Nokia 6160 Dual Band PCS TDMA Cellular Phone Review

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Last updated: 2001.04.28

User Guide
The user guide is probably the worst part of this phone. It is a little booklet that list the phone's features alphabetically! So related informations are mostly not next to each other. The most used sentence in the user guide is "See page xxx" when it tries to cross reference information.
Keypad
The keypad has a semi-hard click to it to offer tactile feedback. I am not sure if I like that just yet.
Phone Directory
The directory is sorted alphabetically. You cannot change the ordering or group your entries together, which is what I want to do. I setup a range for frequently used numbers, restaruants, etc. On the Sony you can assign entries to a numeric slot and hence order them yourself.
Ruggedness
This phone is well built -- I dropped it several times from height of 4 feet or so onto concrete parking lot floor and the phone is fine. The plastic housing is thick enough so that the phone is only a little scratched.

LCD Blanking Problem
This is a known problem with this phone. Older phones are very likely to have this problem. Basically the LCD comes loose and lost contact with the main board. There is a very simple fix that your service center can do -- insert a piece of plastic to push the LCD tight inside the case.
Test Mode
Enter *3001#12345#
Numeric Paging
The caller have to go thru your voice mail, press 5 to enter an electronic page. The caller hits 5, follow by the return number, then hit #, and then 1 to confirm the page.
email text paging
Send email to nnnnnnnnnn@mobile.att.net where nnnnnnnn is your ten digit phone number.
Software Release/Version
You can get this informatoin in the test menu. But the quickest way is to enter: *#9999#
How to get rid of the 'WELCOME TO AT&T' message at startup?
You Cannot. Not for US AT&T phones.
When setting up your voice mail box number, include the full area code because if you are travelling out of your own area you need to area code to get to your mailbox. menu 1-2-2. This sets the phone number to dial when you press the "listen" function key if you have new voice mail, or the "1" key to call your mail box.

The PCS technology in the U.S. is really old. Look at the Japan i-mode phones. If you want to use your phone globally, you need a different phone and service provider.