I'm extremely happy with this phone. I have owned it for almost a month now. The menus are very responsive and the display is crystal clear and very high definition and more colors. The "free" RAZR that came with my plan is still sitting in the box -doesn't compare.I have added 1GB of memory using SD micro flash. So can definitely be used as a mp3 player. But you would need to get a NOKIA -> headphone adapter plug from third party vendor. Or you can use speaker on the phone in a pinch.
The camera takes great pictures as long as the lighting conditions are good. The menus have many options for customizing the phone (though some of these options are somewhat hidden from the casual user further down the menu tree).
The speaker independent voice recognition seems to pull up the correct name most of the time or give several to choose from in some cases.
I really like the flip phone button that opens the phone, so you can open it with one hand. It works very reliably and the spring has the right tension.
The keypad is lit and easy to see in darkness. Due to the high contrast and brightness of the display it seems to consume some battery power. On standby the phone can be on for many days if not used, otherwise you would need to charge every other day if you use features that keeps the display turned on for long periods of time (editing notes/organizer etc.).
Some nice features:
-Todo lists
-Notes
-Calendar
-Various kinds of reminders (with reminders that can be set before the event)
-The next item on your calendar today can be shown on the main screen on the bottom.
-MP3 player / w/equalizer
-Radio (need to use headphones (which also works as antenna))
-Black almost rubber-like finish for easy grip and does not scratch easily.
-Simple and userfriendly menus and keypad (the phone I purchased was not branded so did not have any of the preprogrammed "buy ringtones/wallpaper" buttons etc.
-Great voice quality
-Sych phone numbers/appointments via bluetooth/IrDA/cable
Highly recomended!~!
Pros: High res. screens, quickness of menus, BT, Camera, push button flip, speaker is loud.
Cons: Unlocked from Europe comes with bulky euro charger (not a big deal.) And the only thing that I would say is that the battery life is somthing to be desired. I use BT allot and I end up having to charge my phone every one to two days.This is a great everyday use phone. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the newer Nokia phones, like integrated WiFi (with VoIP integration) and GPS, but it does very well what is designed to do. I use this phone with T-Mobile with their unlimited Internet plan (using EDGE).
Pros:
The build quality and materials chosen are top notch. The plastic cover doesn't look and feel cheap, like many other (some expensive) phones out there. I like the fine leathery touch of the battery cover, which provides a good grip of the phone in the hand.
The internal screen is large, with plenty of pixels and colors. Most of the apps look very well. With Google Maps for example it's very easy to read and discern the details.
The phone' sound quality is superb. The earpiece is very clear, and the microphone and voice processing hardware inside the phone makes the other side hear you clearly. The loudspeaker is fairly good too, although I'm not using it very often.
The Bluetooth software stack is perfectly compatible. My car's Bluetooth implementation is very picky and works only a handful of selected phones. The Nokia 6131 phone is not listed as a compatible phone for BMW M3, but it works just fine with it, while the fancier and more expensive Nokia N80ie phone does not.
The included radio is pretty cool when you're bored, although it requires the included proprietary headset to work (it uses it as antena).
Google Maps and GMail work excellent on this phone. They don't come with the device, but they're just a download away from Google.
The phone's camera does a fairly decent job with well lit shots. It also takes videos, which is pretty cool for a phone. Just don't expect the camera to replace your point and shoot or DSLR.
The ability to use MP3s as regular ring tones is a huge bonus. No more buying ridiculously expensive ring tones from your phone company, when you already own the music. Just take the song you want, edit out a 30 second portion of it that is suitable as a ring tone, convert it to MP3 and upload it on your phone. You could assign different ring tones to different people, so you can recognize who's calling you.
The phone now has MacOS X compatibility, with the latest 10.4.9 release. It synchronizes your address book over Bluetooth without any problems, including the people's pictures. When somebody calls you, his/her picture appears on the external display. The picture is scaled up however, making it look a bit ugly. I guess Apple needs to allow for higher resolution pictures to be set in AddressBook.
Cons:
As many other Nokia phones, the phone cannot use a regular headset, it only works with the proprietary Nokia headset. This is understandable, as the headset is stereo, and doubles as an antenna. It would be nice however to have an extra plug for regular headsets.
The package does not include a MicroSD card. Not too bad, they are quite cheap, but you should be aware of this if you decide to buy the phone.
The camera shutter button is on a side, and it's very easy to press it accidentally while the phone is in your pocket.
Setting up T-mobile Internet on the phone could be a pain. You could find instructions online by googling a bit, but it's not the same smooth "just works" experience as on the N80ie.
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Overall, I think this a great phone for everyday use. It is replacing an aging Motorola phone, and so far it's been a refreshing change. I highly recommend this phone.I didn't realize about the size of the buttons until I got it, I have big fingers and it's difficult for me to use a telephone with tiny buttons, with this one, problem solved, big buttons, big screen, big memory.
Very good camera resolution, 1.3 M, I think it is enough for a Cell Phone if you want more quality in your pictures use a Camera.
The screen resolution is incredible.
The FM radio, Bluetooth, IR and MP3 are some valuables in this telephone.
I neever saw a telephone with an "open flip button" this is very comfortable, and helps you to open it with one hand.
The problem, the camera button is outside and you can activate it accidentaly.I've used the Nokia 6131 phone for 2 months, it has a great feature set and I initially thought it'd be a good phone beware of reviews posted after only a few days of use.
Battery life is abysmal. With bluetooth, etc. enabled, initially I was getting about 1.5 days of useful life. After 2 months, with bluetooth disabled and all power saving features set the phone won't last 24 hrs between charges.
The phone will not work with a dead battery even when plugged into the charger. You must wait until the battery has sufficient charge before the phone can be used. And charge time is slow charging while driving 45 min daily did not get or keep the phone fully charged. You'll need to plug it in to the charger every night.
Unlike other phones this phone does not charge when connected via the USB cable. And the USB cable is proprietary you cannot use a standard mini-USB.
The Nokia-proprietary stereo headset left earbud stopped working after 2 weeks. The radio and mp3 player do not support a bluetooth headset (mine is mono not sure if a stereo bluetooth headset would work). So for me, no NPR or audiobook MP3s on the bluetooth headset.
The lid of the phone presses the "0" button when very little pressure is applied. Take it out of your pocket and you'll have to clear the "000000000"'s before dialing. Oh yeah those 0's also took your phone out of its power-saving sleep mode and consumed valuable battery life while you were not using it.
The flip-button is neat but I handed my phone to a friend to call home, didn't tell him about the button and when he opened it without the button crack, the cheap-o latch broke. It should have been designed to work ok for the button-uninitiated.
I've had great success with other Nokia phones but this one is a failure. I expect they'll get flip phones right at some point but I'll be using another brand until then.
