Nokia 6021 Review

Overall Rating

Compact
Lightweight
Clear screen.
Excellent loud speaker phone.
Intuitive menus, as you'd expect from Nokia.
Not too many features, but it's a phone for someone who wants to make phone calls.
Good reception, but poor battery life with bluetooth and constant calls (but hey, most modern phone suffer here).

I find it difficult to turn on and off, that button just ain't easy.
The handset is too small for a manly hand, and the buttons are too close to the base, making it difficult for me to text (smaller fingers ignore this).
It heats up my head compared to my old 6310i, so I use the speaker phone a lot.

OK, I compare the Nokia 6021 mobile phone as a business user who wants just enough frills to make my phone personal to me, but nothing over the top. No MP3 Player, no camera, no real music ringtones, and you know, after a few weeks I'm still not disappointed!

The phone comes without the Nokia software, but that's a free download. Choose your connection, hardwired at extra cost, or exploit the bluetooth or IR (most laptops have IR these days) and you can backup and manage your phone, including syncing calenders etc.

The phone is very compact, and I think Nokia could have added a bit to the length for those male users who commonly have bigger hands. I find it all too easy to lose my grip, or I fumble over the keys which are close together and racked near the base to make way for the screen.

The menus are as simple as ever, and navigation is easy using the joystick, though sometimes a press to select results in a move left or right. Having said that, it is easy to get used to after a while. Menus are clear and in colour, with options to dial into a menu of quick select - it's easy with not to many frills to get lost in.

One gripe here... On older phones, if you wanted to search a name you select Name and then start typing, the menu drilling down with the first letter press to that letter in your phone book. On the 6021 you have to select search then the first letter, or press the letter twice to do the same - just a tad annoying.

Ring tones are good, though not MP3 quality. My only comment to Nokia - Include more ring tones that sound like a phone for those of us who want to know our PHONE is ringing and not listen to a tune thinking it's on in the background somewhere.

If used with the handsfree earpieces (bluetooth) the clarity is good, as it is with the CK-7W car kit. But the hold on the latter makes phone extraction difficult without pressing the record key on the side of the phone. Did I mention that? Well, it's there, and it allows you to record notes, or if you subscribe to an extra feature it allows you to talk to other users as if on a walkie talkie. I am not sure how much use this is, except, if like me you work in remote locations and need such a feature. Full marks to Nokia there. They saved me having to carry a radio!

Reception is excellent! I compared it to the 6310i and an Orange SPV C500, and it wins hands down.

All in all, it is a good, if slightly small phone. It lacks little, and makes a good replacement for the 6310i, though only time will tell if it has the same lasting power.