Nokia 6131

• N
• N6131user
• whB
• 07 Aug 2006

Tips to extend N6131's BL-4C battery life before it needs recharging:

--During phone calls, avoid touching phone's internal antenna. (Explanation found on accompanying phone manual.)
--If you can, limit your use of bluetooth.
--Use phone's Flight mode when applicable. (Explanation found on second part of my review.)
--Turn off both displays' screensaver. (Reason is explained below.)
--Use the Keypad lock. It may ruin the purpose of the clamshell design but here's why:

This phone pretty much has a long light display duration for internal and external part. Light shines bright before it dims after 16 seconds, and another minute (more or less) before it turns light off from both displays altogether. That's pretty long if you ask me and that's one reason why the battery drains quickly on this phone. If you're using a screensaver (image, slide, clock), that won't help as once the screensaver starts, both displays and keypads will light up again and you will have to wait for another minute before light shuts down...again.
Here's a trick I've discovered to go about this problem--I found out by accident that by activating the Keypad lock and then pressing the "unlock" button without actually unlocking the keypad (without pressing the * button) initiates the phone's standard screensaver (time). After that light from inner and outer displays and from keypad gets turned off altogether completely. Everything is done in just 2 seconds only! Two seconds is a lot quicker now, isn't it.

Steps:
Pressing Menu + * + Unlock + Unlock + Close fold = 5 steps. (Performing the Unlock step twice is done to hasten the showing of the "Now press *" status.


To shorten the step on closing the fold by one, assign the Lock keypad shortcut to one of the navigation key's button. Now, before closing fold, press the navigation key where you assigned the Lock keypad and immediately press the Unlock button twice or until you see the Now-press-*. From now on the long light display duration problem will no longer be an issue, though closing and opening of the fold through this method could be an inconvenience to many. But hey, at least you saved some battery operating power.

*Using the Keypad lock solves the problem for those who experience the overly sensitive camera key, but this creates another inconvenience as you won't be able to change profiles without opening the fold first.

• Reply

• N
• N6131user
• whB
• 07 Aug 2006

Here is the second part of my in-depth review which lists all the pros. What you pay is what you get. And then some....

Minor and Main selling points:
--Most notable thing is the good price for the phone with good sets of features. Not that it really matters, but if my memory serves me correct, the price of N5110--or was it N6110--when it was first released is the same for N6131 (without including the price for memory card). Phones back then only have very basic features. Plus, it's display is monochromatic compared to the 16 million colors of the internal display and the above-average performance and good set of features of this phone.

--Simplicity of design still makes for a very user-friendly and higly intuitive device. Lets you customize context menu buttons and navigation keys for your most used applications to compensate for not having some useful applications and functions run in the background. (eg. Inbox.) Only lets the Radio and Mp3 player run in the background.

--Very comfortable keypad feel and design layout lets you type sms and dial phone numbers with ease. Very ideal for those who use their phones for sending out text messages a lot.

--Fast phone startup and above average reaction time for running applications. (This includes manual redialling of phone numbers from Call log when you experience Error connection.) Doesn't lag except during the first time when opening the mp3 player after turning your phone on. This is due to the reason that it's sorting out and searching for music files from your specified folder. It takes a little bit longer if you have a huge amount of music files stocked on your mobile phone's MicroSD card.

--Texting is made more convenient with the capability of adding recipients from the Call log or Message recipients' list when sending out messages.

--Complete set of phone-to-phone, phone-to-pc connectivity. That is the re-inclusion of the infrared connection, apart from bluetooth and usb connection, previously found only with much older models.
Fastest in transferring huge sets of files to computer or vice-versa though is still with a usb card reader. I got a PHP300.00 card reader and it works well in transferring and backing up files on memory card and some files on phone memory.
Take note: Card reader cannot read files from password-protected MicroSD cards. Delete the password protection first before inserting MicroSD to card reader.
The not-so-hot-swappable method of dettaching the back cover first before being able to remove the card proves cumbersome. That's why I noted the IR connection is that if you're just transferring small files, this is the best method if you don't have a bluetooth adapter on your computer.

