Get the magic: HP TouchSmart
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6 out of 6 people found this review helpful
4.0 stars
"A value loaded surprise in a mid range cell phone"
Pros: Simplicity, easy to use menu and features, bluetooth pairing
Cons: Poor battery life, mute and speaker phone are menu selections, did I mention poor battery life?
Summary: I was pleasantly surprised at the value packed in the Nokia 6126 especially since this is supposed to be a midrange cell phone offering.
Nokia's menu system is well thought out with most important functions only one or two clicks away. The keypad selection ring moves quickly and intuitively through the menu selections and the oversized center button is very easy to find without looking at the phone.
The 6126's signal strength is much better than my previous cell, now receiving coverage in areas formerly inaccessible. Call quality is clear, loud and steady. Bluetooth pairing with a Southwing SH310 was quick and easy. Bluetooth functionality - answer, mute, volume, call, voice dial, end call - worked seamlessly with the 6126. Call quality through bluetooth was good and did not vary anywhere the phone was on my body - pockets, belt, etc., and worked with the phone 6 feet away in a wooden desk drawer.
A lot of the extended features - e-mail, IM, camcorder, voice recording - I have not tested. Cingular rate plans for the 6126 allow selection of specific functions, so cost conscious folks should look closely at this phone. My primary use for the 6126 is (believe it or not) *just*to*make*calls! The rest is icing on the cake. Net: it is great for just making calls!
Oh, before I forget, for the StarTrek crowd, there is a exceptionally well placed trigger button on the clamshell hinge that pops the phone lid open - can you say "Kirk to Enterprise"? Unfortunately, it's cool for the right hand only, so lefties... sorry folks.
On the downside, the biggest minus is the battery life. After 3 weeks of charging, full discharge and recharge, *both* of my 6126 phones still only get 2.5 to 3 days on standby however talk time does appear to be at least 3 hours as advertised. The short standby time is annoying. Both phones are the same even though I have one phone with the Bluetooth and accessories all shut off so the discharging is mainly from core phone functions.
Battery life aside, a minor inconvenience is that the speaker phone and mute functions are menu selections that only appear on the options menu during a call so you have to pull the handset from your ear, select mute then return to listen mode. Speaker phone also is menu selectable during a call and *does* remain enabled for all calls thereafter until unselected. That's not a completely bad option. Also, neither mute nor speaker phone are able to be added to the user's shortcut menu buttons on the keypad so the best you can do is memorize the menu selections so you can mute or speaker phone without looking. Life could be much worse.
All said, this was a very good purchase and I am shortly adding another line to the Cingular plan and will be picking up another Nokia 6126 to add to the flock.
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