Customer Reviews

Nokia 2610 Phone (AT&T)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I only needed a basic phone - no MP3, camera, or FM radio. This phone delivered with great reception, good sound quality, great battery life, and a very small size. Inside a building it works great. Why the low score? The tinted plastic over the display makes it impossible to see the display outdoors and in the car. If the sun is out, forget it! I even managed to figure out how to remove all of the wallpaper backgrounds and to maximize the contrast. Still, don't plan to use this outdoors. Nokia should recall this product to replace the tinted cover. Update: Yesterday this phone took was accidently dropped onto a very hard ceramic tile floor and it still works perfectly! A similar drop ended the life of my digital camera a few months ago. So, if I were to rate this cell phone now I would give it 3 stars, maybe even 4 stars. I like reliable, sturdy stuff and this cell seems to be unusually well made.

I was looking for a durable phone that could take a blow or pressure and keep working. I also did not want random pieces of it falling off when it was struck. I'm a fairly small individual and I also needed a phone that had to be small enough to fit into my pocket comfortably with no protrusions to gouge me. I did not need a camera or any extraneous features like that. This phone seems to be fitting these criteria perfectly. I was planning on spending quite a bit on a phone to meet those criteria, but I was pleasantly surprised to find this phone was free on my plan.

I have dropped it a couple of times from about 10-12 feet up onto concrete and it keeps working just fine. It has slid for about 20 feet across a piece of concrete. It does have some minor scuffs after this but nothing significant. It does not have any buttons on the sides so there is nothing there to have fallen off when it hit the concrete. It has been submersed in a water tank and seems to have come back from it well also.

As far as visibility of the display issues that other people have mentioned in their reviews, I have noticed that it has what seems to be a "power save" type situation it kicks into where the display is difficult to read. Hitting certain keys seems to kick this "mode" off. Other than those situations I have had no more difficulty reading the display than on other candy bar style phones I have had from Nokia. I have used it in direct sunlight and in various other lighting situations.

Here's how I rate this cellphone:

1. Voice quality and reception: +1
2. Battery life: +1
3. Fast opening and browsing of menu and sub-menus: 0
4. Build and keypad spacing: +1
5. No useless accessories: +1

Bottomline: 4/5.

The other reviewers are right about the screen in sunlight: it sucks. But if you're like me and are chained in a cube for the daylight hours, it doesen't matter that much.

The only thing I dislike about this handset, is that it is quite slow in opening its submenus. I would have thought that such a basic, stripped phone would be lightning fast; indeed, it was one of the reasons I bought it, but not so. Gone are the days you could unlock your phone and call a contact within a second.

Besides this con, it is solidly built, has exceptional voice quality, and is easy to dial with if you have thick fingers.

NOT even an 'entry level' phone as they would have useful basic functions. Entry level should have a screen you can see in the light and a reliable ringer. Display has no brightness adjust only contrast which is useful for making the screen harder to see not improve. Using any wallpaper but white makes the screen impossible to see/read text even indoors in all but a dark room. Fonts have a setting to enlarge (Nokia knew the screen was junk) text but the small display prevents this. Calls have barely audible sound quality to understand the conversation (not due to signal). Buttons are too small for hands larger than medium-sized fingers and don't always make contact first time. Screen back-light doesn't always light when first button is pressed. When backlight is off screensaver time display is impossible to read when activated. Battery time is good most likely due to screen being dimly lit. User settings are all over the place in a unintuitive fashion making personal settings a time consuming chore instead of one menu.
I can do w/o camera, web, mp3, radio etc. but to fail in the basic functions of a cell phone is pretty bad & not acceptable. No wonder they PAY you $150.00 to take the phone.
NO STARS

I see this highly rated and don't understand how that can be, unless screen visibility is of no concern to those reviewers. Look before you buy this one!
I'd never recommend this 2610 because of the single issue that the display is unusable in daylight & barely marginal for inside viewing. It's a shame because the sound is good. Maybe that's why AT&T gives them away free - hoping to get rid of them.

i think nokias, in general, are great. this particular nokia is very good looking. very basic, also. dropped it about 10 times the other night (while talking about how i always drop/break phones...) and it has maybe 2 scratches on it, at most. still works perfectly. seems extremely durable, no dropped calls, no defects. those are the things that matter in a phone, to me. 5 stars.

This Nokia is about as simple and basic a telephone gets nowadays.
You get good sound quality and easy texting in a compact unit.

The major drawback is very poor highlighting of menu icon selections.
If you have activated many features, this cell will frustrate you.
It's a crapshoot what you actually select. I had to buy 2X magnifying specs in order to utilize menu features.

Also, the signal strength and battery power indicators can be very difficult to see - minor points considering AT&T functionality (damned
good) and rapid battery charge rate.

The vibration indication for incoming calls is very effective, and ring
tones can be adjusted easily.

In regards to pricing, AT&T sometimes will give this cell free for activating two years service. The highest price AT&T ever charged for this Nokia is $9.99, in refurb condition.

I've had my Nokia for half a year, and I appreciate it; it's not perfect, but it is useful. A phone should be a phone, not a portable entertainment system. Thanks to the magnifier specs, I don't have to squint at the screen anymore.

Phone is awful - how is this a $149 phone when it was available on prepay for $20 with $25 free airtime? They send it to you for 'free" - lock you into a 2yr contract and then charge you 10x the actual cost of the phone for ETF. Consumer protection needs to come to the telecom "industry" and it needs to come soon

You can buy this "Go Phone" for $20 to $30 in most local stores and simply stick your sim card in it. There is no reason to renew your contract to get this very simple phone. Walk into a Walmart, and pick it up with no new contract required.

As a seventeen year old female, I do tend to use the phone a lot. I got this phone without texting, and I still love it. I have no idea what the other users are talking about with the backlight, mine is always perfectly viewable. Maybe they just need a teenager to work it. ;P

The only problem I have with the phone is that I have a nickel allergy, and the metallic looking finish on the menu and surrounding buttons caused my face to break out with a rash, but as long as I use the easy-to-use speakerphone button, or get a good cover or headset, I should be fine.

This phone was easy for even my 60 year old father and computer inept mother to figure out, with minimal help from me. I wish the record function wasn't so scratchy so I could record songs for ringtones, but what do you expect when most people can afford texting and ringtones.

I would give it 4 and 1/2 stars, but as I can't a full five stars for this product!