The cursed Nokia 6131
(Credit: Nokia`)The Nokia 6131 always seemed liked a decent cell phone. I never got the chance to actually review it, but when I examined its AT&T cousin, the 6126, I gave it a "very good" rating.
So last week, when I was waiting to receive a new phone that I had ordered, I dusted off a spare 6126 that we had around the office. Unless I'm on vacation, I'm one of those people who has a hard time going without a cell phone.
My broken button.
(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)For the first few days, the 6126 worked fine. Though it's not the fanciest handset around, it delivered on call quality and battery life. But that all came to a crushing end two days ago when I dropped the 6126 (as I tend to do). It bounced off my shoe and hit a concrete floor. While it continues to make and receive calls as normal, the flip phone will not stay closed. Each time I try to close it, it just pops back open. That means I have to carry it around in the open position, which needless to say is more than inconvenient. The problem seems to be with the small button on the hinge that you can use to open the phone. The button is stuck in the "pressed" position and I've been unable to pry it free.
Both the Nokia 6133 and the 6126 also feature the hinge button. Have any Crave readers encountered the same problem? I doubt I'm alone but even if I am, that button and the spring-loaded hinge seem to be design flaws.
Update: In response to the naysayers below, I'm quite responsible for my own actions. But a phone's hinge should not break after one drop, even after bouncing off my shoe onto a concrete floor. I've seen the iPhone drop on a sidewalk and come with just a few scratches. And if a button is designed so that it can interfere with the phone staying closed, then that is a design flaw.
Nokia 6126
(Credit: CNET Networks)AT&T/Cingular at long last picked up the Nokia 6126 today. The midtier cell phone offers a flip-phone design, an attractive internal display, and decent features that include Bluetooth connectivity, an MP3 player, a microSD card slot, and instant messaging. On the whole it's quite similar to the Nokia 6133 from T-Mobile, except that it lacks an FM radio. The 6126 is $79 with service.
When it's time for Nokia to pick teams for its cell phones, it's usually good about not making any carrier feel left out. So while smaller carriers may have landed the appealing Nokia 6126, Nokia spread the love by choosing T-Mobile for the very similar Nokia 6133. The new handset is available today.
Like the 6126, the 6133 sports a sleek, flip-phone design that includes a gimmicky but cool hinge-mounted button that flips open the phone automatically. The color displays are the same as well--the internal screen supports 16 million hues--but the 6133's keypad and navigation have been refined slightly.
The feature list is comparable as well. Both handsets offer Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel camera, a digital music player, a MicroSD card slot and quad-band, world phone support, but the 6133 adds an FM radio. Stay tuned for a full review of the 6133, and in the meantime, check out CNET's review of the 6126.
(Photo: Nokia)
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