Customer Reviews

Nokia 6103 Phone (T-Mobile)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I've been using this phone about a month and am really impressed.

It's a small flip phone, very easy to open/shut with one hand, and most importantly, reception is better at work and in my basement apartment than with the Motorola V360 I first bought. The external antenna here is a good thing.

Speakerphone audio quality is good, noise level is high enough.

The radio reception could be better, but if you really want a radio, get an iPod :-) It is cool to have it to listen to, just remember you need to have the earpiece attached or it won't play (the earpiece or any other attachment acts as the radio antenna).

Menus are pretty easy to navigate, and you can customize your main screen shortcuts. You can also customize your background and ring tones, though the built-in ringtones are *very* few compared to most other phones.

T-Mobile is still working on new themes - the phone comes with 3 but I'm a stickler for personalizing phones with backgrounds, patterns, etc.
One thing I really like: You can have your screen saver be a slide show of all your images. Very nice :)

The Camera & Video capture work well, decent picture quality. There is even a "Night Mode" for low light.

The ONLY thing I dont like: NO CALL TIMER during a call. All you can do is see a summary afterwards. Thats why I didn't give this phone a 5.
But all in all, a very good buy (esp with new/renewed service).

From a former Nokia 3650 (Series 60) user, this phone is both an upgrade and a downgrade. It can play most Java games sent via bluetooth that are designed for it, but it cannot run any Java programs that use the bluetooth stack (eg. Sailing Clicker)

Regarding the previous reviewer's comment about lacking custom ringtones for different callers, the phone DOES allow custom ringtones for groups. Thus, you can put an individual in a group.

As for picky build quality details, it's better than most Motorolas & Samsungs, but is not "built like a tank" as previous Nokias. The buttons are very tactile, the flip is very strong and stays shut. There is a defect (at least in my phone) where the left softkey physically clicks, but does not register a keypress. A stronger depression does register a keypress.

The ~4MB of available memory should be more than enough for most users. The signal level is equal if not slightly better than the Motorazr & most Samsung's phones. There seems to be less bars (3/4 versus 5/5 in my house) than the 3650, although actual usage shows that call quality and signal strength is very good in both 850MHz and 1900MHz service areas. It definitely beats any non-850MHz capable phone when roaming with T-Mobile USA. The vibrate seems passably strong, better than average. iSync over bluetooth is great, but lacks contact picture sync'ing found for some phones. The screens are transreflective and are thus quite easy to read in the daylight, even without using the backlight.

Die hard GSM junkies will miss essential SIM card features being able to set the "slot" that a contact is stored on a card, for speed dial. SIM card speed dial (eg. dialing 100# for slot 100) is usable, but displays only the contact's number, not name. Voice dialing is quite accurate, but no substitute to SIM speed dial.

Summary: Methadone for the Nokia user seeking a clam-shell phone.

I think Nokia makes great phones, very reliable and durable. My last phone was a Nokia 6610 that I had for 2.5 years! While my friends with Motorolas and Samsungs had to shell out another $200 every year because their phones would break..... If you've had a Nokia before, the menus/features are similar pretty much. This one has a few extras: camera/video and Bluetooth. Had the phone for 2 weeks. Here's what I've observed thus far:

1. Camera: takes good pictures, well you know, for a camera phone anyway

2. Bluetooth: I don't have a BT headset yet but I have used the Bluetooth (along with a Bluetooth USB adapter for my PC) to sync with my PC using Nokia PC Suite. This was very handy when it came time to switch my phone numbers from old phone to new one. As you may know, when you save numbers to a SIM card it only saves on 1:1 relationship, meaning only 1 phone number per name. Yes it is a pain to reorganize all your phone numbers for each contact name, however, its much easier to just do it on your PC.

3. Also - someone commented about in their review about pictures for contacts. You cannot utilize the full functionality of the phonebook if u r using SIM card only. You need to save the numbers into the phone memory directly. SIM card memory for numbers is really to be used when you r switching phones.

4. Data cable: I bought the CA-42 blue data cable. The phone recognizes it but it won't connect with the Nokia PC Suite software. Not sure if its the cable or the software, although the software is very low tech and temperamental.

5. Infrared IR port: again, I tried to connect my phone to PC using IR. My PC recognized the phone was there, but alas, the Nokia PC Suite software would not connect, the bast*rd.

6. Softkeys: this phone has 5 or 6 soft keys, meaning you can edit the keys to whichever menu function you want to use there. Someone previously posted that they couldn't make the phone go to Silent profile with the touch of a button. Well you can! It's not initially set up that way, but its very easy to do. Go to Settings, My shortcuts.

