Ruggedised Good Looks (Nokia 5140)

Member Name: LegendaryMrDude

Product:	Nokia 5140
Date:	07/09/04 (2230 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Ruggedised, "Damp-proof", Camera, Compass, Radio, Flashlight

Disadvantages: Dodgey keypad

I'm not normally one to join in the frantic scramble to upgrade my mobile to the latest/greates/slightly different coloured model. In fact until last weekend, I obtained a smug satisfaction from knowing that I'd had the same phone for over 2 years!!! Which is not to say that I am a particularly smug individual. Far from it, in fact. It's just that the number of phones I had managed to break before upgrading to my trusty, rubber-clad Nokia 5210 was reaching epic proportions and so my smugness was more related to the fact that I'd finally found a phone that was effectively unbreakable.

The majority of phone-deaths I had experienced were usually related to some outdoors-type activity or other. Either they were dropped, squashed, soaked of frozen but one way or another, it seemed that they were destined to certain doom. So when Nokia introduced the ruggedised 5210 it seemed as though they had been carefully logging every reason I porvided along with my insurance claims with every returned phone... "it got damp on a particularly wet and windy ascent of Snowdon", "it must have got squashed at the bottom of my rucksack", "my thermos leaked", "came out of my backpack while I was riding my bike". The 5210 was the answer to my mobile prayers. It was small, light, relatively waterproof and tough as old boots. So I had no need to upgrade. Indeed, until the arrival of the new 5140, there wasn't really an alternative.

So why did I upgrade if I was so well-suited to my trusty old 5210? Being a self-confessed gadget freak, it had been a real test of willpower for me to go without a latest gadget. But the poor performance (and lack of availability on my network) of the 5140s predecessor(s) had effectively left me out in the cold. I didn't want to upgrade to another phone that would break on it's first trip to the outdoors, so I sat tight. It was only a chance visit to the Nokia shop at a local shop
ping mall, that resulted in the discovery of the 5140, the replacement for the doomed 5110.

A brief chat with the salesperson indicated that this could well be the phone for me... it had the same ruggedised, rubberised shell that would take the knocks. It had improved protection against moisture (the phone itself is now inside s sealed unit, inside the rubber shell. Best of all it had HUGE gadget potential.

On top of the physical features that first attracted me (I've always been shallow), the 5140 also boasts a huge array of features including, but not limited to, tri-band support, an integrated camera, FM radio, Digital Compass, Thermometer and "Push-to-Talk" capability (dependant on network provider support). These add up to make it a fairly compelling package for an outdoor enthusiast anyway, but when the salesperson informed me that Nokia were releasing a GPS-enabled shell, I was sold.

Imagine a phone that could tell you exactly how to get somewhere, how fast you were travelling, how far you had to go etc. It would certainly be one less piece of kit to carry about on the hills and cuold come in dead handy for everyday use as well (should you be prone to getting lost at the best of times). There are a whole load of applications that could be opened up, from relaying exact coordinates to mountain rescue teams, to finding the neares chinese restaurant AND getting turn-by-turn directions to it.

But enough of the gadget-fuelled waffling... what's the phone actually like to use?

In terms of it's overall appearance, it looks vaguely familiar to most other "standard" Nokia handsets and the heritage to the 5210 is obvious, with the only major change being the inclusion of a 4-way joypad type thingumabob. This new way of driving the menus confused me at first, being used to just an up/down/OK/Cancel way of working, it was odd to have to use the up/down/left/right/select/ok/cancel series of cli
cks. But I'll get used to it. While we're on the subject of the keypad, it's slightly different from the 5210 in that the keypad is a separate part of the shell, and a lot more rubbery with it. While this may be better for replacements, enhancements etc I do find it makes writing text messages a bit trickier as it's not always guaranteed that a key-press will register. Aside from that, it's the usual Nokia User interface, with standard menus for ringtones, phone settings, messages etc, etc.

The screen is reasonably large although I do find it hard to read in bright sunlight and maybe not as colourful as it could be. The supplied selection of ringtones and pictures is enough to be getting on with (I only want my phone to ring anyway!) but gone are the endless hours wasted on the train playing Snake or Bantumi. Only 1 game is supplied (adventure race) and it's pretty lame but I am lead to believe that downloads are available if you so desire. In terms of applications the usual suspects are present, calculator, stopwatch, countdown timer and thermometer. There is also a soundmeter which, while interesting, I have yet to find a use for. There is a personal fitness trainer included, but I've not used it yet and so will refrain from comment aside from saying that if you are really into fitness training, you will probably already own countless heart-rate monitors and the like, which will do a much better job than this.

The trusty old calendar of yore has been dragged into the 21st century and is much more functional and FINALLY supports synchronisation with Outlook etc. a feature that was sorely missed on the 5210. Calendar, Alarms, Notes and To-Do lists and a wallet are all provided to assist in organising your everyday life.

In terms of other software, Nokia seem to have thought it through pretty well. The Compass claims a 1-degree accuracy which is better than a lot of other electronic compasses, and there is even a
bubble-level on the case to ensure that you're holding the phone level for an accurate reading. The software allows for the setting of a direction, allowing you to follow a bearing and it even supports automated correction for declination (you need to enter the amount, but from then on it will read true). And then there's the LED flashlight to help you find the way should you end up using it in the dark.

Most of the uther features are pretty standard. The Camera supports three resolutions, high, normal and basic, with the output from high-quality mode being most acceotable! It also has three modes to enhance the way the camera operates, Standard, Portrait and Night modes as well as the abilityy to take a rapid sequence of pictures. These have, so far, produced some of the best photos I have seen from a camera phone. A 10-second timer is also available, but requires careful propping up of the phone. As well as still images the phone can also capture video (in H.263 format) at a respectable frame rate and including sound! Video compression means that storage is about 10k per second of video. The voice record function also works well and can be trigered by a handy little button on the top tight hand-side of the phone, with space for up to 10 messages, each of up to 3 minutes in length.

The supplied hands-free kit is excellent, it comes as a stereo "over-the ear" type thing, with a rubberised contorl pad that incldes Push-To-Talk (PTT) controls. It's extremely comfortable and gives excelent performance when listening to the radio or on a phonecall. Not that you need the hands-free kit all the time as the phone includes a speakerphone option which also works extremely well. There is also a rather nifty "handle" for the phone that effectively straps it to the palm of your hand, meaning you don't actually have to hold on to it. I'm not convinced of the value that ths adds, but it is a novelty nothe the less. The ch
arger is one that supports voltages between 100 - 240V which is good to see, I've been caught out abroad before now when I've found that my charger only works on 240V... not that you may need the charger that often. Nokia boast a respectable 300hours standby time but this will be eaten into the more you make use of the various features (the digital compass and camera being the two biggest culprits).

And that's pretty much all the main features in a nutshell... full details can be found on Nokia's website at http://www.nokia.co.uk/nokia/0,,53413,00.html

I've only had it for two weeks but have come to rems with it fairly quickly and haven't had any problems with it <touch wood>. If I were asked for one gripe, it's that the snap-on cases are a lot more fiddly to take off than they used to be, but this is hardly a problem and will hopefully add to the durability of the phone. It will be taken to the Lake District in a couple of weeks for a week in the hills, after which I will know if it really is a worthy successor to the trusty old 5210. Look out for updates if you are interested and thanks for reading.

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