Digital Trends

Nokia 5100 Phone

May 29th, 2003 | by Ian Bell

Setup and Use Continued...

Onto better things, we found that the 5100's support for the new MMS standard which allows you to send text and images over the air worked superbly. There is also support for SMS chat although we were not able to test it because we did not have another compatible phone. You can also setup and use 4 different SMS profiles as an added bonus.

Other noticeable features include Nokia's alarm clock, 300 contact phonebook, and calendar and to-do list. The calendar looks fantastic on the bright color display and easily fits each month within the parameters of the screen resolution with easy to read text. Unlike a lot of phones on the market, the 5100's phone book lets you store 5 phone numbers and 5 text entries per contact location. This is great if a contact has multiple numbers for work, home and cell phone.

Synchronization using Nokia's PC Suite and the 5100's IR port worked great and there were no problems synching Outlook calendar and contacts with multiple numbers, although the 5100 can only store one e-mail address per location, but that is still better than most phones. On another note, we have absolutely no idea where the IR port is, only that it is somewhere on the front of the phone since that was the only way were able to get it to sync. There was also no mention of the infrared's port location in the manual. For all of the features included on the Nokia 5100, we would have liked to have seen Nokia include Bluetooth capabilities.

As with other Nokia phones, there are 5 programmable profiles. Each profile lets you setup the ring tone, volume and other settings associated with it. For example, if you have a meeting to go to, changing the 5100 to the meeting profile, may turn your ring volume off, vibrate function on or pass the call directly to voice mail.

We know that it must seem like there are a hundred of features on the 5100 and this review will not end, but we have to mention a feature which is one of the coolest we have seen in a cell phone. The 5100 features an automatic volume feature which will automatically change the volume for you depending on how much background noise is present; perhaps this is where the sound meter plays in. This feature worked very well in most of our tests and comes in extremely handy while driving.

Battery life on the Nokia 5100 was surprisingly good considering how many applications can be running simultaneously. We were able to squeeze out about 4.5 hours of talk time and about 7 days of standby. The Nokia 5100 comes with a 720 mAh battery.

And last but not least, the reception of the Nokia 5100 was great using ATT's GSM service, getting better reception than our Sony Ericsson T68i phone. The clarity of the Nokia 5100 is not as good as the T68i in our opinion, but we would take reception over clarity any day.

Conclusion

The Nokia 5100 is probably one of the oddest phones we have seen. The design is definitely over the top and the inclusion of programs such as a calorie burner and sound meter have us wondering if the cell phone market has become so competitive to the point that every little add-on function is necessary to stay one step ahead of the competition. The power button on the 5100 is ridiculously hard to push and for every extra ability the 5100 has, there still is no Bluetooth capability. The 5100 proved to be very rugged and durable in our tests due to the rubber casing and we got accustomed to the thick rubber keys. Beyond the 5100's hard exterior is a charming and intelligent phone with a bright display and plenty of features. The 5100 is the perfect phone for those with an active lifestyle. Teens will no doubt also fall in love with the 5100's total customizability.