7. Megatones/hifi ringers: Yes this phone plays mp3s, midis, and such. BUT --------- I think T-Mobile set this phone up so that you have to PURCHASE their $1.99 ringers from the website!!! >:-(
The software is supposed to let you pick your own music then convert it to a format compatible with the phone, and then sync it. HOWEVER ------ I've tried several ways to make this work, or to email mp3 or midi files to myself on the phone, but the file never comes through correctly on the phone. That is such a ripoff. And by the way, I noticed this phone only came with like 4 built-in tones. Previous Nokia phones came with 8-10 tones. Hence, the scam I was talking about to get you to purchase ringtones.
So for now, I'm relegated to whatever choices they have on the site and spending my hard earned money and something simple like ringtones.
Suggestions on this anyone??

8. Volume: I can hear just fine, and people can hear me. The volume key is on the left side. If you can't hear, turn it up.

9. Dropped calls: Helloooo people! Dropped calls are not solely to blame on your cell phone. Most responsible is the wireless network, and whether your phone's software is up to date to pickup any new cell towers. I have not experienced any more or any less dropped calls than what I had before with this phone.

10. Black cover: I have not had a problem with it peeling off. I always keep mine in a cell phone cradle at home, or in the special cell phone pocket in my purse. No problems thus far.

Overall: still a fantastic phone, good battery, good looking, quality phone, good price. I highly recommend it.

I had this phone for about 4 days. I got it because I thought it would give me better reception and volume than my old phone (Samsung E-315). I also thought the FM radio would be cool. It did not really improve my reception, and the volume was a little better, but the earhole is small and in a wierd place, so it's hard to hear if there's any wind or noise in the background. The FM radio was cool, but it only comes with one earphone, so that's pretty worthless. You also need to hook up the headset to hear the radio on loudspeaker. Speaking of which, the speakerphone is not very loud either.


Other Cons were that the bluetooth didn't seem strong. I heard a lot of crackling when I was more than about 5 ft away from the phone on a bluetooth headset (nokia hdw-3).( I know it's the phone because I got a Motorola Razr and it works much better, and hardly has any static at long distances (20+ feet)). Another thing that really irritated me was that if you don't close everything out before you physically close the phone it opens back up to the same spot. This didn't seem to bad at first, but it seemed to screw things up when someone called while something else was opened. I also had problems answering calls if I was going through menus or on the mobile web and it got really annoying.


There were some good things: The ring was plenty loud, the screen was clearly viewable even in direct sunlight, the internet (tmobile web) was very fast- maybe twice as fast as on the razor and my previous phone (boring looking screens though). The phone looks good and has a cool feel. Nice buttons and easy to press. Very customizable for menus and net pages. You can edit and zoom your photos after you take them. Nice to do list, notes, and stopwatch features. Reception was average as far as I could tell.


Anyways, I was not satisfied with this phone. I paid $50 with a 2 year tmobile agreement. I brought it back for the Razr for $70 with the same agreement, and I am so happy with the Razr!! The Razr is much smaller, has great voice quality and volume, better bluetooth, better (great) speakerphone, The screen is huge and amazingly brilliant (not so great in direct sunlight, but that's not a major problem for me).


PROS: screen in light, fast net, customizable, to do list, feel, loud ringer, can edit/zoom photos afterwards


CONS: menus don't close when phone is closed, a little to bulky for me, no dedicated vibrate key, boring net screens, not loud/ear hole bad, bad bluetooth, only one FM radio earphone, must plug headset in to get fm, battery life didn't seem great (but it could have been my blue tooth eating that up) speakerphone not loud enough, no zoom during picture.

best phone I've had from Tmobile in the past 4 years. the bluetooth on this phone is amazing, the battery life last for days, I get way better signal with this Nokia then any samsung or motorola I've owned. great features, camera's great, video's awsome. if your looking to upgrade I say go with this, everyone's jumping on the ban wagon for the razer, knock people off there chair when u show em ur nokia is better.

I have had 4 Nokia phones in the past and was looking for an upgrade on my 6010 that I've had for the last 3 years and was determined on getting something other than a Nokia this time around. After doing research on other phones, like Samsung and Motorola, I eventually bought another Nokia. I came pretty close to getting the Motorola RAZR, but the many negative reviews that I read combined with my brother-in-law saying that he would stay away from anything Motorola made me think twice about it. I have now had my 6103 for almost a month and I am happy with it. I haven't had any problems yet, such as scratching and breaking or any peeling of the rubber that other reviewers have mentioned. I have never had a flip phone before so durability was a concern. So far the only thing I have noticed is that the flip seems to get a little looser over time, likely from normal wear and tear.