--This little beauty can do without 3G function since most people with 3G capability on their phones hardly use the feature for video calls or high-speed internet browsing. Personally, the feature is of little or no use at all. Why pay extra for a feature you won't be really using anyway, right. Here's a thought: if you want, just buy 3G-enabled phones when network providers can offer them at a cheaper price for the use of their premium service.

--Another convenience is with the push-to-open mechanism for one-handed operation. No need to use your other hand to open the fold. But if you prefer the traditional way of opening, tha'ts still possible.

--Camera's 1.3mp resolution, although not impressive, still proves handy in case you're not planning on bringing your digicam everyday. Takes good shots, including self-portraits, when good lighting conditions is present.

--While the mp3 player remains simple, it still produces good stereo sound quality output. I found just a little quality loss in terms of sound quality from an mp3 song with a natural 160 bitrate converted to wma compression at 64 bitrate listening to it via headset or loudspeaker. Since then, I began converting my mp3s to wmas to save on memory and/or to accomodate more songs to my MicroSD card. While some people use phones as their mp3 players, too, I think it's just better to buy a separate device as this will help save you on battery life. And since a 512mb mp3 player doesn't cost much these days, it will let you put in more of your favorite songs to the separate player (provided you're playing wmas) as it doesn't share other files--unless you intentionally put it to double as a flash disk--unlike when using your phone where you have picture, game, application files stored as well.

--Calculator is seen improved as it almost resembles a scientific calculator because of its additional functions aside from the basic mathematical calculations available from older Nokia phone models.

--Very useful mode found on the phone's Profile is the Flight mode. You may not know this but this could actually help you to save on battery when there's no network signal available on the area where you are at the moment. When your network is unavailable, the phone uses more power than is needed to search for network signal. If you know that you'll be in a dead spot area for a long time and not planning on turning off your phone, might as well switch your phone to Flight mode which cuts off the network connection instantly but can still use the phone's other features such as mp3 player. Of course, main reason for Flight mode is to use this option when there's going to be signal interruptions or when phone's are not allowed to be used (eg. air travel, gas stations.)

--Very organized and informative way of Call log handling. Lets you inform how many times the caller attempted to call you in Missed calls. Also, lets you view callers' last 5 Received and/or Missed calls. Received calls' info include the last 5 dates and times of call, and call durations.

--Enables you to set your own font sizes for viewing and typing sms, browsing the web, and viewing your contacts.

I'm eager to see Samsung SGH-D830 after it is finally released here, I'll give it a check and see if it's better than my present N6131.

• Reply

• N
• N6131user
• whB
• 07 Aug 2006

I'm from the Philippines and bought this gadget almost 3 weeks ago. Aside from issues listed below, a real useful and cool phone, nevertheless. Every phone has it's flaws just like any other gadget out there but these flaws are acceptable in my standards and would give a rating of 8/10, and would recommend people who are seeking for a cool, dependable, feature-packed cell phone to give this a try. Black model is preferred as it has a rubbery texture which doesn't get "permanent" scratches and increases traction for hands. Here's an in-depth review:

Minor and Main flaws:
--Memory card is not included in the package.

--Devoid of protective glass. Not a real issue here if you are careful with handling your unit as I am.

--Low internal memory. Again, a minor issue as there's an expansion slot for up to 2gb of external memory.

--Also not a real issue, but you need to dettach the battery cover to remove the MicroSD card. (Not really that hot-swappable if you think about it.)

--Normal screensaver on internal/external display only shows time. (Candybar models of Nokia include date.)

--Paint on rubber cork gets peeled off with time due to continued use of the port connector for headset and usb connection. Not as noticeable as you might think since the plastic underneath is also black.

