A redheaded 6100 Stepchild?
Written: Jan 07 '00 (Updated Jan 10 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Vibration-mode built in, custom rings for phonebook entries
Cons: Battery life is shorter than 6160/6190, large Li-Ion battery adds to phone size
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| d5kenn's Full Review: Nokia 6185 Cell Phone |
I've used several Nokia 6100 phones in the past year, including the 6160, 6190, 6162, and even the 5190. The 6185 is my latest phone (and is Nokia's latest 6100-series device), and is the standard high-end Nokia selection for Sprint PCS. As most West-coast Sprint customers are aware of, this particular carrier's coverage isn't quite what you'll find with Cell One, AT&T, Pac Bell, or Nextel.
6185 features
Like Nokia's "industry-standard" 6160, the 6185 is a dual band, tri-mode phone, capable of operating on 800MHz and 1900MHz CDMA carriers, as well as Analog (the 6160 operates on TDMA), making it compatible with Sprint's nationwide coverage.
Standard features include a calculator, calendar, alarm clock, caller ID, paging and text messaging, custom ring tones, voicemail notification, call timers and logs, and graphical LCD screen.
In addition, there are a few things that separate the 6185 from other 6100-series phones. The most notable is the built-in vibration mode - other Nokia phones require the purchase of a separate vibrating battery; Nokia's version is only available in NiMH.
The 6185 also allows you to set separate tones for different people in your phone book - an excellent feature for instant, audible caller-id.
Another excellent feature is date/time auto-update. On standard Nokia phones, the date and time is stored locally, and must be re-entered if you remove and replace the battery. The 6185 however, retrieves date/time information directly from the Sprint network - it will automatically adjust for daylight savings, or even if you switch time zones in a flight! Trey cool.
For the gearheads and techies, the ability to tweak the phone with the *3001#12345# trick will certainly be appreciated.
The drawbacks
Sprint packages the 6185 with Nokia's huge Ultra-extended Lithium Ion battery, rated for over 3 hours of talk time and 8 days of standby. However, the good folks at Sprint didn't include this uber-battery just to give you a little extra, and this is the primary problem with the 6185: the 6185 sucks more juice than any Nokia phone I've used yet. Generally, the 1500mAh battery lasts only two days on standby, a far cry from the 3-5 on my 6190. Fortunately, talk time isn't dramatically reduced from Nokia's other offerings, just remember to keep the charger handy.
With the fat ultra-extended battery, the 6185 is much larger (deeper) than phones shipping with the standard NiMH or standard Li-Ion batteries, and while you can always purchase a smaller battery, the 900mAh charge certainly isn't going to help.
Users of other Nokia phones may also notice momentary "lapses" in key response time - you'll be dialing a number, and the phone will freeze for a split-second and lose a number. This is also particularly annoying while playing the "Snake" game.
The signal strength indicator also tends to make little sense at times, due to the method the phone uses to calculate signal clarity (signal to noise ratio rather than straight strength). Alone, this would be a minor inconvenience, but coupled with Sprint's spotty west coast coverage, it can be a major hassle at times.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
d5kenn
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Member: Kenn Hwang
Location: Berkeley, CA
Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 13 members
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