Review of Nokia 6133: A Basic Clamshell Phone

Review of Nokia 6133: A Basic Clamshell Phone
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The Nokia 6133 is a clamshell phone. This mid-range quad band handset is compatible with GSM 850/900/1800/1900 networks. The handset is similar to the Nokia 6126 in many respects. It is now available for a budget price and it wraps basic features into a convenient design, making it ideal for anyone seeking a basic phone for calls.

Design (4 out of 5)

Nokia 6133 Open

The stylish clamshell design of the Nokia 6133 is eye catching. It has two screens: internal (chrome-lined 240 x 320 QVGA with 16 million colors) and external (128 x 160 TFT 262,144 colors). The internal display of this handset is reasonably good and you can easily watch videos, games, animation, graphics, photos, and text on this screen. You can also modify the font size. You can find the time, date, caller ID, signal strength and battery life on the external display.

The phone weighs 3.95 oz and comes with dimensions of 3.61 x 1.88 x 0.79 inches. It is not exactly a “slim” phone, but it is sleek and compact. It comes with smooth edges and easily slips into your pocket. The velvety texture of the phone facilitates easy grip. The volume control is located on the left spine of the handset. You can find the camera control and power button on the right spine. The charger port and the USB port are located on the top of the handset. One drawback in the design of this handset is that the microSD slot location (behind the battery cover) makes it hard to access.

User Interface (3 out of 5)

The Nokia 6133’s menus are user-friendly. It is easy to navigate the menu options. Navigation controls consist of an OK button at the center of a four-way toggle switch and two soft keys. The handset enables users to manage various features in the Nokia PC Suite. The XHTML compatible web browser is adequate for browsing the Internet.

The handset’s “Push-button flip release” system works very well. The button is located on the right side of the hinge. The phone may also be opened without the use of this button. The phone does not have an external antenna. Once flipped open it is comfortable to use.

Back in the UI, you may change icons, colors and menus. Another attraction of this handset is that users may opt for a slide show of images (captured using the phone’s camera) as a screen saver for the external screen. The handset’s keypad is not user-friendly. It tends to be slippery. It is not possible to alter the brightness of the internal display.

Features (3 out of 5)

Nokia 6133 Closed

The Nokia 6133 comes with a 1.3 megapixel camera (without flash). Users may capture images in six resolutions. The handset offers various camera settings like night mode, five color effects and 8X zoom. Unfortunately the quality of the photos is poor, especially in low light conditions.

Videos may be recorded in two resolutions. The handset’s media player supports MP3, MP4 (audio only), AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, and 3GP formats. The handset comes with an equalizer.

The handset comes with 11 MB of internal memory. Users may store up to 2 GB of data on a microSD card. Users can store up to 500 contacts in the phonebook. The handset allows users to store five phone numbers, web site, email address, home address, office address, birth date, company name, job title, nick name and notes. Users can organize callers into groups.

The handset is Bluetooth (with OBEX) compatible. It comes with preloaded Java games (Midnight Bowling and Snake 3) and applications (Zuma 3D). The Nokia 6133 is EDGE compatible.

The handset comes with an IM feature (for Yahoo, MSN, ICQ and AOL). The audio messaging feature enables users to send voice messages to other phones. Speakerphone, voice dialing, vibrate mode, voice recording, video ringtones, calendar, alarm clock, calculator, countdown timer, and FM radio are other useful features of this handset. Users can save 20 stations on the FM radio. This feature does not work without a headset. The handset comes with a translator for English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. One major advantage of the Nokia 6133 handset is that many of the above mentioned features work even without a SIM card. Nokia’s application enables users to send messages to other Bluetooth enabled handsets. The handset supports Adobe Flash Player and Macromedia Flash Lite 1.1.

Performance (3 out of 5)

The Nokia 6133 uses a Li-Ion battery (820 mAh). Users can get talk time of up to 3.5 hrs and stand-by time of up to 12.5 days.

Call quality is very good.

Users have complained that they were not able to insert pictures into their messages. It is advisable to test this feature before purchasing the handset.

The quality of music is average.

Some users have complained that they were not getting the promised stand-by time. Other features of the handset work well.

Overall Rating (3 out of 5)

Overall, the Nokia 6133 is an attractive handset with many useful features and decent performance. If you just want a cheap and reliable phone for calls then you could do a lot worse.

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