--Tacky silver edging around keypad is prone to scratches. Wished Nokia used stainless steel instead to match the stainless steel trimming around its external display.

--Glossy plastic material used on keypad makes phone look awfully cheap and makes fingerprints quite visible.

--1.3mp camera doesn't take good shots at low lighting conditions (appears really grainy and matrix is visible) since phone is not equipped with flash (perhaps). N6680 which has same camera resolution but has flash takes better photos even when shot indoors or at night. (Lens used on these two phones could be factors as well.) Night mode on N6131 yields better-looking shots albeit appears desaturated. Still, N6131 is good at taking decent pictures when good ambient light is available.

--Viewing of images. Problem here is when you're using the Set Contrast option when viewing your images. You would think there's a Save option for it but it doesn't. Seems illogical.

--Built-in Image Editor on phone is plainly used for editing pics to be sent thru mms. Hope there will be a an available downloadable image editor for this phone soon that will work as it's supposed to like: adjusting brightness, contrast, sharpness, etc. while maintaining the option to save these changes and still retain the jpeg file format.

--No option to turn off the light indicator for Calendar reminder to save on battery even if you adjust your Profile to have the Light effects left unused. Flashing of light on display may drain the battery faster since I've noticed on this phone that both external and internal display lights up and dims down simultaneously, and would assume that when the reminder goes off, both displays will flash intermittently. See what I mean:
Check yours by closing the top part of the phone almost all the way down. Notice that internal display is still lit unlike, say, N6260, wherein closing it almost all the way down immediately turns off light. Main difference between the two clamshells is that when N6260's ss gets activated, phone does not need to light up. Good thing the reminder stops flashing after about a minute, more or less.

--With that being mentioned, there's no option to set duration for its lighting for both displays. A solution would be to make light displaying from external independent from that of the internal display--in which light emanating from internal display gets turned off immediately upon closing of fold. Sadly, no option is available for this model. Nothing's perfect.

--Calendar alarm tone used only plays once. No option to repeat.

--(Localized, isolated issue) I'm a Sun user and when calling a Globe number, first few ringing sounds fussy. Not a problem when dialling Smart and Sun. (Might be network related but I never had that problem with my older Nokia models running on Sun sim.)

--Only applications that can run in the background are radio and mp3 player. No option available to make other applications such as Inbox run in the background so you could switch between tasks and applications.

--Voice recorder application is limited to 5 minutes per use even when capable of saving it to memory card, and does not support wave extension (amr only) which affects sound clarity during playback.

--When applying downloaded themes, default tones of Nokia (or tones supplied with the theme) will be used on all your Profiles. It gets irritating if you prefer the ones you use on your profiles more than the default or supplied tones.

--Video resolution is small. 240x320 would have been better.

--Probably the most minor of flaws I noticed is that the side buttons and top fold gets ever so slightly loose, but doesn't affect phone's overall durability.


*Other flaws presented here by other users of Nokia 6131 were not experienced by myslef such as the very sensitive camera key and stuff like that. I've only listed peculiarities that I myself had already encountered while tinkering with every bit of this phone. Hope this review would help a lot. I will be listing why I recommend this phone as a great buy on my next review.

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• ?
• Anonymous
• iba
• 07 Aug 2006

To Zak :

It's not jst ur phone. Mine has some minor scratches on both the interial chrome and the panel under the "Menu" key. Its unnoticable though so i dun mind ... the top clamshell of my phone also shakes a little while its closed, but i supposed all clamshell phones does shake a little. Mine jst shake for i range of around 2mm .. no big deal.

• Reply

• j
• james
• Md0
• 07 Aug 2006

To "King"
Every bluetooth equipment has problems with Motorola. I have a couple of Motorola-phones and every time I have to "seek" with the Moto in order to find the "other side". All other manufactures works fine, its just the Moto.

