Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Nokia 6126 is a decent phone but poor battery life, June 8, 2007
This review is from: Nokia 6126 Phone (AT&T) (Wireless Phone)
This review is for an unlocked version of this phone, but with Cingular (or AT&T nowadays) service. I received this phone from my brother (he used to work for Nokia in Texas) because my other phone broke (nokia 6102i) and my contract with Cingular was for another year (yeah, it sucks).
Background: I was not eligible for the upgrade yet, so that meant I had to purchase a phone at retail price (without the contract) which would have run up upwards of $300 and more. So I got this phone (unlocked) as a gift, and the switch-over was relatively easy and trouble-free. I copied my address book from the 6102i onto the SIM card, and when I moved the SIM card to the 6126, the address book was there (taa-daa!). What I was not able to move were the photos I snapped with the old phone. Those I had to send via email, which I saved onto a microSD card and then was able to move to the 6126 (it has a microSD slot, which read the 1Gb card easily).
Features: I have always liked Nokia. This phone is no exception (except one which I will discuss later). It is a clam (ie. flip) phone and is almost as slim as (but slightly lighter than) my Motorola RAZR. I like the menu layout of the Nokia. The camera is up to 1.3 Megapixel resolution (settings of 1,024x1,280, 960x1,290, 600x800, 480x640, 240x320, and 120x160). The photos are decent in daylight, but not too great in poorly-lit areas (but that goes for every camera phone I've ever encountered).
I like the black and silver coloring. No external antenna (sweet). The button on the side to open it is extra (not necessary). The internal display is nice and large, and colorful. I like the navigation keypad. The textured covering on the rear flap is different (I like it, and is about 50-50 with my friends).
There were plenty of hands-free features. There's a speakerphone, which is loud enough to be used outside, Bluetooth for connecting to a headset or for sending files, as well as voice dialing and commands. There is POP3 and IMAP4 e-mail support, audio messaging for sending voicemails directly to another cell phone, and USB cable support (I haven't used this yet).
There is a large 1,000-contact phone book has room in each entry for five phone numbers, e-mail and Web addresses, a job title and a company name, work and home street addresses, a birth date, etc. The SIM card can hold an additional 250 names. Other extras include standard stuff: vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, calculator, voice recorder, a calendar with reminders, notepad, stopwatch, and an alarm clock.
Hands-free features were plentiful, as well. There's full Bluetooth for connecting to a headset or for sending files, plus voice dialing and commands and a speakerphone. For hard-core emailers, there is also POP3 and IMAP4 e-mail support.
I tested the quad-band GSM phone in San Francisco/Bay Area using my existing Cingular wireless service. I got the same quality as the old Nokia 6102i phone. Call quality was decent.
Now, for the negatives. A minor drawback with the design is that the MicroSD card slot is located behind the battery cover. Although, you don't need to remove the battery itself, but you do need to remove the cover. My other beef is with the battery life. The 6126 has a rated talk time of 3.4 hours and a promised standby time of 10 days. When I maxed out the talk time, I got about 3.5 to 3.75 hours talk-time (impressive). Because I am always on the phone, it is hard to guage the standby time. However, when I paired and activated the Bluetooth, and connected with a Nokia BH-900 earpiece (By the way, the BH-900 earpiece is sub-standard compared to the Motorola HS850, but that is another review altogether) that is when I got a feeling about the battery life in standby. For half a day of minimal use (20 min max), and standby the rest of the day my battery is now at 20-25% capacity. When I turned off Bluetooth, I was able to go a full day with some use and still have over 50% battery capacity. So it seems that when the Bluetooth feature is activated it is eating up more battery juice (which makes sense). I have yet to find a control that tells the phone to automatically turn off Bluetooth when there is no active device around.
Conclusion: The Nokia 6126 is a nice phone with many features. I only gate it 4-stars because of the battery life. This is a must, especially for a frequent traveler (like me) or those who use the phone/Bluetooth earpiece a lot. Nokia has to improve on the battery life, and this is easily done with a patch to automatically turn off Bluetooth when there are no Bluetooth devices around.
BTW, this phone is still offered from Cingular. I just came from the store
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent entry level phone, October 8, 2007
This review is from: Nokia 6126 Phone (AT&T) (Wireless Phone)
A mistake I notice a lot of people making when reviewing this phone is that they compare it to the phones that boast dual functionality as an MP3 player or camera. Nokia, in my opinion, has always looked for function over form. They throw in certain features as standard, but those features alone are not supposed to be the selling point of the phone. The 6126 is a PHONE first and the rest is an afterthought. With that said let me start the review.
PROS:
-THIS PHONE IS POWERFUL! I have never experienced any lag with this phone, even when viewing thumbnail photographs or switching between menu items (which you can do WHILE listening to music). My last phone, a sony ericsson z525, was notorious for lagging between menu changes. What really blew me, was that when I load nokia themes to the phone, i could actually preview them when I simply scrolled over it. Anyone who has customized his/her phone with a theme knows how LONG it takes to apply one(albeit a few seconds, but thats an eternity). This phone previews it for you in seconds.
-THIS PHONE IS RIDICULOUSLY CUSTOMIZABLE! you can change EVERY aspect of this phone, from how the menu presents itself to how many minutes you want the phone to wait when you hit snooze! For the really intricate stuff it may take a few menu clicks before you find the option, but I have customized my internal displays 1)screen saver (when you first close the phone) 2) Standby screen (10 sec after the phone is closed) 3) Flip screen (what picture the external display shows when you flip open the phone, so when you're holding it up to your ear you can decide what people see). Thats 3 customizations of only the IMAGE of the external display! there are even more options.
