Nokia 6133

Call Quality

Calls and Speakerphone: The Nokia 6133 is an extremely loud cell phone; even when it's at the lowest volume setting, we could hear callers well. We rarely used the side volume buttons to adjust the sound. If you tend to make calls while walking on busy streets, you won’t have an issue hearing callers. We should note, however, that we did occasionally encounter a bit of static – though it’s often fleeting, it appeared enough to mention. The speakerphone (Nokia calls it a Loudspeaker) on this cell phone is loud as well. However, you can’t turn it on until you place a call.

Ease of Use

Menu/Phone Book: As is the case with the Nokia 6305i, this cell phone’s menu isn’t typical for Nokia. However, some customary Nokia features are evident here. For example, you can personalize and create shortcuts so that the features/apps you use most appear where you want. Whether or not you decide to personalize the cell phone using Shortcuts, navigating through the menu is relatively easy once you get accustomed to the organization, and entering/storing contacts is equally simple after you figure out some of the cell phone’s idiosyncrasies. You’ll need to decide where you want your contacts to be saved: the phone’s internal memory or a SIM card. You can store three phone numbers, an e-mail address, and an URL for each contact.

Camera/Video: The easiest way to access the cell phone’s camera feature is to press the camera button on the side of the Nokia 6133. You can also access it from the menu. However, please note that you should manually turn off the camera when you are finished using it; otherwise, the application will remain in standby mode until it is turned off. You can use the camera to snap random pics or even use the external screen and the self-timer to take self-portraits. The photos themselves came out quite crisp, despite the fact that images look blurry when you snap them. This was a thrill because it meant we were much better photographers than originally expected.

You can also take short videos (about 10 seconds), though they won't look nearly as good as the photos. Images came out extremely pixelated, and we could barely make out what we shot. On the plus side, there is a Mute option, so you can record movies à la Charlie Chaplin - that is, before there were “talkies.”

Messaging/E-mail: There are a plethora of options for staying connected to people text-style using this cell phone. You can check AOL, Yahoo, MSN, and even SBC Yahoo e-mail accounts from the E-mail menu. That’s where you’ll also be able to send AOL instant messages (AIM) if you have an account. Be aware, the e-mail application doesn’t have an option to configure work e-mail; it’s designed for accessing web-based e-mail accounts. If you want to send text messages, you’ll find that option under Messaging. You can even insert a smiley into messages.

Bluetooth: We were able to easily pair this Nokia cell phone with the Motorola Bluetooth H500 headset. Call quality using the headset did not diminish nor did the cell phone’s battery deplete faster with Bluetooth turned on. If you tend to use a Bluetooth headset to make/receive calls, this cell phone won’t disappoint.

Design

Look and Feel: This is one of the slicker Nokia flip phones to hit the market. For starters, there’s a tiny button on the hinge of the cell phone that you press to flip it open – à la old-school Star Trek’s “Beam me up, Scotty.” But if the button ever fails, you can still flip open the cell phone manually. Overall, this Nokia is slim, and that’s not an optical illusion due to the cell phone’s decidedly slimming black finish. This cell phone can also take a bit of a beating and not appear worse for the wear.

The internal and external displays are bright and large, so viewing the screens in most lighting conditions is easy. Since the internal display is slightly indented, it isn’t prone to attracting the oil on your face during calls – a nice plus. There are other handy design touches as well; for example, the headset port is located at the top of the cell phone but hidden under a rubberized black cover, which seems fairly secure. Unfortunately, there’s no standard headset jack and you’ll need a proprietary Nokia headset for this phone.

Keypad: The Nokia 6133 maintains the silver highlights internally as well. Surrounding the keys is a mirror-like silver border that does an amazing job of keeping fingerprints at bay. The numeric keys are large and well spaced, making misdials an infrequent event. While the keypad is definitely what we’d call slick, it’s far from slippery.

Battery Life

The Nokia 6133 is definitely not a slacker when it comes to battery life. Heavy cell phone users who make a ton of calls and send/receive loads of text messages daily will need to recharge weekly. More moderate users will be able to last a little longer than a week before needing to charge the cell phone. If you are a light user, making just two to three 10-minute calls a day with light texting, the Nokia 6133 cell phone will easily last 10 days. The cell phone, however, does not use the typical Nokia charger; if you have a plethora of chargers, there’s no guarantee any of them will work with the Nokia 6133.