Who's there? ... sorry :)
The Nokia 6100 is my current phone. Before I bought it, I knew exactly what features I required from a new phone. I was travelling to Canada, so I knew that I would require a triband phone. I knew that I wanted to access the net on my laptop, on the move via GPRS. The Nokia 6100 is capable of both of these, and was available on my preferred network (Orange).
I am pleased with the phone, it's an attractive two-tone silver design and fits nicely in your palm at 102x44x13.5, 60 cc. The menu, described in more detail shortly, is very easy to use and has "tooltips" which explain what each option does if you neglect to press any keys for a few seconds.
The phone was quite expensive when I bought it, but is now available
for free on some pay monthly tariffs, on the major networks. I would recommend shopping around places such as The Carphone Warehouse and The Link as they will be in a position to give greater detail on the kind of tariff you require, which is beyond the scope of this review.
The Nokia 6100 features an easy to navigate menu, as with other Nokias in this range. Once the menu is open, you are able to use the thumb button to scroll through the options, or to speed things up, the number pad buttons can be used as shortcuts. The menu is very clear, thanks to the chunky graphics and large text on the Nokia 6100's colour screen. The screen can display up to 8 lines of standard text.
Text messaging is very easy. Predictive text may be difficult if you aren't used to it, but it's easy to pickup and you'll end up swearing by it.
I had some trouble getting a GPRS Internet connection up and running with my Nokia 6100, with a USB datacable I bought separately. Unfortunately, Orange (at the time) didn't seem to support doing this. I did eventually get it working after finding some of the information I needed (from Orange) hidden away on their website. This is more of a reflection on my network, and otherwise the phone works perfectly well with my laptop.
WAP is also available, and can be used either over GRPS or a standard 'dialup' connection (CSD), with GPRS being typically cheaper and quicker.
I have found that on occasions, the Nokia WAP browser will just simply stop working. If you click a link, occasionally nothing will happen. Other times you can't connect at all. Turning the phone off and back on again a few seconds later seems to fix it. A colleague informs me that this can be permanently fixed by having the phones firmware updated, however it is only a minor niggle and a quite rare occurrence.
The phone also includes a few features to help you organise yourself, including an alarm and planner\organiser with which you can make notes, set reminders and then view a summary of everything on a month view calendar.
I've used older Nokias previous to the 6100, and another small niggle I have is that certain tools, in particular 'Calculator', are a little hidden away in the menu. 'Calculator' used to have it's own "root" spot in the menu, but now it's been put into "Extras" (along with a stopwatch and countdown timer).
The "loudspeaker" is very much worthy of a mention in this review. During a call it is possible to select to put the caller onto the loudspeaker. The feature doesn't really rival a hands free kit, but it's a nice add on and allows you to conference call in a meeting so long as there's not too much background noise.
The phone features a number of editable "profiles", which allow you to save numerous settings (such as ring tone, volume, whether the phone should vibrate on a call and so on) to different groups or profiles. This allows you to easily change between a few settings with just a couple of buttons. For example, the default 'meeting' mode is useful if you do not wish to interrupt a speaker, should you receive a call. 'Loud' mode is useful if you find yourself walking around a crowded area where you may not normally hear your phone ringing.
Polyphonic ringtones, standard ringtones, operator logos and backgrounds are all available for the Nokia 6100. The phone supports Java. Games and other applications can be downloaded from Nokia, Network and third party sites.
I mostly use my phone of a weekend, and for short calls, or else for data calls. The standby talktime is excellent. I charge my phone less than once a week.
When I was shopping for a phone, I wasn't interested in "gimmicks". This phone does not come with a camera (although one can be added on) and only one game ('Chess Puzzle'). If you're not interested in either of these, and are after a no-nonsense mobile phone, then the Nokia 6100 is a good choice.
by (5%):
by (16%):
17.04.2004 18:06
I also have a 6100 and indeed it is a great phone, ive never used the WAP facility as the internet on mobiles is toss. The lack of games is a major prob as chess puzzle isnt very good
22.03.2004 15:47
nice review, and good to know as well since i have just ordered it... should have read the reviews first, but o2 are so limited in handsets at the mo it didn't seem worth the hassle! m Xx
21.03.2004 12:00
Excellent review! sound a nifty phone!