My Nokia 6120 “Classic” been giving me mid-level grief. It’s still a great purchase, and I’m continuously impressed with what I find myself doing with it, but I have some niggly frustrations with it that can’t really be overlooked.
The first thing people ever ask me is “how do I get your contacts list”, and the answer is “you’ve got to go through the menu to get it”. That’s tacky and unintuitive, having three button-presses to find the person you want to call. It’s akin to buying a steam powered toaster, in that it’s a vastly dumb idea. The unit is obscenely unintuitive to configure, and the Three defaults are rather badly thought out.
Wi-fi is not supported, and sip is only half implemented. You can receive calls, but not make them without a bloaty third party application like Fring.
That doesn’t bother me as much as the software is buggy. I’ve woken up in the morning to a blank screen when the built-in alarm clock locks up the unit (this is apparently due to the phone failing to come out of suspend/power save mode. You can wait five minutes, or reboot it.) At random points the keys stop working; notably the “end call” button, and if you try to type too fast it just won’t recognise your key presses.
Brand new the interface is lightning fast, but I find I have to make sure to clear out my messages often and reboot it at least once a week or it becomes unusable.
The thing that really gets my proverbial goat is that the hardware itself is so fallible. In the nearly two months that I’ve had it, I’ve managed to scratch the screen in a bad way, just by keeping it in the same pocket as my keys. I should have bought a case in retrospect, but the unit was damaged the very first time I put it in my pocket. Additionally, the shiny coating on the arrow keys has almost completely rubbed off and left a grey plastic finish.
The Nokia 6120c doesn’t look like the kind of object that’s pitted to last the two years your carrier contract likely is. A number of my colleagues who also bought various Nokia handsets are already considering trashing them it less than six months of regular use. It’s a gross sign of the times.
So while the 6120 is good in theory, it hasn’t been executed very well at all. For the price they’re still going for, you might be better off spending a few dollars more and jumping onto the Google Android bandwagon.
This post is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia License.
9 Comments
Tate
February 28, 2008 21:11
I recommend purchasing the Apple iPhone.
Ash
February 28, 2008 21:39
They’re crippled, expensive, and won’t connect to 3G networks. Not to mention they’re not even available here without importing and modding them.
I fail to see the incentive.
They’re a neat unit, but don’t really do what I want them to. Besides, I’ve already got a phone that works well enough.
Owen
March 3, 2008 8:40
Haha mate, you should have said something to me - I work(ed) at a Nokia Care Centre.
Anyway, the scratches on your screen? Can’t do anything about that. You put it in the same pocket as your keys, what were you expecting to happen?
The silver rubbing off the keypad, well you might be able to get that covered under warranty. Go to Nokia Care at Aspley, the staff there are very nice.
The contacts list. You do realise all the buttons are programmable? You can assign contacts list to the up/down/left/right on the directional pad, or one of the left or right soft keys.
Another tip; take your phone straight into Nokia Care (there’s one at Aspley and one at the Valley Metro shopping centre above Brunswick St Station), and you’ll get a 3-4 day turnaround time usually. I wouldn’t recommend taking it to a dealer because they’re lazy and incompetent. Nah not really, (but seriously some of them are), but they only send phones in like once a week, so their turnaround time is about two weeks.
Hope your troubles are resolved!
Ash
March 3, 2008 13:11
Nice one. I didn’t realise the buttons were programmable. I managed to set up a few shortcuts to stuff I use frequently in place of the Three ads, so I suppose I could easily customise my phone. It’s still a nuisance.
In retrospect, I shouldn’t have taken it back to Three. I still haven’t heard from them, and they gave me a neanderthal brick that only does messaging and voice calls. I’m going to ring up and complain, because I left last month with about half of my data allowance unused. That shit’s not cheap.
On the plus side, I now have a “phone guy” to help me out-weasel the system.
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Kenny G
May 13, 2009 4:43
I hope by now you must have upgraded. You started with such a mid level phone, may using a Nokia N95 or an Apple iPhone should not give you goosebumps ..
.. Hope your unit got repaired 
novi mobiteli
November 20, 2009 23:54
In Nokia phones contacts list is usually on “down” key by default. Don`t quit on Nokia, it is best mobile brand in world. Connecting people