows running the handset without a SIM-card onboard, you get access to majority of functions. Such feature is still a rare thing on ordinary handsets, thus the 6131 can rightfully come and boast a little here.
Java-applications. Like any S40-powered handset, this phone can't minimize applications, in other words if you've called up a particular app, you have to either work with it or shut down (radio and music are the only exceptions). Against the background of devices coming from the Sony Ericsson's latest generation, empowering users not only to keep applications in background mode, but also to run up to three programs plus the media player, the 6131 appears pretty archaic.
Incoming messages. The display doesn't offer the information on sender - only amount of messages (e.g you have one unread message), and this isn't the exact way it should be. In viewing mode name is taken from the phonebook.
Phonebook. Unlike Nokia 6233, which is a business-solution, here you can store up to 1000 entries rather than 500. Regrettably, there is no way you can transfer contacts other than a business-card to external device, even via wireless interfaces, so that to send the entire phonebook you are forced to turn to a PC and MS Outlook as a go-between. Themes. The handset carries 7 various themes though the amount of available themes is not limited with these only, therefore you don't have to worry about your device being poorly customized.

In addition to the usual Nokia fare such as a calendar, Bluetooth, push-to-talk, synchronisation, alarm clock, and so on, an interesting feature which stood out was the simplified e-mail interface on the 6131. E-mail was surprisingly easy to set up, even giving us the option to select from a range of Australian ISP's (which were preprogrammed into the phone), as well as Google's Gmail and Yahoo Mail. Support for the SMTP, POP3, and IMAP4 protocols was present, and the 6131's setup screen guided us through the configuration process. All in all, certainly one of the easiest e-mail setup processes around.

The phone carries three games: Snake III, Soccer 3D and a flash-based Sudoku.
The pre-installed applications are: World Time, Nokia Sensor and the last app is Presenter, which allows handling presentations being demonstrated on PC with a bluetooth-module and special software by Nokia.

Call quality was adequate and the speakerphone worked well in an office environment, although we struggled with louder outside noise.Battery life on the 6131 was good, though not outstanding. When it comes to music, Sony Ericsson W300i looks much more preferable due to the standard kit and price (SE's solution is cheaper by 65-80 USD), but if we are to overlook the music capabilities, the W300i isn't a direct competitor for the 6131. Ultimately, with a lustrous black design, a fair set of multimedia features, and good support (including quad-band connectivity) for more business-related activities, the Nokia 6131 performed well.
So, whats the conclusion? Nokia 6131 retains a lot of various features peeped almost everywhere, but still it's a solution with own unique face. It's not a groundbreaking truth that all-in-one phones attract audience; combined with a well-known brad the 6131 is doomed to being a success, on top of that software issues are few and camera isn't the sticking point for many. All in all the handset turned out to be pretty appealing and unusual, which also acts in its favor.

RsGsm

Picture is clickable