The 5165 is a lightweight personal phone with impressive talk and standby time that's loaded with classic, simple-to-learn features. Its changeable faceplates, 30 different ringers (and room for 5 downloadable tones), and an expansive world of accessories, makes the 5165 a fun, general-purpose phone. And with predictive T9 text input, wireless business card and e-mail capabilities, Nokia has created a more competent business communications tool (although they have yet to introduce a Web-enabled phone).

Weighing in at 6.2 ounces (including battery), the 5165 measures 5.2 inches high, 1.85 inches wide, and 1.2 inches deep, not counting a stubby antenna that extends another 0.7 inches. As a moderate-weight, midsize phone, the 5165 is highly portable. It's also extremely rugged in typical mobile phone environments--including being thrown into bags and cases and occasionally dropped on the ground.

Four buttons handle most of the menu navigation: a hefty button in the middle that Nokia calls the Navi key, up and down arrow buttons that control volume during calls, and a key marked "C" for "clear." Menu navigation is very intuitive. If you tap the Navi key, the first of a series of graphical menu items pops up. Hit the Navi key again to drill down to options within the menu or tap the up or down arrow keys to choose a different menu. The top-level menu choices are phone book, messages (SMS and voice mail alerts), call log, settings (for calls, phone, and security), system, games (Memory, Snake, and Logic), clock, tones, and keypad lock. The brightly backlit display works well with the control keys to simplify finding and making choices. In text mode, five 16-character lines are displayed.

If you like distinctive ringing tones, you'll be satiated with the 5165, which lets you select from 30 preprogrammed tones. You can also download an additional five ringer tones from your service provider's website, if applicable. And while there's no internal vibration mode, an optional vibrating battery is available. You also can store electronic business cards in your phone book. Any friend or associate can forward their name, number and e-mail to your phone, and you can automatically store their information with some deft menu navigation.

One caveat worth mentioning: Not all faceplates work with the 5165 phone. Nokia-brand faceplates will work, but faceplates from other manufacturers will not fit the 5165. Although this is a 5100-series phone, the keypad is a unique size, and it does not accommodate other manufacturer's faceplates.

The Nokia 5165 has the usual array of standard call and messaging features. If supported by your carrier, you can use this phone with caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding, and voice mail alerts. A call history maintains the last 10 dialed numbers, 10 most recently received calls, and 10 missed calls. The phone supports two-way SMS text messaging, but is not WAP- or Internet-enabled.

The 5165 offers four basic security features: An initial security code, keypad lock, call-restriction modes, and a lock code that can activate or deactivate memory and menu options. One nice thing about the lock-code feature is you can store numbers in a secret unlocked location, which will allow you to make calls even if the phone is locked.

The 5165's NiMH battery is rated to last up to 180 minutes of digital talk time and 200 hours of digital standby time. In our testing, we achieved 180 minutes of digital talk time and over 225 hours of digital standby time.

Overall, Nokia's 5165 is a noteworthy addition to their 5100-series phones. Choose your favorite faceplate color and ringer tone and shock the world!

--Brown Consulting Associates

Pros:

• Airtime balance display
• Inexpensive prepaid option
• Easy activation

Cons:

• Lacks standard vibration mode

How We Tested Battery-Talk/Standby Time

When reading our reviews, you should view the test results of mobile-phone battery talk time and standby time as relative information only. Many variables, including carrier signal strength at your location, signal consistency (including incoming and outgoing calls), display and ringer settings, and battery charging methods and history, will affect performance. When handset manufacturers and mobile phone carriers list talk-time and standby-time ratings, they usually include disclaimers about variable performance and often refer to the times they publish as maximum times. Some quote expected battery life ranges, and in this case you're probably safe to assume you'll experience at least the minimum rated range. Note that manufacturers of dual-mode digital and analog handsets publish battery-life rates for both digital and analog modes, as analog mode consumes much more power than digital mode.

Our Tests: We tested digital-mode talk and standby times with each phone. Prior to each test, we fully charged the phone's battery according to the manufacturer's directions. To test digital-phone talk time, we turned the phone on, established a digital carrier signal, dialed a number in our test lab, and, when the call rang through, took the receiving phone's handset off the hook. When all went well, we didn't do anything else except record the time when the phone died. In a couple of cases, the phones lost the signal and dropped the calls. If we were right there and could redial, we did so immediately and continued running the test. Otherwise, we halted the test, recharged the battery, and started the test over. Assuming consistent carrier-signal strength, this test should represent best-case talk time. And it's worth noting that several phones' talk-time performance significantly exceeded the manufacturers' ratings.