• Reply

• K
• King
• R56
• 07 Aug 2006

Bought a Nokia 6131 about a week ago & while its an allround decent phone, ive faced coonectivity issues with it's bluetooth. This phone REFUSES to link up via bluetooth with any Motorola instrument but links up comfortably with Sony, Nokia, LG, Samsung etc instrument. Since theres no glitch in the motorola, does anyone have a clue to what the problem might be?

• Reply

• x
• ximuoi
• wvG
• 07 Aug 2006

Yes, it does have Infra.
Top clam shell is not so loose. Just a little bit.
BTW, Does anyone know how to access gmail through POP3 on 6131? please advice.
I'm surfing the web with GPRS OK, but can not get mail from google throuhg POP3.

• Reply

• b
• barry
• TKq
• 07 Aug 2006

i was lookin on the gsm website and it says the 6131 has infrared but on the nokia site it says it doesnt so can someone who has the phone tell me if it does or doesnt

• Reply

• K
• KeiFeR123
• j2u
• 07 Aug 2006

Hi Everyone,

I just got my Nokia 6131. The phone is superb. Good reception, nice UI for S40 model. However, I have one problem, I am getting an "OPERATION FAILED" everything i activated my camera and it goes on standby mode after. Did anyone here encourted this problem before? Please let me know how you troubleshoot this problem.

Thanks again

• Reply

• Z
• Zak
• P1Y
• 07 Aug 2006

Yep! I meant the interior silver, it got scratched, and I think that's because of the contact with the top clam which is not really loose, just a little, but has been like that since the first day. I bought it a week ago. I don't know if it can be repaired easily.
Oh! and also the top clam is scratched, under the "go to" menu, in the black part.
Do I have to deal with it?

• Reply

• r
• raja
• ibc
• 07 Aug 2006

To Zak-Can you enlighten further about the loose top clamp. It appears to be a common problem. Can it be easily rectified ie tightened/repaired.How long you have used the fone. I have kept pending my purchase because of this. Thx

• Reply

• D
• Dan
• pqx
• 06 Aug 2006

To Zak: if it's the interior silver it's not your phone only.... mine got scratched also....

• Reply

• a
• a
• w4q
• 06 Aug 2006

@phil

w810's video record isnt any better than this fon its da same!
if u wan a good video recording go for 6233 or even beter n93

• Reply

• ?
• Anonymous
• w4q
• 06 Aug 2006

dun think there wil b any 6131i
@zak

mine too...juz get used to it it'll b fine haha

• Reply

• Z
• Zak
• P1Y
• 06 Aug 2006

Hey! I have this phone, great! but the top clam seems loose when closed, and the silver chrome got scratched since the second day I had it.

Does any of you have the same problem? could it be a design problem, or just mine?

• Reply

• P
• Phil
• M7r
• 06 Aug 2006

This phone's video recording sucks! It'll show you all the square boxes when you move your handphone during vidoe recording mode. I bought a SE W810 instead of this although i used to love it.

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• v
• vijita
• 2SR
• 06 Aug 2006

Should have been made little more "cute" with top edges curved and both flaps of equal size. Expect "6131i" be launched soon with a better colour combination.

• Reply

• B
• Buki
• StF
• 05 Aug 2006

Great phone. I had SE K700i before and this phone is a very nice change for me. Build quality is very good and both screens are excellent. BT, IR and EDGE are very wellcomed, transflash card slot as well. Fancy flip button and crom details are a very nice touch from Nokia. Software could use some improvement (some minor things), and built-in memory could have been a little bigger. But, all in all, it is a very very good phone.

• Reply

• c
• cool_boi
• 2Au
• 05 Aug 2006

yes you can shut it off... go to settings...

• Reply

• M
• Michel
• mA1
• 05 Aug 2006

Question about video player :
Has anyone tried to convert video from PC in 3gp or MP4 format with 320x240 resolution
and transfered it to the nokia 6131 ?
Is the Mediaplayer able to view 320x240 video in landscape mode ?
Thank you

• Reply