Nokia 5140
- G
- Gadgeteer
- 11 Aug 2004
Chief Medic: That's great news, glad to hear it. At least your girlfriend's phone is working again. And it's good that you've already made up your mind about buying the M65; as long as you're comfortable with it, then it's fine. And let us know how you find the phone so far. :-)
- M
- Manta_73
- 11 Aug 2004
I have had this phone for about a month now. It is a great phone. Very sturdy and takes knocks really well. I had the Ericsson R310 before this and this phone is a sturdy as the R310. I only swapped over because the battery of the ericsson finally died after almost 4 years. Also the size of the 5140 is much better than the R310. Overall a great phone.
- C
- CHIEF MEDIC
- 11 Aug 2004
hey m! let the people discuss will you?hallo guys.i am chief medic(gadgeteer should remember me).the 5140 of repaired and works again just fine.i have just bought the m65(gadgeteer the fall of the me45 from the choper guided me to this decision).i am ready to compare the phones and get in a discussion with you.is that ok?
- p
- peter
- 10 Aug 2004
Hehe! I often wonder about some people who seem to go out of their way to read stuff they obviously don't want to! Well, all I'll say is that if I was considering spending a considerable sum of money on a new model of phone, I'd appreciate some advice from people who already actually own one and know about it. Hence, a discussion forum such as this one would be kind of ideal. Does that help, M?
- G
- Gadgeteer
- 10 Aug 2004
To M: Well, it would be nice if we were actually paid by Nokia for this :-) But no, we're not. I don't think they'd pay us considering that we still have certain criticisms about their product. Besides, all mobile phones have the potential to cause cancer, in varying degrees of risk. The best thing to do, in the case of units with internal antennas, is to use the handsfree accessories as much as possible, to keep the phone away from the head.
And I rather think it's perfectly natural for us to be preoccupied with this 'thing'; after all, this is a review/discussion of the 5140, and we both own one, so guess what's the logical conclusion?
- M
- M
- 09 Aug 2004
oh,shit!peter and gadgeteer are you paid by nokia to publish the phone.of course its none of my business,but dont you think you are occupied too much by this thing?considering cancer in the future,you should throw it away!
- p
- peter
- 07 Aug 2004
HCMREC, you can view samples of the video and picture capabilities on this websites' review of the 5140. Personally I find the picture quality rather poor, and the video quality even worse (this plays back as a very small image even when viewed at 100% your PC). But then, I was never expecting any better, and view any camera on a mobile phone as little more than a gimmick - a toy for the teenagers. I don't think we'll see high quality images from mobiles for some time yet. Buy a digital camera instead if you are at all interested in taking pictures. Even a 3.2 M pixel one like my Sony blows this away.
The screen is good enough quality for viewing the menu screens, apps, etc. But almost ever review of this phone you will read will tell you it is poor compared to the newer alternatives out there. Just set the contrast down to two bars and it's OK though for what it is.
And Gadgeteer, I see what you mean now regarding getting hold of your 5140! Well, I had the 'grandfather' to this one in the 5210. I loved the durability and practicality offered by the rubberised case, and its size and weight, and even now after I think two and a half years there isn't a mark on it. I did consider going for the 5100, but the looks never really appealed. But looking at the various newer phones recently, I was uninterested in pretty much all of them. They all go overboard on the gimmicks and nearly all are silverized and/or fliphones, which I don't like. And many new phones are actually as large as they were six or seven years ago! I don't call this progress. So when I heard about the 5140 late last year, I knew this was the one for me. I guess it will last me two to three years, more if no similar 'ruggedised' model is released in the future. I ain't going back to those shiny things!
- H
- HCMREC
- 07 Aug 2004
this phone is awesome ay.. just one question about the quality of the camera and the video... also the screen 4k colors is good? is the quality of the photo and videos good? / desent..?
- G
- Gadgeteer
- 07 Aug 2004
Agree on all points there, Peter, especially the camera's decent, at best, photos and videos compared to a dedicated digital camera (I own a Kodak CX6330 myself). I don't think I'd have much use for either the data cable or the software for now anyways. I haven't seen the real need to sync my address book on my hard drive to the handset, and besides, I'm using a Macintosh :-).
Ditto for the PTT feature. They're still conducting field tests on selected carriers in Southeast Asia, so I doubt if this service would be arriving on my country anytime soon. At least I can take comfort in the fact that when it does finally arrive, my handset will be ready for it. And on Nokia's part, a little firmware upgrade certainly wouldn't hurt.
As for my last sentence, it's fairly simple: finances and availability. I've been frustrated before when the Nokia 5100 came out, primarily because it wasn't meant for release in the Philippine market, and secondly the few grey market units that were available were simply beyond my budget. So I went absolutely nuts when the 5140 came out. Recently I got that long-awaited raise, so I set out to find whether the 5140 was available locally. I wasn't counting on it too much, until I chanced upon it in a store last month. And so ended my quest. I'm not getting another handset for the next ten years, haha.
