Check Amazon.com   Release Date: Q4 2005 Released For: Verizon - Discontinued As the first Nokia clamshell on Verizon Wireless, the long-awaited Nokia 6256i includes an impressive list of features into its compact design. Dual color screens, VGA camera with flash and digital zoom, MP3 / AAC player and FM radio ensure consumers are entertained on the road. While Bluetooth connectivity, POP3 and IMAP4 email support, and MMC memory card expansion slot, are among the features that make the Nokia 6256i phone a powerful platform for both business and entertainment applications.

• Built-in MP3 player and FM radio (headset required, sold separately) for portable entertainment anywhere on the road
• 24-chord polyphonic speaker with MP3 ringer support
• Multimedia card available for storage of video clips, photos and other multimedia files
• Bluetooth wireless technology for hands-free connectivity
• WAP 2.0 compliant Openwave browser with cdma2000 1xRTT for high-speed data transmission
• BREW and J2ME support for application, ringer, wallpaper, graphic and game downloads

1. Posted by mel8964	Sun Nov 27, 2005 6:01 pm
First impressions: Very solid, this is a phone that has some decent heft to it,so you know when you're holding it unlike many phones today. The hinge also has a very sturdy feel, with very smooth operation. Camera, The lense for the camera is on the bottom of the lid, so far this seems to keep inadvertent fingerprints to a minimum. It is also accompanied with a suprisingly bright led "flash." Quality is good for a phone, not 3x5 print worthy, but for having fun while out or quick pics of friends, very nice quality. Definately worthy of posting on the internet, or for e-greetings. Video is much the same but with the limitations on frame rate it isn't good for much more than internet posts. Still all in all very fun. The outer display loks good, but when the screensaver turns on and the clock is showing it is difficult to read, especially at a quick glance. When the back light is on with an incoming call the screen is very clear and easy to view. Antenna, the antenna is extendable. Fuly collapsed it is less than 1" above the body of the phone. Fully extended it is greater than 3". When the antenna is collapsed it "locks" into place. Not nessisarily an important feature, but for all of us that have had to replace an antenna because it got hung up on a coat, or shirt this is an interesting design idea. Buttons, the power button is on the top of the unit like many nokia phones, neither good nor bad, just different, side buttons for camera and volume are small but very easy to feel/use even in my big hands. The interior buttons/keypad have a very nice feel to them, the transitions are clear and easy to feel so you can navigate them by touch. When pressed they all have a solid "click" feel to them so there is no question if you depressed the key or not. The keypad is lit with a slight blue highlight and the numerals and selection key have a light green "indiglow" look to them. This is both soft on the eyes and very visable at the same time. Ringtones, very limited and not one is your standard "phone ringing." I realize that many people enjoy their unique ringer, but I would love just one that sounds like a phone. FM radio/MP3 player: have not tried these yet as they require a specific headset. Backgrounds, also very limited. Not that I don't enjoy the verizon logo, but some basic color fields might have been nice. That said it is made very easy to make a captures photo or uploaded image the background, so the options are virtually unending. Menu system, very similar to most phones on the market. The icons are clear, and relatively intuitive. Customization, very easy. Once you find it. Despite the fact that they are all contained under the settings icon, different aspects are under different areas. This is nothing unusual for phones today, and the arangement is nothing new. But there will be some "hunting and pecking" involved in setting up your phone for the first time. Quality, Yes this does depend on coverage... But this phone has a very nice warm tone to it's sound. Not nearly as "tinny" as many phones can sound. Bluetooth, different from many phones today (saddly), you can push object data from both other phones and a properly setup computer. This makes managing your contacts vastly easier. Also you can connect a BT keyboard for texting. Why you would do this vs e-mail when at a desk with a newer BT keyboard is beyond me but it does work. Connection quality with my jabra headset was also excelent. Expandable memory, easy a cake. Just remove the battery, flip up the memory housing and stick it in. The phone saw it as soon as I turned it on and I was ready to go. Size/weight, this is a heavier phone and slightly larger than some clam-shell designs. But that said, I personally apreciate this. It fills your hand very comefortably without being combersom. Even a person with smaller than average hands would find it easy yo use. For those of us with larger hands this is a godsend. Conclusions: This phone is all that nokia promises and so far is excelent in all aspects. Pros: Size, not too small, not to light Very nice buttons inside and out Great quality of images/display Easy connectivity antenna Cons: front displat hard to read when back light is off Was this review helpful? :: 231 out of 244 people found this review helpful.
