Nokia 5160 Cell Phone

My wife and I purchased a pair of Nokia 5160 phones as part of a ?two-for-one? special offered by our mobile phone service provider (Bell Atlantic). Since the special offer was tied to a calling plan that was more beneficial to us, it was, as the saying goes, an offer that was too good to refuse.

My wife?s previous phone was an earlier Nokia model, so we already knew from first hand experience that the products were high quality. Also, our brother in law already had the same model phone we ended up purchasing, so we were familiar with the style and features.

I?ve never been what would be considered a ?heavy? user of mobile phones. I like having one available for emergencies and the occasional convenience they offer. For a user like me, 5160 meets all of the needs a customer will probably have.

In terms of size, the Nokia 5160 is ideal. It fits easily into my briefcase, and the inside pockets of my jackets. When I do carry it in a shirt pocket, it?s certainly noticeable, but doesn?t protrude excessively. In my car, I have a ?generic? mobile phone holder (from K-Mart), which hold it nicely and keeps it readily accessible if I need it, while protecting it from being ?bounced? around. It is very lightweight, about 6 oz. based on the information we received from the sales representative. To me, this qualifies as ?barely noticeable.?

The LCD screen is a good size, and the text designed by the programmers is easy to read. The signal strength and battery strength meters are clear and convenient. The various menus are also clear and concise. In an age of ever-increasing options, keeping the features manageable is not an easy task, and Nokia deserves credit for keeping their design as user-friendly as possible.

The operation of the phone is heavily influenced by the ?Navi? key, essentially a button that changes the operation it performs, based on the function listed above the key. This design feature makes it easier to work through the features of the phone.

I find the programmable ?phone book? to be the feature I use most often. The instruction manual made setting up my personal phone list a breeze (excellent documentation). With my previous phone, I only had the numbers available to me, and sometimes didn?t remember which number belonged to whom. With this phone, I can scroll through my list alphabetically by name, a much more convenient process.

The call log is not a feature I use too often, but I can see how it can be useful, especially the missed calls option. With caller ID offered by our service provider, I can easily see who called me if I don?t answer a call. This is considerably more useful than some older phones which told you that you missed a call, but that was all they could tell you.

Our phones also happen to offer three games?memory, snake and logic. It?s not like this was a big selling point for me, but the fact that the games are there is cute enough. I haven?t had much cause to play with them yet, but maybe I?ll have occasion to try them out someday.

The Nokia 5160 also offers that brilliant marketing gimmick known as changeable faceplates. Basic black seem kind of boring? Check out a seemingly endless array of colors and designs to make your phone more ?you.? Whoever came up with the idea to get the extra money from selling different faceplates must have earned quite a bonus for that gem of an idea!

And of course, like most phones on the market today, you can choose from a wide range of ringing tones, from fairly standard and polite to what I can best describe as fairly obnoxious.

I consider myself as a very satisfied customer, and would recommend the Nokia 5160 to anyone in the market for a new mobile phone.