Nokia 6111 review: Nokia 6111
The Nokia 6111 is an attractive, small phone that boasts plenty of functionality under the hood. Pity the onboard memory wasn't larger, though.
Design
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
The phone's front slides up with the push of a thumb, but it does seem to require more force to open than the similar Samsung D600. The sliding action itself doesn't feel as smooth as the Samsung's, although it's by no means annoying or unusable. The keypad features rounded keys, with the buttons themselves a little on the small side (which can be expected due to the phone's dinkiness, measuring in at 84x47x23mm and weighing only 92g).
Features
When it comes to multimedia features, the 6111 isn't lacking for a phone in its range. The phone features a 1-megapixel camera with 6x digital zoom -- better than some of its equally priced peers such as the more attractive Motorola SLVR L7 and the Sony Ericsson Z520i. The phone can take stills and short videos (depending on memory), and can be used with the unit held horizontally and with the slide closed -- making it look like a small digital camera. A silver camera button on the 6111's side acts as the shutter release when held horizontally. The phone can also act as a media player -- with music, it can play MP3, MP4 or AAC files, and with video it can view 3GPP, H.264 video, MPEG-4 and AMR. Unfortunately, its usefulness as a media device is limited by its small 23MB onboard memory. And sadly, the 6111's memory is not expandable. On the plus side, it also features a radio, voice recorder, Java-capabilities (to allow you to download new applications) and some decent pre-loaded games (Champ Rally 3D, Golf Tour, Backgammon and Solitaire).
Performance
The Nokia 6111 functions well as a phone - we had no hassles with usage during our extended review period, with our only concern being battery life. Nokia rates the 6111 as having talk time of up to 3 hours and 20 minutes (with a standby time of 12.5 days). In real world usage, we found the battery to drain rather quickly - a day and a half worth of higher than average conversation times typically sent us back to the recharge cable. And, as with all slider phones, users have to be careful when taking out the phone from pockets or purses in case they accidentally move the slider up and down (as that terminates a call).
Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the Nokia 6111 is its low onboard memory. The phone packs some decent multimedia features, but having only 23MB of memory severely limits its usefulness. It's a pity Nokia didn't include the option for expandable memory, such as having an SD or other memory card slot in the phone.
But in other ways the Nokia 6111 serves its users well. It's an attractive, small phone that boasts plenty of punch under the hood.