Review of The Nokia 1661
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Introduction

nokia 1661

The Nokia 1661 was announced in November 2008 and release in mid 2009. This curvy phone from Nokia comes in a small form factor that appeals to little hands. The Nokia 1661 is quite light and firm to the feel. This Nokia phone comes as a budget phone with not much else to offer than the ability to make and receive phone calls and text messages.

Design (4 out of 5)

The Nokia 1661 comes in either black or gray shades. This Nokia phone is cast in soft plastic. Its measurement are; height of 108 millimeters by breadth of 45 millimeters and a depth of 13.8 millimeters. The Nokia 1661 weighs in at a light 82 grams.

Turning the phone over to the front face and starting off right at the top of the Nokia 1661 there is the ear piece followed by the 1.8 inch portrait TFT display. Going further below there is the selection soft key buttons for selecting options depending on the applications while on the same level on the right there is the exit soft key button.

Below the left soft key button you will find the green call begin soft key button with the red call cancel button placed on the opposite end of the soft key panel. The last item on the soft key panel is the five way scroll keys also known as the D-pad.

Going down the line there is the alphanumeric key pad.

Looking over onto the left side of the Nokia 1661 you will find there are two slots. The first one is the slot that the phone charger plugs into. The second slot on the left side of the Nokia 1661 is where you can plug in your 2.5 mm audio jack headphones.

Flipping the Nokia 1661 over to the right side clearly reveals that there is nothing much other than a red strip which is not useful. This lack of design features extends down to the bottom end of the Nokia 1661.

The top side of the Nokia 1661 is solely taken up by the built-in flashlight. The back side of the Nokia 1661 is reserved primarily for the battery which lies on top of the SIM card.

That is as far as the design of the Nokia 1661 goes. Lacking in components but the design I would say generally works.

User Interface (3 out of 5)

The user interface on the Nokia 1661 is nothing more than basic and practical. By pressing the options key on the home screen, you gain access to the Nokia 1661 menu system. From within the menu system of this Nokia phone you can navigate through the applications using the five way scroll keys and when you have highlighted the desired application or settings function icon then you can select it using the center key on the five way scroll keys or you may use the option/select soft key button to achieve the same result.

To exit an application you can simply use the right soft key. Under the settings in the menu grid, you can make changes to the preinstalled wallpapers and themes. To access the radio on the Nokia 1661, there is a dedicated hardware key on the far bottom right of the of the alphanumeric key pad.

Features (2 out of 5)

nokia 1661

As you will see shortly, the Nokia 1661 severely lacks in features and so I will not take much time describing the little that the Nokia 1661 has to offer.

This Nokia phone is only available to the cell network through the 2G GSM networks with dual band of GSM 900/1800 and GSM 850/1900. The display on the Nokia 1661 comes as a TFT display with support for 65K colors. The display resolution is 128 pixels wide by 160 pixel tall. The Nokia supports downloadable polyphonic ringtones through text messages and comes with vibrating alerts.

Storage on the Nokia 1661 is limited to 8MB and therefore has limits on its phone book, which is just 500 entries. Storage for SMS messages is less at 250 messages. Call records are limited to the last 20 dialed, the last 20 received and the last 20 missed calls.

There is an FM radio on the Nokia 1661 with an external speakerphone, an organizer and preinstalled games. Also featured on the Nokia 1661 is a flashlight.

This Nokia phone lacks a lot of features that appear as standard in most modern phones such as Internet access and a camera.

This is just about everything as far as features go.

Performance (2 out of 5)

The Nokia 1661 is lacking in a lot of the modern must-haves but that does not necessarily mean that it is a substandard phone or is it?

Battery life on the Nokia 1661 is tagged at a stand by time of up to 475 hours. With this Nokia phone on full charge you will get about four hours of talk time which is pretty average considering there are no other features such as GPS and 3G that eat up the battery life.

Call quality as far as the volume of the ear piece goes is quite poor. The same goes for the quality you get when listening to radio over the head phones. The situation is not any better with the speakerphone quality.

The navigation on the Nokia 1661 is quite responsive and sensitivity to the cellphone network is also good.

Verdict (2 out of 5)

The Nokia 1661 is a phone that offers very little to desire. This Nokia phone is strictly for those on an extremely tight budget or for passing onto your child as a starter phone. Since it lacks either of the basic connectivity features such as Bluetooth, infra red, USB, 3G or EDGE this is not a phone that would appeal to the masses. Yes it is functional strictly in terms of voice calls and text messaging. For about US $10 the Nokia 1661 may be just right for someone out there.

You can have a look at related Nokia phones such as the Nokia 2760 and the Nokia 2720 and compare features with the Nokia 1661.