Nokia 6133 calling and light messaging phone

Nokia's mid-range clamshell might not be the thinnest on the block, but it does pack in an MP3 player, Bluetooth, conference calling and a 1.3-megapixel camera. Is it worth the extra girth?

Design

The Nokia 6133 is definitely a striking and appealing clamshell, though at 0.8 inches thick, it's not slim by any means. We immediately appreciated the smooth, rubbery shell and the eye-catching, chrome-rimmed external display. A button on the upper right side of the 6133 flips the phone open, a nice feature if both your hands are full. Surrounded by the slick chrome rim, the keypad looks smashing, although it's prone to fingerprints.

Calling - Good

Call quality on the 6133 was a bit disappointing, and depended heavily on reception. Our calls sounded great when we had solid reception, but in spotty areas our calls were plagued by static. Unfortunately, we ran into shifty reception during our testing in Northern New Jersey, and our calls were dropped three times in about 20 minutes. The quad-band phone also picked up on a lot of ambient noise regardless of our reception. Back on the plus side, the 6133 boasts a bevy of calling features, such as Bluetooth, a capable speakerphone, voice tagging and conference calling that supports five calls in a conversation (although you can't switch between callers or hang up on a single caller). The phonebook offers while-you-type searching, but adding new contacts entails digging through quite a few menus.

Messaging - Very good

While the 6133 faltered a little on calling, it shone when it came to messaging. The clamshell's interface fits a full 163 characters on the screen at once, surpassing our preferred 160. Though the font was a little small, text was still quite readable. Typing on the 6133 was comfortable, though hampered by the lack of a dedicated back key. Messaging menus are intuitive but a bit too numerous for our taste. The handset smooths over these flaws with its robust instant messaging capabilities, including AIM, ICQ, MSN and Yahoo.

Odds and ends

The 6133 packs in some fun extras, such as a 1.3-megapixel camera and an MP3 player with microSD memory expansion (although the slot is inconveniently placed behind the back cover). The camera functioned surprisingly well; our shots were clear and had solid color balance.
11/8/2006 2:10:30 PM
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