On Friday night I had the chance to play with a Nokia 6120 classic for 10 minutes or so, and here are my quick impressions.
The 6120 classic is a very small HSDPA Series 60 phone. Basically a very stripped down N95, which is no bad thing. Because of this, I’m going to compare the 6120 classic to my experience of owning an N95.
N95 features missing from the 6120 classic:
- GPS – GPS is getting better on the N95 with the new Assisted GPS feature. However, it’s still more of a nice to have than an essential feature in my view
- WiFi – This is a significant loss, but is mitigated by the presence of HSDPA
- Infra-red port – Not a big issue in 2007
- TV Output – How many people actually use this in the real world?
Micro SDHC card support – 2Gb plain MicroSD in the 6120 classic vs 4Gb SDHC (and maybe higher) in the N95– See the comments
Important features shared by both phones:
- HSDPA – Super fast data. You’ll never want to use GPRS ever again. Note that you’re going to need an “unlimited” data package to make proper use of this feature
- Series 60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 – lovely mobile optimised WebKit browser
- Bluetooth 2.0 – Fast data transfers, and A2DP for audio
- Audible hiss on the headphone socket – I’ve heard this on all four N95s I’ve played with, and the 6120 classic was no different. Not a phone for audiophiles
- A navigation pad – A tiny joystick, as used by many phones, is a deal breaker for me
Other differences
- Physical size – The 6120 classic is a super small phone. Photos don’t do it justice. It’s very very thin for a candy bar phone. The N95 is like a brick compared to the 6120 classic
- Button size – The numeric keypad and the nav pad on the 6120 classic are good, but the buttons surrounding the nav pad are a little too small for comfort
- Build quality – The 6120 classic is very solid, and feels much better made than the N95. Annoying, given the N95 is a lot more expensive. I worry about my N95 being damaged by keys in my pocket, whereas the 6120 classic felt like it would have no such problems
- Screen size – The 2.0 inch screen on the 6120 classic is noticeably smaller than the N95’s 2.6 inch screen. The small font size in the N95 web browser (which I use) is about the same size as the normal font size on a 6120 classic
- Camera – The 6120 classic is passable with a 2 megapixel fixed focus camera, and 320×240 video at 15fps. Not a patch on the quality of the N95 though. I took the same photo with both cameras, and the N95 shot was clearly much better
- Speakers – Both the N95 and 6120 classic have very loud speakers. The only difference is that the N95 is stereo, and the 6120 classic is mono. Given how close the N95 speakers are, this is a very minor point
- Stealth – No one would ever guess the 6120 classic is a powerful smartphone; it looks just like a standard Series 40 Nokia phone
- Price – My friend who owns the 6120 classic got it for £29.99 on a £15 a month Three contract (18 months). By way of comparison, an N95 on a £20 T-Mobile contract is £249. That fits with Nokia’s suggested sim free price for a 6120 classic of 260 Euros (£176). I’m not sure if that includes tax, but as a comparison, the N95 sim free is still going for around £450. That’s a huge difference
In summary, the 6120 classic is a seriously impressive phone. I’m not going to swap my N95 for one, but if I was looking to buy an N95 now, I’d struggle to justify it over the 6120 classic. WiFi, GPS, the bigger screen, and the better camera are definitely worth having, but I’m not sure they’re worth £250 extra.
See the All About Symbian 6120 classic Review if you want more detail and photos of the 6120 classic.
Thankyou for you good review, was very helpful in deciding to order a 6120. Thankyou
From what I’ve read, the 6120 classic *does* support SDHC, it’s just not been made public by Nokia, for whatever reason. I’ll be testing before I buy, though!
I can confirm that I have tried a Sandisk class2 MicroSDHC card in my Nokia 6120 classic and it WORKS. I am running firmware version 3.70 and it shows the full 4gb formatted capacity (3879mb useable space).
Rob and Mink; thanks for the update on the SDHC support. I’ve struck through that point in my original post.
Very nice phone, just buy it 2 month ago (black) and then i give it to my sister, and then i just buy another one (white), cool feature, the phone so great, just lack of battery life, but its still ok, n then easy to heat up if i use it as a modem. but totally, i give it 8.5 to 10 🙂 if nokia give wifi on this phone, i give it 9.5 🙂
iwan darmawan
There’s always the new E51 from Nokia, which is pretty much a 6120 classic with added WiFi.
thats true @steven, E51 have a wifi, but why nokia remove the secondary camera, i can’t do a video call using E51 🙂
Hadn’t noticed the missing secondary camera until you mentioned it Iwan.
Not an issue for me, as I never use video calling, but I can see how it’s a big loss if you do.
nokia 6120 classic? what a brilliant phone! this is my first nokia in a few years after using sony ericsson religously, what a brilliant bit of kit! all the software, all the features, as with the above review music hiss is present and camera could be a little clearer but for the price and its functions its amazing, i have an 8gb card rammed with maps, movies and music and it dont slow it down at all. just be selective of what u install on internal memory and what u install on ur card
Peter/Mink/Stephern
I have just bought a 6120 classic, and am about to look for a micro sd card (ideally 8GB). Can you both confirm what cards you are using – ie, are they Micro SD HC?
I have a big problem now.
My secondary camera doesn’t working.
When I want to take picture with that camera , on the screen coming
General: Feature not supported .
Can somebody help me?
Do I need some softwer maybe?
please I need a help.
This phone is the best one…I have only 1 problem…So if somebody can help me….?
Cheers for the very detailed review btw.
Hi there,
I had a nokia 6120 classic for over a year i liked it still do actually, but ysterday i passed y friend of mine who own a mobile shop I had a look around and like the nokia 95 I wanted to change mine with the N95 but when we tried the secondary camera it did not work it come up with the message:General: Feature not supported , i tried every thing but in vain if any one could let me now if the problem is a software or hardware one and how to fix it I will be for ever gratefull
Cheers
you are not alone guys, I have Nokia 6120 Classic S60 3rd Edition FP1
and i can’t install .jar games anymore.
I can confirm that I just received my SanDisk 8GB microSDHC card. I put some music on the card, inserted it into my Nokia 6120 classic and it worked perfectly. No fuss whatsoever.
I was thinking about buying a 16GB card but didn’t out of fear it wouldn’t work. But I almost wish I had bought the 16GB – it should work just as well.
Hi All,
Thanks to everyone who contributed here. I went out and bought myself a SanDisk 8GB microSDHC Class 2 and it works perfectly with my Nokia 6120c. The guy at the store said that 8GB microSDHC was the maximum capicity supported (/ tested???) by the 6120c.
Just to be sure, I updated the phone firmware to 5.11 and backed up all phone contents prior to putting in the new memcard.
Hope this post helps some one else…
Regards,
Speculatore
Good Afternoon from Spain, just a question about nokia 6120c, does anybody knows if can we use the holders of this magnifique phone wifi by using a micro sd card???
Regards pals.
David