Few minor gripes:
1) I can't seem to successfully transfer a small, 14KB mp3, wav or mid file to the phone to use as my own message alert tone. Not sure if this is a Nokia or T-Mobile issue. Using the Nokia PC Suite, I can actually transfer the file from my computer via the phone's infrared and it shows up on my phone. However, once I try to select the file in the phone it says that it cannot support the file format. I bought the CA-42 cable as an alternative and it is absolutely worthless. Please don't waste your money on this device. A part of it broke off in my phone but I was able to get it out. I haven't given up on figuring this out. If you know how to do this, please e-mail me.
2) I wish there was more memory on the phone. I can only keep about 8-10 HiFi Ringers on my phone without having to delete a few other things from it. Also, I can only record about 6 voice tags. Your limited in this area.
3) The phone doesn't come with many ringtones, which is why I contributed to T-Mobile's bottom line by downloading HiFi Ringers ($1.99 each) and MegaTones ($1.49) up the wazoo. I assume T-Mobile is to blame for this.

Things I like:
1) I do like the voice tags and they are really easy to set up and use and they have worked well for me so far. It would be nice to be able to set up much more than just 6 voice tags, though.
2) The phone is pretty easy to use and figure out right out of the box. There's a little bit of battery life to get you going for a while (at least from my experience buying it new).
3) It is small and fits nicely in the pocket.
4) Although the camera is not a substitute for the real thing, it works well and the pictures are okay, not too grainy or blurry. This is not what I bought the phone for, but is a bonus.
5) I like the functionality of the calendar, alarm clock, notepad, calculator, to-do list and stopwatch. An upgrade in this area from the 6010 and older Nokia models.
6) I like having an FM radio on it, but wish it also had AM for the sports junkie that I am. Again, not the reason I bought the phone, but is a nice feature. In general, I could see phones having satellite or HD radio on them in the near future.
7) Bluetooth capability. My Plantronics Voyager 510 works very well with this phone. It is easy to set up. No need to hope that all the planets are aligned to getting this sync'd.
8) Custom ring tones for groups or individuals. Like the earlier reviewer mentioned, if you want one person to have their own ringtone, you must set them up as their own group. Shouldn't been any gripes with this, though.
9) No problems with cell phone reception. This is more related to the cell phone carrier than the phone manufacturer.

I have given this phone 4 stars. While I think it is a great phone, it is not perfect. However, I don't see any other phones that compare and, depending on your cell phone needs, I would recommend the 6103.

Good luck with your research.

W. McCain
wcmfun2001 at gmail dot com

We bought about 20 of these phones for our business about 3 months ago. The phone had good features in that it could take pictures and had blue tooth technology that would be useful for our drivers. The looks of this camera are also really nice with a powdered black finish and compact enough to keep in your pocket. What we didn't count on, was so many damaged phones. I've had 4 phones returned from damage to the left hinge on each of those phones resulting from a slight to medium bumps. This ruined visibility of both inside and outside screens and made the phone disfunctional. Also during this time, I've seen the powdery finish rub off to an underneath black slick finish. I've also had two phones damaged by water. One in a soccer bag that got wet in pouring rain. That phone was immediately ruined. Overall, I can't give this phone the recommendation I would have liked to because the hinge the flip phone is set on, is plastic and very cheap. When this breaks, so does your phone. I'd hate to pay the high price of insurance T-Mobile offers, but would suggest getting it if you still decide this is the phone for you.

I have to say this is a great phone.Before i had a samsung t209 and it was wack.The nokia 6103 has a nice colorful screen,loud ringtones,loud volume on the earpiece,good reception and nice picture after using the camera.The one thing that I dont like is that I cant set the backlight to stay on longer but its a cool phone.If you are looking for a great nokia phone this is the one to get.

THE BIGGEST NEGATIVE:
if you are a picture or ring tone junky like i am, this is NOT the phone for you. the memory for backgrounds, ringtones, pictures, and videos is all in one section. if i have 3 ringtones, i can only have around 15 pictures saved with high quality. needless to say, THIS IS ANNOYING.
Because of this, I will probably switch back to my old Samsung E 315.

This phone does have a good battery life, and speakerphone.

This is a good phone. Quad band phone( will work in international) hands free feature, simple camera, polyphonic ring tones, quite small and handy.The signal reception is very good.

Simple and good camera
-rafeeq