Nokia 6131
Let’s go back to early 2006, twenty years ago. Nokia unveiled the Nokia 6131 here; a clamshell handset with a unique design feature: a button on the side that allowed you to flip the phone open. This was also known as ‘one-hand push-to-open’. In addition, the clamshell was finished with a special coating that gave it a distinctive feel. The phone had a 2.2-inch display with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. I owned the phone myself and really enjoyed using it. Back then, it was a phone with a large screen and good specifications.
There was also a colour display on the flip cover, so you could see exactly who was calling and whether you’d missed any notifications. It also featured a 1.3-megapixel camera. Video recording was possible in QCIF (176 x 144 pixels). The T9 keys were a bit smooth and felt nice to type on. Not only did it have infrared, but the Nokia 6131 also featured Bluetooth – a combination you didn’t see very often. It had 11MB of storage, which could be expanded up to 2GB.
The 820 mAh battery was located behind the somewhat flimsy cover. The casing was a bit fragile at times, which meant the paint could wear off. Otherwise, I certainly found it a very nice handset. The Nokia 6131 ran Symbian S40 and, of course, included Snake. You could listen to music via the dedicated jack. It also had Push-To-Talk, a feature similar to a walkie-talkie, and an FM radio. On the sides of the handset were shortcut keys for functions such as volume control, as well as for opening the camera, with the power button situated below them.
Nokia 6131 NFC
Nokia later released the Nokia 6131 NFC. This was the first phone to support NFC. So the technology has been around for quite a few years, although we’ve only been actively using NFC on our smartphones in recent years.
The original Nokia 6131 was launched in 2006 with a price tag of around 150 euros. It was available not only in black, but also in a silver-and-red colour combination.
The Nokia 6131 summarised in 5 points:
- Clamshell design that can be opened with one hand
- 2.2-inch display
- Symbian S40
- 1.3-megapixel camera
- Shortcut keys
