Actually, there are many advantages to the 5110. To begin with, it has a very sturdy screen, which doesn’t break easily. The size of the screen’s lettering is also substantial, and the simple black on white (or more accurately, black on green) display is very easy to read. In addition, with some of the menus (such as the main screen and phone-book list), there are options to make the font larger. This makes it perfect for the older user who doesn’t want to pull out their reading glasses every time they want to make a call. Furthermore, the back lighting on the screen and keys makes this phone one of the easiest to read at night. This also has very solid keys that are just responsive enough to not make dialing and texting overly difficult, while not being overly sensitive to the touch, which tends users to make dialing and texting mistakes.
Users of the 5110 will also find that the battery life on this model is extremely long, lasting well over a week on one charge. This is most likely due to the fact that its pure simplicity means you won’t be using it for much more than talking on the phone and text messaging.
Mind you, it does have a few games included (such as the ever addictive “Snake”) that could run your battery down a touch more, but most users will still find that this won’t lessen the time between charges by more than a day. This is partially because this phone is a single-band phone, which won’t be hooking up to the Internet every time you turn it on. This also means that the reception of this phone has always been extremely strong, and the sound quality of the calls is one many users of newer models have become nostalgic for.
Although not as sleek or attractive as some of today’s phones, one can still find a slew of fun and attractive covers for the old Nokia 5110. This was somewhat revolutionary when it came out back when it there was practically no way to personalize your phone. Despite this, the phone is far bulkierthan today’s models, being quite thick and also weighs quite a bit more. The up side to this is you’ll always know when it’s in your pocket, or in your purse.
While all of this sounds good, there are several drawbacks to this old model. To begin with, as already mentioned, it won’t connect to the Internet and doesn’t have WAP or Bluetooth. Because it uses older technology, you also won’t have many choices for ringtones and special tones for alarms because the monotone tunes that this phone uses are – for the most part – no longer available for download. This also means that you won’t be using this to listen to your music, as is doesn’t have a MP3 player. Because of the monochrome screen, multi-media messaging will also not possible, and of course, there’s no camera. And finally, with only one band, you’ll only be able to use this within your home country.
The question is what exactly do you want in a cell phone? If you absolutely must have a slim, lightweight phone with a colorful touch screen, fancy camera, all sorts of fun apps that help you watch movies, surf the net, listen to music and goodness knows what else – in addition to making and receiving calls and text message, then the Nokia 5110 will be the last phone you’ll even look at. But if you’re looking for an older phone that will make and take calls, send out and receive text messages, and keep track of your phone-book and calls, along with a few extras like setting up reminders and having a calculator and calendar, then you can’t go too wrong with the Nokia 5110.
