Nokia 6111 review

Nokia 6111 Review

Reviewed by: Andrew Lim

Reviewed on: 1 March 2006

The Nokia 6111 is a mid-range slide phone for people who don't have a lot of pocket space. It features a 1-megapixel camera and a radio in its small package, but if you're looking for something inspirational this phone might disappoint. Other slide phones such as the Samsung D600 are better designed and better equipped.

Design
The Nokia 6111 looks like a small bar of shiny soap. It comes in three colours -- black, silver and pink -- with a mirrored frame. At 92g, the 6111 is lighter than most phones, but not as light as Samsung's E350 slide phone, which weighs a mere 75g. It fits well in the pocket at only 84 by 47 by 23mm and can be kept away from prying eyes in the palm of your hand.

 

This is the first time Nokia has used this particular slide mechanism. It seems almost identical to Samsung's D600 and is made up of a solid bottom section and a thinner top section that is spring mounted, so you only need to open it halfway before it springs open. For those of you obsessed with the how the slide feels, the mechanism is clunky and, as with all slide phones, there is the danger of opening it while you take it out of your pocket. 

Once opened, the 6111 presents you with a glossy black keypad that would be perfect, if not for the proximity of the top of the keypad and the bottom of the screen. If you have large thumbs, there simply isn't enough room to comfortably press the top three buttons on the keypad. Aside from that, the keypad feels smooth and responsive and the keys are a good size and shape.

The front of the phone features a 262k-colour, 128x160-pixel display, that measures 29 by 35mm. Unfortunately it's not bright enough in strong sunlight, but it is sharp. Underneath the screen there is a four-way silver navigation button with a soft key in the middle and two soft keys either side, that can be programmed for variety of functions. These buttons allow you to answer calls and access applications without having to slide the phone open.

On the other side of the phone the 1-megapixel camera, flash and small mirror sit perched on the top right-hand corner of a shiny black cover. A dedicated shutter button has been placed on the right side of the handset. Further up on the same side there are two well-located volume buttons that sit perfectly under your thumb.

Unusually Nokia has decided to add a rubber cover to the charging port and has hidden the release for the battery cover underneath it. This gives the phone smooth edges and a nicer appearance, but makes charging the phone and changing the battery more fiddly than normal. The SIM card has also been moved to the back of the front section of the handset. This is probably due to the change in form factor but means you don't have to remove the back cover and battery every time you need to change the SIM.

Features
The Nokia 6111 runs on the third edition of Series 40. The phone book can hold 1,000 contacts and five telephone numbers per name. Each contact can be assigned an email address, postal address, note, image and tone. There are 20 polyphonic tones to choose from and you can also use MP3s as ring tones. However, with only 23MB of internal memory, don't expect to store loads of MP3s.