2. Posted by buggsy	Sun Dec 10, 2006 3:13 am
Let's face the music, Verizon has the best network coverage out there. And where I live (Central MA), Verizon is the only company that really even works consistently, period. I tried T-Mobile for a year so I could have my precious Java and Bluetooth file transfer, but none of that is worth anything if I can't make calls. When my T-Mobile contract expired, I was pretty much resigned to the fact that I would have to pick one of the VZ's "crippled" phones, with no free Java apps, no Bluetooth, an extremely stupid red-branded user interface, and no ringtones that I make myself and can get for free. However, a bit of reading at the WONDERFUL HowardForums.com allowed me to discover the Nokia 6256i. What's this, a Verizon phone that: A) Has the potential to run Java applications (unhacked, mind you! Just need a data cable and a special computer program to transfer them) B) Has all the important Bluetooth profiles untouched, including OBEX file transfer C) Has an elegant, intuitive, unbranded Nokia Series 40 (S40, unfortunately is not Symbian, but it's still better than the Verizon UI) user interface D) And, with a bit of puny (yet serious, be careful and meticulous) hacking can use MP3 ringtones you don't have to pay for and can make yourself, not to mention a MMC slot to hold all your MP3's!!! And get this, it's even got an FM radio, and a decent one at that!!! Ya, you need a headset to listen to it, because you need an antenna, but come on, were you really going to listen to the radio on the loudspeaker anyway? WhooHoo! Sign me up for that phone! The 6256 can be rather hard to find, HOWEVER, if you have a "Wireless Zone" store in your area (www.wirelesszone.com), you're in luck because they always have them and unlike Verizon actually know about the phone and will help you any time you need help. Once you get the phone, you'll probably want to get Java and MP3's on it. "Hold the phone" for a second, there's a few things you have to know. Don't worry, it's not that hard and if I could do it, you can. First, I HIGHLY recommend you go straight to Nokiausa.com and get yourself a CA-53 data cable direct from them, so you know it's authentic. Don't get trapped in an eBay nightmare because you got sold an inferior cable that won't work. If you don't have the CA-53, you can't get Java or MP3 ringtones. Second, for Java. Any J2ME you can find written for S40v2 will work. However, the 6256 is strange in that you can't use Nokia's PC Suite to install Javas, because Verizon was able to get a little crippling done. The only program that works is one called MobiMB, by www.logomanager.co.uk. You can either do the right thing and pay them the little bit they ask for, it's a good program and easier to aquire, or you can spend a week or so hunting for it and get it for free illegally over the net. You can find more detailed instructions in the Verizon Nokia's forum over at HowardForums.com on how specifically to get the Javas installed, I'm not going to get into that. Third, for MP3's. This is a bit, okay a lot, more serious than Java. You can play MP3s on the 6256 no problem, but to set them as ringtones you're gonna need a Nokia priopretary, in-house program called Diego, v3.06 works. This one you have to, unfortunately, aquire illegally. Cough-BitTorrent-Cough, wink. Full instructions are here: http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=799324&page=1&pp=15 Just follow those to the letter, and BACK EVERYTHING UP BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING and you'll be fine. I was scared when I did it, but I kept my cool and thought every click out, and I got away unscathed. If you're feeling risky (I was), you can even get free WAP/mobile-internet (really just uses calling minutes, free on nights/weekends) by modifying an IP address in Diego to one of the ones on www.publicproxyservers.com. With Java, this means you can use Opera Mini and have the full internet for free on your phone! Once you get past those two scary parts, it's smooth sailing. One note about the MP3 player. You can only play one song at a time. As in, select a song, it plays through, stops, and then the simplest thing to do is just hit the down arrow to start your next song. But you do have to hit the down arrow, small inconvenience but it's not going to replace your iPod anyway. Plus, you've got an FM radio which does play forever. And you'll also need an MMC to hold the music. I got a 1GB A-Data from newegg.com for 20 bucks, works great. Make sure its a Dual Voltage card, and I'd recommend RS-MMC, just to be on the safe side. The phone itself works great, I can call people anywhere. This phone and the Verizon network are unstoppable. Having AMPS (analog) capability is more of an advantage than you might think, for plenty of places in CT, VT, upstate NY, and MT and the Dakotas still need it. The extendable antenna DOES actually