Nokia 6120 -- lotsa toys, but a bad phone
Written: Jan 05 '02 (Updated Jan 05 '02)
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Pros: It's got games, a calendar, and a 199-number memory.
Cons: Earpiece heats up
The Bottom Line: Although this phone has tons of toys, its earpiece heats up uncomfortably. I can't recommend it as a phone because of that.
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| kurt_g's Full Review: Nokia 6160 Cell Phone |
I had a Nokia 6120 for two years when I was with Cellular One. Nokia has a good reputation, and the 6100 series was a very popular phone.
This phone was a classic case of forgetting the basics. The 6120 was obviously planned out by people who wanted to add in everything but the kitchen sink to the phone. It had a lot of good points. The phone was built to offer a ton of extra features.
The Nokia 6120 is a TDMA phone. It uses 800mhz digital and can also use analog (old-style cell phones). Other phones in the 6100 series used different digital systems, but they all looked the same and had the same features.
Reception on the Nokia 6120 is adequate. It has some static and distortion, but nothing too bad. This is often worse when you are using an analog signal. The phone's antenna is a small rubber-covered antenna. It's not extendable.
What's good about this phone
In a word, toys. The phone has a 199-number phone book -- certainly enough for anyone. It also offers one-touch dialing for 9 numbers. It has a calendar and offers rudimentary PDA functionality, like a Palm III (it would remember events you put in to different days.) The calendar is often clunky and hard to use, because the user has to use a phone keypad to input alphanumeric data. It has four games. While these games are simple, and about what you'd expect from an Atari 2600, no other phone had them. (At least when I used this phone -- there may be more phones with games now.)
Navigating the functions of the phone is relatively easy. It is simple to pick up and easy to do. Once you have the phone for a while, you will find it's easy to get where you want to go and do what you want to do.
The phone is nicely sized. It'll fit in your shirt pocket easily. The buttons are a bit small, but unless you've got really big hands, it serves its purpose well.
Battery life on the 6120 was OK. It wasn't great and it wasn't awful. I could usually get through the day with this phone and make a few calls. It wouldn't last through the day if left on constantly, though. A charger for the office will probably be very handy with this one. The 6120 came with a house charger and a car charger -- a nice touch, since most phones don't come standard with a car charger.
What's bad about this phone
What's bad about this phone is exactly what's so aggravating about it. The phone's earpiece heats up when you are talking on it. Inside of five minutes, it was uncomfortable. After five minutes, it was acute. I tried storing the phone in a leather case. This bought me a minute or so more of talk time before the phone became uncomfortable to use. I eventually switched carriers in order to get away from this ear-burning phone.
And that's what's so aggravating. The Nokia engineers were so busy tossing in toys and features that would be extremely cool that they forgot what a cell phone was for -- to make and receive calls. Despite the many redeeming features of this phone, I can't recommend it. And that's a shame, because they really tried to make this phone a competitor. But a phone that makes making and receiving calls a physically uncomfortable experience (since your ear is burning as you talk) just isn't an acceptable phone.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 100
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Epinions.com ID:
kurt_g
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Location: Brick, NJ
Reviews written: 116
Trusted by: 38 members
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