- p
- peter
- 05 Aug 2004
Interesting points there, Gadgeteer. My main grumbles are already listed below, and are chiefly the poor contrast on the standby screen, and the non-user switchable stripy background to the menu screens. If I'm being fussy I'd also like to be able to switch off the screensaver entirely, instead of set it to its maximum 60 minutes...
I only require basic telephone functions myself, so the games, apps, WAP etc, are superfluous to me anyway. Indeed, the camera I can well live without, and I would have purchased the 5140 had it not come with one. It is pretty poor anyway, if we are being honest isn't it? And the video function is pathetically poor in quality for any use I can think of. And you really need to upload the files onto a PC to view or use them. I have tried this, and the image quality is certainly poorer than the sample pictures shown in this sites review, for whatever reason. Doesn't really bother me though, and it might still prove useful for use one day in an emergency or something when I am not carrying my proper digital camera. The voice recorder is good, however, and I am more likely to use this function myself.
I have IR on my laptop, so am making use of this function and don't need to buy a data cable :-). It works well too with Nokia PC suite software, enabling contacts to be backed-up, files, apps and pictures transferred, ringtones uploaded from MIDI files, etc. (It is a large download though, at 24MB IIRC).
Mine hasn't switched itself off yet. I have experienced this problem on occasion on one or two previous phones including my 5210, which when this occurred always seemed to be in difficult rural areas within range of only the one base station, and possibly after coverage was lost. (Almost like the phone 'gave up' the idea of trying, and so turned off). On a similar note, I have briefly compared my 5140 with a Nokia 3310 on the same network (Orange, a UK 1800 PCN network). I have found the 'old' 3310 model still really takes some beating in terms of RF performance, and in rural areas I think it still has the slight edge over the 5140 in sensitivity and in speed of re-connecting to the network after loosing the signal. I noticed my 5140 took a good minute or so longer to re-connect after one dropout. I don't think this is cause for alarm though: the 5140 does seem perfectly sensitive. Call quality seems very good, even in low signal areas. The speakerphone works well too, though does distort a little at higher volumes (as it does when playing the ringtones at high volume). I don't think I would be able to hear it if I used it in the car, but it works fine elsewhere.
I am looking forward to getting the chance to use the PTT feature, as this would be very useful to me should my network support it *and* make it cost effective. If they are greedy with their pricing I shall not bother.
I am overall very happy with the 5140 and glad I bought it. It isn't perfect (what is?), but I reckon the main faults could be rectified by firmware updates. (Nokia are you reading this?).
Perhaps you could explain your last sentence, that you once thought you'd never have the chance to own one? Why's that? Cheers.
- G
- Gadgeteer
- 05 Aug 2004
Some grumbles that I'm learning to live with:
- No concatenated SMS feature (although you can type the equivalent of three messages in one texting, the phone will still send it as three separate messages).
- As mentioned, no settings for game sounds (and speaking of games, why does it have only one?)
- Only 4mb of internal memory (although I've been told that this is in fact quite large for its class).
- The phone shuts itself off occassionally for no apparent reason (usually happens if I don't carry it upright in my pocket, or if it falls upside down).
- No WAV file capability (I've learned to compensate by using the phone's recorder to capture the "true sounds" I like).
-No Bluetooth capability (this is rather trivial for me really, as I never cared for Bluetooth anyway).
-No data cable included in the sales package (ditto for the software)
-No WAP over GPRS/EDGE for now (this really isn't the phone's fault, since my lame telecom carrier says they don't have the WAP settings for my handset model as of yet).
Still, the phone never fails to impress a lot of my friends (and even strangers). But more importantly, I'm very happy with it, considering that I once thought I'd never have the chance to own one.
- C
- COLT
- 05 Aug 2004
ok.its all accepted.i havent watched the show,but reading your description made me a little suspicious about the tests.suspicious because they where a little "fancy".anyways,i am sorry if i have made you dissapointed and i hope the phone works as best as possible.may be myself will buy it(if my siemens m65 gets smashed).cheers.
- p
- peter
- 04 Aug 2004
Also, the show has been less-than-complimetary about several other products they have featured recently, all of which I assume they were paid to review by the manufacturers just like the 5140.
- p
- peter
- 04 Aug 2004
Colt, you are of course right to be suspicious of anything one sees on TV. (Or reads on the 'net also). I certainly am. However, without actually seeing the programme yourself I am sure you will accept that it would be wrong to dismiss the results out of hand. Unfortunately I cannot provide a link where you could view a stream of the show for yourself to make up your mind, as the company doesn't do this. The show tested the phone along with a Casio G-Sock watch and a 'builders' type tough yellow radio, all products designed to accept tougher-than-average use. The tests were indeed silly, but I have little doubt they were genuine as I see little reason for them to have faked the claims even if the manufacturers supplied them with the goods (which of course they probably did).
