Weight: 102 g
Length: 92 mm
Width: 48 mm
Thickness (max): 20 mm
Display: Active TFT QVGA display supports up to 16,777,216 colors (320 x 240 pixels, 2.2 inches)
Outer display: Active TFT display supports up to 262,144 colors (128 x 160 pixels, 1.36 inches)
Price Range : $237.13 - $415.06
Nokia 6131 happens before you even power it up, the sheer feel of this flip phone in your hand is something quite special.
It’s lightweight at 112 grams and yet manages to feel substantial, the rear covering is not cheapo plastic but a textured warm rubber covering that oozes quality and gives you a good purchase at the same time. Measuring 92 x 48 x 20 mm we have to say that this is the perfect dimension for a flip phone and it is easy to open and close the flip especially with Nokias quick open button, it’s been a while since a phone had a snazzy opening, in fact it was the Nokia Matrix phone that last had stockbrokers showing off their mobiles in the office.
However stockbrokers are unlikely to go for this model as they’d be picking a Smartphone with all the gadgets, whereas the Nokia 6131 lacks some of the top end features like WiFi but this does not make it a lesser phone, just one that’s good at making calls. Power up the Nokia 6131 and the outer screen springs into life, this colour LCD shows the basics like time, battery life, signal strength and profile name plus it will show the caller ID of incoming calls.
The 1.3 megapixel camera comes with 8x zoom and an impressive range of options. You can set the image quality to 3 different levels, basic, normal or high. You can also have 6 choices of image size, from 120 x 160 to 1024 x 1280 pixels. Similarly, you can choose between a few clip quality and size for video recordings. There are also 5 different colour effects, like “sepia” and “negative”, that you can apply to both the still and video cameras. The still camera comes with the basic functions like night mode and a 10-second self-timer but doesn’t come with flash. There’s also image sequencing which allows you to take 3 shots with a single click. The 6131 has a PictBridge printing solution which allows the user to connect their phone to a compatible printer using a USB cable & print their photos very simply.
Turning now to the needs of the business user, the 6131 is reasonably well configured for a mid-range phone. There’s full email support, with support for attachments. Push to Talk is available. All kinds of connectivity are supported - Bluetooth, USB and IrDa. EDGE provides download speeds of up to 236.8 kbps. Memory is adequate, with an expandable memory card of up to 2 Gbytes.
For the business user there’s really nothing missing, except for one thing - the battery life. Nokia claim a battery life of 10 days. Get real! One day is more like it. The battery life really is atrocious. Other things that concern us are the reception quality and random shutting down or freezing, which sometimes happens. If you’re looking for a reliable workhorse phone, look elsewhere.
The real winner here, though, is the internal keypad. Put simply, it’s big. In fact, the entire design rationale with the 6131 is to keep things simple, refined, even elegant. To that end, Nokia has created a keypad layout and accompanying navigational interface which looks great, feels familiar, and is easy to understand. The keypad itself is very well lit, and the volume and camera shortcut buttons are exactly where you’d expect them to be on a Nokia phone. Once again though, Nokia toys with its placement of the on/off button, this time opting for the side of the phone, which may again cause some initial confusion for its loyal customers.
Key features:
Slim, stylish fold design with innovative, one-hand push-to-open operation
Dual displays: 16-million “true” colors inside and 262,144 colors outside
Active standby on enhanced Series 40 UI
Light indication on outer display for missed calls/SMS/calendar reminders
1.3-megapixel camera with full-screen viewfinder for both main and outer display
Email with attachments
XHTML browser
Enhanced messaging with recently used contacts and groups
Clearly separated keys for easy dialing and messaging
MP3 player and FM stereo radio with Visual Radio
Fast browsing and downloads with EDGE
MicroSD memory cards available as enhancements (optional)
Multimedia:
MP3 player supporting formats including MP3, MP4, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, H.263, H.264 (eAAC+ only playback no streaming)
Improved audio quality with new speaker
FM stereo radio with Visual Radio
Video streaming (3GPP)
Video ringing tones
64-chord/voice polyphonic MIDI ringing tones
Browsing:
Integrated XHTML browser
Smart content download - OMA Digital rights management 1.0
Imaging:
1.3 megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom (1280 x 960 pixel resolution)
Full-screen viewfinder for both main and outer display
Camera key for taking pictures
PictBridge printing via USB cable
Messaging:
Simplified messaging with recently used contacts log and groups
Email: Access your work and private email accounts; supports SMTP, POP3, and IMAP4 protocols. Support for attachments (Java version)
Nokia Xpress™ Audio Messaging: Record your own voice message and send to compatible devices
MMS OMA 1.2: Combine image, video, text, and voice clips and send as an MMS to a compatible phone or PC; use MMS to tell your story with a multi-slide presentation. The MMS OMA 1.2 specification allows you to send/receive messages up to 300 kB in size.
Text messaging: Supports concatenated SMS, picture messaging (receiving only), SMS distribution list
Predictive text input: Support for all major languages in Europe and Asia Pacific
Presence: Includes Wireless Village, Instant Messaging, and Dynamic phonebook; know someone’s status before you call