-ACTIVE STANDBY! This is almost like a start menu on your main screen, it displays any notes you might have entered for the day, the status of the music player, and has a scrolling shortcut bar that, once again, is totally customizable. Oh, and EVERY button on the main screen can be customized as a shortcut - you almost never need to go to the menu screen.
-AMAZING SYNCING ABILITIES - I LOVE THIS PART! You will have to download the Nokia PC suite from the Nokia website, but once you do, its complete bliss. Anyone who uses Microsoft outlook will love how quickly and easily the phone syncs over bluetooth. Transfer speeds are quick and there are many customizable options with the software (like whose numbers take priority, outlooks or your phones). The rest of the suite is a little on the cumbersome side since vista allows you to send files directly to the phone by right clicking on the file, which I find more useful.
-FLIP FEATURE! Okay, sounds gimmicky. But honestly, i feel super suave. With the flip button you can pull out the phone and have it flipped open and at your ear in one smooth motion. No prying of the thumb or flicking of the wrist, no stumbling. Just smooooooth :-)
-MP3 ringtones - send em over bluetooth, you WILL need an MicroSD card for this. Transfer takes seconds. Plays them loud and clear.
-Screen - I constantly keep changing my wallpaper just to make use of this bright and beautiful screen, the external screen actually has 262thousand colors, thats how much most phones had on their main screen a few months ago. The internal screen is 16 MILLION colors, its gorgeous. Everything is easy to read, from text messages to web browsing.
-FLASH COMPATIBLE!!! A HUGE PLUS - if you know how to use it. Flash lets you have animated wallpaper on both your internal and external screens. I currently have 3 3D rings twirling on my external screen with a clock. Before that I had a picture of a parking space in which the lines actually told the current time, I LOVE flash! And since the ext. screen has so many colors, the animations look beautiful.
CONS:
BATTERY LIFE - Not necessarily bad at 2 days, but my sony ericsson spoiled me with its ridiculously long lasting battery. Even when the display said it was empty, the battery would run for an additional 8 hours on standby. When the Nokia tells me its about to die, its not lying. Still, I am not disappointed by the battery life, although i have yet to put it through HEAVY usage.
LOOKS - I'm a young guy (23) and sorta want a fashionable phone. That said, theres really nothing outstanding about the design of the 6126. Its practical, feels sturdy, has a rubberized outside that helps with grip, no glitz and glam. It is stream-lined and not hard on the eyes. Its simply a hard worker and you sorta have to rely on the screen savers for it to stand out.
MP3 player - YES, this was an afterthought. If you want a player thats more integrated, i would go for the 6555, but you lose the flip function and I believe it has a smaller screen. That said, you can still use it to listen to music if you're truly bored, but a lot of people have alternative music players nowadays.
CAMERA- Grainy at night, fine in sunlight. Gets the job done if you need it. Nothing special, but then again, this phone doesnt brag that feature but rather considers it a standard for this day and age.
CONCLUSION: For the price, I dont think this phone can be beat by any other entry level phone. I was planning on getting the Sony Ericsson, but since its a slider, the keys are small and flat and I have big fingers. Plus I have a camera and music player so I dont see a need for it (although I REALLY wish cingular would bring back the Sony Ericsson K790). Also, I forgot to mention, the phones size and buttons are laid out very well and make it extremely practical to use, another reason I prefer it over the KRZR, which has that useless flushed D-pad that I cant stand. This phone wont turn heads, but it can keep up with you. Especially if your like me and need to jump between menus quickly and get agitated when phones lag behind. Look for its review on youtube so you can see it in action, you'll see what I'm talkin about.
UPDATE: Okay, figured out how to extend battery life to almost a week (on standby). If you're like me and too cheap to get the data plan, go to MENU>SETTINGS>CONNECTIVITY>PACKET DATA and turn the Packet Data connection to "when needed". This stops the phone from being constantly connected to the data network and saves a ton of battery life. Also, for the first few days, plug in the phone to charge as much as possible. Li-Ion batteries DO NOT have a memory, they actually benefit from being partially discharged and recharged over and over again. You will definitely notice an increase in battery life after a few days. The battery needs some "warming up time". I hope this helps! I'm a huge advocate for this phone.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Improved in 2007, June 8, 2007
This review is from: Nokia 6126 Phone (AT&T) (Wireless Phone)
I read reviews before I buy products, and I was a little scared to buy this phone because everyone kept saying the battery life was really bad, the camera button always gets pushed "accidentally" in your pocket, and the sound is really bad (in the headset). Well, after I bought the phone and used it, none of these became a problem. The battery life is fine - those people probably got some of those recalled lithium-ion batteries. Also, when my phone is closed, the keypad automatically locks so my camera button does not take pictures of my packet, or whatever. The headset is a little low, but then if you use the "volume up" button, it gets louder (gee, what a concept). Also, some people have complained about the camera being "grainy." It's a 1.3 megapixel camera phone - which is pretty standard at this time. Some phone have a 2 megapixel or possibly 3 megapixel camera, but they are more expensive (by the way, the less megapixels, the more storage, so I like that I can put more songs on my phone for ringtones).
There are the 6131 and 6133 phones available, and they have FM radios, but does anyone even listen to the radio anymore? Also, the phones say what carrier they have on them. This one says Cingular, the 6133 says T-Mobile, and I think the 6131 says Sprint, but the 6131 and 6133 are only available in the UK and shipped from there, so I don't know if they have the same GSM coverage (this is a Quad-Band phone, and the others may be Tri-Band).
Long story short, works great, and has clip-on covers avilable so no scratches will occur! Also, if I get bored looking at black, I can change it whenever I feel like =)
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|