Home > Consumer Reviews > Nokia 2610 Phone (AT&T)

I only needed a basic phone - no MP3, camera, or FM radio. This phone delivered with great reception, good sound quality, great battery life, and a very small size. Inside a building it works great. Why the low score? The tinted plastic over the display makes it impossible to see the display outdoors and in the car. If the sun is out, forget it! I even managed to figure out how to remove all of the wallpaper backgrounds and to maximize the contrast. Still, don't plan to use this outdoors. Nokia should recall this product to replace the tinted cover. Update: Yesterday this phone took was accidently dropped onto a very hard ceramic tile floor and it still works perfectly! A similar drop ended the life of my digital camera a few months ago. So, if I were to rate this cell phone now I would give it 3 stars, maybe even 4 stars. I like reliable, sturdy stuff and this cell seems to be unusually well made.

I was looking for a durable phone that could take a blow or pressure and keep working. I also did not want random pieces of it falling off when it was struck. I'm a fairly small individual and I also needed a phone that had to be small enough to fit into my pocket comfortably with no protrusions to gouge me. I did not need a camera or any extraneous features like that. This phone seems to be fitting these criteria perfectly. I was planning on spending quite a bit on a phone to meet those criteria, but I was pleasantly surprised to find this phone was free on my plan.

I have dropped it a couple of times from about 10-12 feet up onto concrete and it keeps working just fine. It has slid for about 20 feet across a piece of concrete. It does have some minor scuffs after this but nothing significant. It does not have any buttons on the sides so there is nothing there to have fallen off when it hit the concrete. It has been submersed in a water tank and seems to have come back from it well also.

As far as visibility of the display issues that other people have mentioned in their reviews, I have noticed that it has what seems to be a "power save" type situation it kicks into where the display is difficult to read. Hitting certain keys seems to kick this "mode" off. Other than those situations I have had no more difficulty reading the display than on other candy bar style phones I have had from Nokia. I have used it in direct sunlight and in various other lighting situations.

NOT even an 'entry level' phone as they would have useful basic functions. Entry level should have a screen you can see in the light and a reliable ringer. Display has no brightness adjust only contrast which is useful for making the screen harder to see not improve. Using any wallpaper but white makes the screen impossible to see/read text even indoors in all but a dark room. Fonts have a setting to enlarge (Nokia knew the screen was junk) text but the small display prevents this. Calls have barely audible sound quality to understand the conversation (not due to signal). Buttons are too small for hands larger than medium-sized fingers and don't always make contact first time. Screen back-light doesn't always light when first button is pressed. When backlight is off screensaver time display is impossible to read when activated. Battery time is good most likely due to screen being dimly lit. User settings are all over the place in a unintuitive fashion making personal settings a time consuming chore instead of one menu.
I can do w/o camera, web, mp3, radio etc. but to fail in the basic functions of a cell phone is pretty bad & not acceptable. No wonder they PAY you $150.00 to take the phone.
NO STARS

I see this highly rated and don't understand how that can be, unless screen visibility is of no concern to those reviewers. Look before you buy this one!
I'd never recommend this 2610 because of the single issue that the display is unusable in daylight & barely marginal for inside viewing. It's a shame because the sound is good. Maybe that's why AT&T gives them away free - hoping to get rid of them.

Here's how I rate this cellphone:

1. Voice quality and reception: +1
2. Battery life: +1
3. Fast opening and browsing of menu and sub-menus: 0
4. Build and keypad spacing: +1
5. No useless accessories: +1

Bottomline: 4/5.

The other reviewers are right about the screen in sunlight: it sucks. But if you're like me and are chained in a cube for the daylight hours, it doesen't matter that much.

The only thing I dislike about this handset, is that it is quite slow in opening its submenus. I would have thought that such a basic, stripped phone would be lightning fast; indeed, it was one of the reasons I bought it, but not so. Gone are the days you could unlock your phone and call a contact within a second.

Besides this con, it is solidly built, has exceptional voice quality, and is easy to dial with if you have thick fingers.