make a significant difference in signal reception when extended. As an Amateur Radio operator (aka "Ham"), I know the value of a good antenna. Also being a ham it's neat to be able to have the phone beep out SMS or "Connecting People" in Morse Code whenever I get a text message. Camera, well it's a stupid VGA phone cam, but a GREAT stupid VGA phone cam!!! It's on the side of the lid furthest from the hinge (so your fingers don't get in the shot), bit unconventional but it is awesome. And it has the BRIGHTEST LED flash. Actually more usefull as a flashlight, put the phone in video mode and turn the flash on, it stays on continuously so you can find the car keys you just dropped in the puddle. Pic quality isn't half bad, and with your untouched BTooth OBEX you can dump them in one of those CVS kiosks no problem for printing! Build quality is a mixed bag. Mine is great, all plastic is flush and fitted, no creaks. But my other family member's phone is a bit more creaky. Of course it could be because she's dropped it so many times, ha ha! Luck of the draw I guess. Looks, yeah, okay you got me, it's a tad ugly. The thing's not a Razr. About the only thing I can compliment is the two-tone blue and silver. But, who's gonna be the one laughing when all the Razr's can't even make a call because they don't have analog or extendable antennas, huh? And what are the Razr's going to listen to when I've got my FM radio and MP3's on my MMC? And are the Razr's actually going to PAY for their games, when I have freeware Java?! HA!!! I'll take the Nokia 6256i any day... Was this review helpful? :: 7 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
3. Posted by blh	Sat Jan 14, 2006 10:21 pm
Here’s a culmination of 4 weeks of incredible effort to simply have what I’ve HAD for 12 years – hope it helps you. First, I plan to post this on several sites and pardon me if you see it more than once but it seems there is no real feedback on this New Flip-phone from Nokia. I can tell you that everything I have read on the ‘net about Verizon messing up the Java, MIDI Tones, and BREW on this VERIZON STAMPED phone appears to be fact. It also appears that the Hacks to return the 6256i to “AS ADVERTISED” in Nokia literature may well work and are VALIANT in their efforts to make the thing work as it was meant. Second, I have to share some background. Had a cell phone for 12 years while driving the same Virginia corridor of 90 miles every weekend since before digital. My original analog only Sony CMRX-100 gave good service and as towers went in got much better. Would not handshake to roaming service without dropping which happened in only 5 locations – no big deal. Verizon forced me to get digital so next was Nokia 5185i. This phone was a little better but still dropped in 2 locations upon carrier B/A switch. In meantime, service in corridor expanded and saw other phones (on Verizon service) uneffected at my drop locations. Got my next Nokia digital 3285 and out of 4years it only dropped ONE call, EVER!!! The only time it did not work is when the local tower went down or there was no service for anyone. I could run the entire 2 hour trip getting on the phone before I got in my car and off after going through the front door of the house - impressive. Third, Verizon in its effort to meet the FFC requirement is KILLING phones that do not have the GPS 911 location system. YES, They admit it if you hold their head underwater for a bit. Mine came up “INVALID ROAMING LIST” and never finds a service. After much, Much, MUCH effort and several trips to a Verizon Wireless store while in FLORIDA (where they were able to download a virus roaming list) I gave up and decided that I would just start from scratch. After all, Verizon tried to tell me the phone was broke but couldn’t substantiate that after I told them I was using it in 5 minutes ago in a fixed location. Told me they were “sure a store could fix it” – NOPE! Told me because “I was such a good customer they would give me a deal on a new phone for $29.99 but there were no free phone – right now.” Bounce that against a top-of-the-line AND TRUE FREE PHONE with a new number for a $35.00 activation fee (IDIOTS) and that brings us to today. Search “Invalid Roaming List” on the ‘net and you’ll find a lot of information on whys and whatfors – all true I’ve found. *6256i Effort: Using my 6256i in Florida I seemed to have no problem. Coming back to Virginia the phone dropped 2 calls out of 5 – I thought that odd… Running the corridor 15 miles from home it started dropping calls continuously. No Joke, every five minutes in one stretch for 30 miles (30 min). I had poor sound quality the entire distance getting worse to inaudible I verified due to terrain features. I used to have this issue with the analog and lack of towers TEN YEARS AGO! It definitely dropped calls EVERY time in its switch from Carrier A/B. I had noticed Nokia has a programmable