The test which involved dragging the phone behind a car over a field I can certainly believe, as this was grass and not concrete, so the only damage likely was from vibration shock of moderate bouncing. The speed involved was moderate too, limiting the bounces to around a foot or so high, I am assuming. If my 5140 was a little older, I would indeed try the experiment myself, as I can see little chance of damage from such an act. The phone is pretty light in weight, and experience of my old 5210 suggests fairly low chance of damage from this specific sort of abuse. In fact, I bet many standard phones would pass this test.
As for diving the phone for 2 minutes in a glass of water, well with respect this was never done. They, and we, probably knew the results that would have caused. Their test involved blasting it with water, which, whilst still over and above Nokia's water-resistance claims, was not the same as submersing the phone.
The phone is not supposed for a moment to be heat resistant, so I found the 'grilling' test the silliest. However, I still accept they told the truth about giving it 5 minutes on the barbecue, judging by the damage to the watch, which showed a similar amount of melting, so I do believe their claim.
I just wish TV would be a little more scientific about such things, and less dramatic. They would probably say this wouldn't be entertaining enough though wouldn't they..?
- G
- Gadgeteer
- 04 Aug 2004
To Colt: Peter said the TV test was 'impressive'. I myself said that it was 'amusing'. But we never said anything about it being 'real'. Go read our previous posts before you comment.
- C
- COLT
- 04 Aug 2004
gadgeteer and peter.if you see bradd pit getting shot on tv it doesnt mean he gets shot for real.nokia could have paid a lot for the publicity.i bet you both have cars.use a rope to drag the phone for 300ft.if you dont have cars,just dive the phone for 2min in a jag(not glass) of water.if it survives,place it a hot cooker for just 1min.and aswer to me back at this forum,telling me what happened.
- G
- Gadgeteer
- 04 Aug 2004
I noticed the display, too. The standby screen on my old 3310 appeared to be much brighter. But then again, I figured that it was due to the color display technology itself, since I noticed the same thing on my wife's 6220 and my father-in-law's old 6610. The grey tint's effect on the screen is noticeable on the display in standby. I do wish, however, that Nokia included settings for the screen brightness as well. Oh, and also settings for turning down the game sounds. I still hear them even if my phone is on Silent mode.
My guess is either the contrast can be adjusted on the phone so that the display quality matches that of the screensaver (haven't tried that really), or the screensaver was deliberately programmed to be more readable than the main display in standby mode, regardless of how much you adjust the contrast.
I doubt if anyone else would have the time (or inclination) to subject their 5140s to the same tests as those in the Gadget Show (especially if replacement shells aren't available yet!), though it was amusing of them Englishmen to do so.Now I can't claim to know everything about this phone (since there are still a ton of features I haven't begun using yet), but in case you want to discuss this further, you can email me at the given address.
- p
- peter
- 03 Aug 2004
This phone was tested on the Gadget Show, a UK TV show shown yesterday, to see how well it would cope with abuse. They firstly put it inside a Dyson vaccuum and swept up for a while to ensure the phone would be covered in plenty of dust. It survived, (as you'd probably expect). Next, they then dragged it, on a rope, behind a 4*4 over a field. Still OK. The tests then got sillier (this is TV after all), and involved grilling the phone for 5 minutes on a barbeque, which it survived, with of course some melting of the case. It was then blasted with a high-pressure jet of water from a firemans hose for a good few seconds, sending it hurtling along the concrete. Surprisingly the water didn't seem to get inside the electronics and do damage. Finally, it was placed on the back of a pick-up truck which was exploded, and the flames then hosed down! After all this, they said the phone was still working perfectly, and demonstrated this by receiving and making calls. (Though the case was unsurprisingly in a pretty bad way). Not very scientific tests I grant you, but impressive nonetheless, and I doubt many other phones out there would have survived all this.
- p
- peter
- 03 Aug 2004
Thanks again. Now I'm not picking faults deliberately here you understand, I think the 5140 is good, but... can I ask what you think about the LCD contrast on the standby screen with no backlight? I find the screen difficult to read having been used to much clearer basic LCDs on older phones. There appears to be a grey tint to the screen which contrasts badly with the thin graphics displayed. Unfortunately, the contrast setting only seems to work on the illuminated display. I know the display is capable of better as the time displayed on the screensaver is much easier to read as the background is whiter.
Perhaps we should set up a yahoogroup or something to discuss this model further?
- G
- Gadgeteer
- 03 Aug 2004
I wanted to set a plain white background myself, similar to the 6610, but it seems that there are indeed no settings for this. It appears that the colored stripes are the default background for this model. It also appears that they correspond to whatever color scheme is chosen for the display. I'm wishing that future batches of the 5140 will include an option to set a plain background.