Nokia 6151

Nokia's 6151 is an entry level 3G mobile phone that offers a 1.3 megapixel camera, an MP3 player, and extra storage thanks to a microSD card slot. The 6151 has a solid list of features at a reasonable price. This phone should appeal to those at the lower end of the 3G market willing to accept reduced screen clarity and some keypad design issues.

The 6151 is best described as attractive yet reserved, with a subtle black and silver finish. Measuring 108mm x 47mm x 19mm and weighing just 98g, the candy bar unit is easy to cup in your hand and comfortable to hold to your ear when making phone calls. The sides and rear sport a rubber style surface, while the keys and surrounding display area have a gloss black finish that unfortunately attracts some unwanted fingerprints. Nokia has included dedicated volume control keys and a camera button on the right as well as a push-to-talk (PTT) button and microSD card slot on the left.

Nokia has equipped the 6151 with a 256K TFT screen. With a maximum resolution of 128 x 160 pixels, the display is bright, but not overly crisp or clear. While the 6151 is a low-end model, a screen of clarity equal to or better than many of the 3G handsets recently reviewed would have been welcome. The keypad and controls are attractive, however the keypad feels squashed and each key requires a firm press to operate. Combine this with the fact that the keys could protrude further from the keypad back panel and the result is a reduction in the speed at which we could tap in messages. The other controls consist of a five-way navigational pad, two selection buttons as well as answer and end call keys. One criticism of the navigational pad is that it can be a struggle to avoid accidentally pressing the centre button when scrolling up or down.

Nokia is well known for pleasing menu systems on their lower and mid-range handsets and they have got it spot on yet again. The intuitive list style menu system of the 6151 (which can also be changed to a grid style) is extremely easy to use; even those who have never picked up a mobile phone before shouldn't have too many issues. The Series 40 interface is also quite speedy when scrolling quickly through messages or phone book entries.

The 6151 includes a 1.3 megapixel camera that will do the job for happy snappers, but naturally isn't of a good enough quality to take any sort of serious photos. The camera doesn't include a flash and suffers from most of the typical camera phone deficiencies: average colour reproduction, poor image noise levels and a lack of detail and sharpness. The camera has a few settings including grayscale, false colours, sepia, negative and solarise effects, as well as the ability to adjust white balance, a 10 second self-timer and night mode. The 6151 is also capable of recording video, but the quality is similarly poor. You can save photos and videos to the 6151's 30MB of internal memory, or alternatively use the microSD slot. Unfortunately there is no included microSD card in the sales package, so be sure to factor this into your purchase if you want to store music and photos on this phone.

Perhaps the most notable exclusion is a front mounted camera for 3G video calls. You can still make a video call and see the person you are calling, but they won't be able to see you. Although the 6151 is an entry-level 3G phone, it is still disappointing to see this feature omitted.

The 6151 is well equipped for a handset in this price range. It has Bluetooth 2.0, support for SMS and MMS messaging with T9 predictive text input, Java games, a hands-free speakerphone, FM radio, MP3 player, push-to-talk, a voice recorder and voice dialling as well as MP3 ring tones. The FM radio works quite well, although you have to use the included headset as this acts as the antenna. The 6151 media player was notable for a phone in this price range. It is capable of playing MP3, AAC and M4A file formats and has preset and manual five-band equalisation options. It can also play videos in either 3GPP or MPEG4 formats.

According to Nokia's figures, the 6151's battery life is above average for a 3G capable handset with up to four hours of talk time and 250 hours of standby time. We found these figures were fairly close to the mark; on average you'll have to charge the phone every two or three days.