tone when it switches, i.e. Roams and turned it on one of the trips – sure enough the switch over tone would step on the “dropped call” tone every time. Verizon said it was the phone (I believed because I knew the service was great 3 weeks ago). Got a SECOND 6256i replacement and was smart enough to drive the corridor to test. Every spot the old one dropped this one dropped. It dropped calls on a raised 12 mile stretch of roadway of farmed flatland where I could see the red blinky lights on the tower on the hill the whole time. Correction, when I went behind a group of trees, the quality would actually get so bad it was completely garbled and if I passed through a 15 foot hill cutaway (virtually instantaneous) it dropped the call. After driving this stretch to test repeatedly, I noticed that when it dropped, I could not call out for a minute or 2. This only appeared to be the case with the second phone as the first would let me call back almost immediately. Don’t think this is relevant to phones but only to express just how poor the system was acting. If I stopped anywhere along this route, including spots I lost calls, I could call out and talk every time. Still not very clear but neither of the pair has EVER come close to the quality of the 3285. After a lot of research, actual driving and refreshing my knowledge base (as I’ve kept up on this technology) I’ve concluded that the phone has some strong points and week ones, but overall this is NOT a phone problem. Running through the ‘net I noticed a trend. Everyone who had this phone used Carrier A (Nextel, Sprint, etc. – NOT Verizon). This starts to make sense as everyone I talked to at Verizon didn’t know ‘they even sold the phone; never heard of a Nokia FlipPhone; or, could not figure out what “store” I bought it from.’ Obviously, this phone is new to Verizon despite their logo stamp on both the front and back; and wall paper on BOTH displays; and text tagging on BOTH displays and the startup and shutdown .graphics – seems they want you to know who they are… It should also be noted that when I received the replacement 6256i it was not set up. I got into the system menu and checked versions and goodies. All the important stuff was the same except for the PRL. I also noticed that before I programmed the phone using Verizon’s famed phone killer *228 it was getting 4 bars signal strength and was ‘roaming.’ Of course at first I was a happy camper as I thought the replacement fixed the problem. After getting the phone setup manually at instructions by Verizon it still stayed at 4 bars BECAUSE it was still on ROAM. Turned out Verizon did not even have the ESN activated in their system. Once that happened it reduced DOWN to TWO bars immediately. In reality this makes no sense. The only way this could happen effectively is if Verizon sent Power Control information VIA the CDMA to dial down the power. Factor this in with the dropped calls when it should be doing a SOFT HANDOFF (drops between towers and providers); Poor quality, especially when moving; Verizon Customer Service surprise that I even HAVE a 6256i and TWO different phones acting exactly the same thing in KNOWN good areas with PROVEN record using a 3285… Well, the evidence points squarely at the program Verizon downloads into the phone. I have no doubt that they have a conflict with the control sets they download and suspicion they are using programming from a similar model, HOWEVER IT AIN’T THE SAME. I’m pretty sure the POWER CONTROL programming information is HALVING the required power in the phone. This would explain everything including the Soft Handoff, poor quality, terrain interference and signal strengths reflected in the phone at all times. There could be other factors like the PRL etc. but this one glitch would explain my issue pretty accurately. I should also note I tried all the setups possible in the phone including forcing an Analog call (Nokia only does it temporary) and had no better signal (3 bars not 4 as ALL my other phones have) or clarity sitting line of site to a tower. Most scary of all (and the reason I’m posting) is Verizon says I’m the only one having problems with this phone. Humm… Of course they said my phone was “broke” too… Useful notes to consider: Sending the pair back – can’t afford such lousy service for the next 2 years. I am pretty computer savvy so what you read will have to be balanced against your knowledge. In the meantime I have some input that may be of use in the future or even for those perspective Carrier A customers. - BlueTooth works well with headset. Easy setup with great voice recognition - actually pattern recognition so no one else’s voice will work unless you sound alike. There are difference in headsets. My pair came with free sets. One was a Jabra BT-130 and the other Scala 500. Like the Scala as it has better characteristics, 3 styles of clips, better (more) controls and better LED communication to the user. - BlueTooth with a PC… Not so much. You can BUY programs to support the technology with every other WINDOWS version but you MUST HAVE Service Pack 2 of XP to see the BlueTooth communications WITHOUT buying a program. I absolutely hate SPYWARE Pack 2 but installed it to access the 6256i. - Nokia’s PC Suite is a nice program HOWEVER there is no support built in it for the 6256i. Instructions tell you to go to Nokia web site to download modem drivers – searched everywhere including foreign country sites and believe me, they are NOT there! This causes several issues with this program that may put you off buying phone: PC Suite would not connect to the net via phone and the modem would not set up with several tries of drivers including Nokia’s generic BlueTooth and a number of the 62hundred series drivers (gave up after a while). PC Suite did pull the 4 hours of contacts I reprogrammed into the phone so I could place them into the other phone. This is a little scary and if you have any new info in the new phone it will overwrite it. Did not kill copy protected files already on the phone. Does NOT copy over voice recognition but phone only supports 25 of those. Sent E:Mail to Nokia C.S. about the Modem Driver, supposed to respond in 24-48 hours – got a ‘received you E:Mail immediately but nothing else in over 4 days! - Tried MID (midi) files and phone would not let me choose them as ringtones AND would not even play them. Same with MP3. Tried some other files too but don’t remember what all. Fact is the only thing I got to work were JPG and GIF as wall paper (put a Skull holding up the finger to send it back). THIS IS VERIZON MESS THAT’S REFLECTED ALL OVER THE ‘NET you can look up. - I also have an iMac with built in IRDa. They talked but without supporting software it did nothing. Nokia did not have a MAC version of PC Suite that I could find – that would kick ass. Last but not least. Consider this overlooked trick. In Verizon you can forward your cell phone to another number WITHOUT having the other number pick up. Even if it does, its not an issue to send an occasional fax to avoid some long distance charges. Of course, I could do this with the old 3285 too… So if the special 6256i features don’t really work, or at least work easily enough to utilize, then it is probably a waste of money, time and an incredible amount of effort – like it was for me! Follow Up Got a Motorola to replace the Nokia - I wish I had my old NOKIA! To sum up I can only conclude VERIZON's POWER CONTROL programming on the Nokia was a big culprit. The Motorola has full power. HOWEVER, the Motorola did NOT solve all the problems!!! I have ALSO concluded that VERIZON PRL has made several cell sites that I relied on the 90 mile trip INVALID. I still drop calls and have poor reception in EXACTLY the SAME AREAS to that of the original SONY ANALOG of 10 years ago - the one that did NOT ROAM (or not very well). I find it appalling that I now pay 8 times the amount for my service from 10 years ago and have LESS COVERAGE than ever before. I also noticed that the reviews are heavily trending that folk with this NOKIA under any service EXCEPT for VEERIZON are happy and most with VERIZON are NOT!!! ***If you already have VERIZON, STAY AWAY FROM THE DASTARDLY PRL using *228 – take my word for it; it’s a KILLER! One thing that the Nokia (all Nokia's me thinks) had that I came to appreciate recently is the "ascending ringer". I am in constantly different environments and never remember to adjust the Motorola - darn thing just about gives me a heart attack when it rings at FULL volume in a quiet room! There’s a lot to be said for simple things. Now if Windows XP will just print from a file like it did in DOS days… Was this review helpful? :: 84 out of 108 people found this review helpful.

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Technical Specifications
Network:	AMPS 800 / CDMA 800 / 1900
Form Factor:	Clamshell
Dimensions:	87 x 47 x 26 px
Weight:	126 g
Antenna:	Stub / Extendable
Navigation:	5-Way Keypad
Battery Type:	1070 mAh Li-Ion
Talk Time:	3.20
Standby Time:	264
Memory:	8.0 MB
Expandable Memory:	MMC
Safety
Radiation (SAR):	(0.84 W/kg)
Imaging
Main Screen:	65000 colors (TFT) 128 x 160 px
External Screen:	4096 colors (STN) 96 x 65 px
Camera:	0.3 MP / 640 x 480 px / 4X Zoom / Flash / Video Recorder
Audio
MP3 Player:
FM Radio:
Speakerphone:
Push-To-Talk:
Multimedia
Wallpapers:	128 x 160 px
Screen Savers:	128 x 160 px
Ring Tones:	24 chord / MP3
Themes:
Games:	BREW / J2ME
Streaming Multimedia:
Messaging
SMS:
EMS:
MMS:
Email:	POP3 / IMAP4 / SMTP
Chat:
Predictive Text:	T9
Applications
Phonebook Capacity:
Calendar:
To-Do List:
WAP:	2.0
Voice Commands:
Calculator:
Connectivity
Bluetooth:
Infrared Port:
High-Speed Data:	cdma2000 1xRTT
Wi-Fi:
GPS:
PC Sync:
More Information
Website:	Product Website
Discussion:	Nokia Forum

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