[Review] Nokia 3230

[drgrudge]

Introduction:

The 3230 has features of a smart phone and priced comparitevely low. Nokia claims- "Smart phone for the masses" and a smart phone which is a middle end and not a high end model.

It is feature rich (with EDGe, FM radio , PTT, etc.) series 60 Symbian OS phone. In fact this is the first nokia symbian phone to have a stereo FM player.

Construction/Design:

The phone is not uniform in size through out it's length. We may tend to feel as though the upper half of the phone is heavier than the lower half. The phone weighs 110grams and it resonably thiner. Other than this , there is nothing more to add and it's built solid.

The phone is offered in two color versions: black and wine red. And the covers are not replacable unless we are forcing it to open. So this rules out having Xpress on covers. The phone design looks like that of SE's model (like T630) and the keypads too like like it.

Keypads:

It's in here that this phone fails to impresses. The keys are placed close to each other and too rigid.

Also it got no volume controls like what phones has. This keypad also reminds us of the SE phones keypads. The visibility of the keys also an issue. It's small that we might not see them. The upper row of menu softkeys is too small and rigid for comfortable usage. IT actually has two different type of keys, the control keys (at the top) and the digit/numericals keys.

However the keys are soft and gentle and well illuminated in the dark by the backlit light.

Camera:

It got a 1.3mp megapixel camera which is high for casual use and normal usage. The camera is at the upper half of the back cover and does not poke out the phones's surface.

The camera produces a 1.5sec. lag after we capture the moment and the phone saving the same, so it's immpossible to take a photo of a moving object.

The picture quality is very high and resonably good in dark light conditions as well. It also has an ability to take video shots with a resolution of 176x144 pixels.The video recorded can be edited with a photo editor where we can cut/edit or add effects to the video.

The phone has a Kodak Mobile Service application, it requires the use of GPRS and enables you to send your pictures to Kodak Company's address, where they are printed, put into an envelope and sent back to you by post. But we might not need this feature here in India.

Photo taken with this phone: (Thanks to DIN)

Connectivity:

It got EDGe, bluetooth,Infra red, GPRS, PTT. We shall one by one.

EDGe: One of the major plus point of this phone is that of the EDGe. This is the cheapest phone in India which got EDGe.

The speeds that we can get is upto 177.6 kbps.

With EDGe, we can two main things. First we can watch live "streaming" audio/video. But this concept is yet to mature in India. Also we can download multimedia clips and we can watch in ur phone (and remember that 3220 has a small screen unlike series 60 phones).

Another useful thing with this EDGe is that this phone can be used as a modem and used to browse net with your PC. The speeds depend on the network provider, but we get 115kbps on a average.

Bluetooth:

Bluetooth in this phone works perfectly. I tried transferring photo's,video's,Mp3's and other files over bluetooth has so far gone without a hitch and each to do the same. We can also Synchronize your phone and PC over a local Bluetooth wireless connection and do a host of applications.

we can also get that Talk handsfree with a wireless Bluetooth headset enhancement and play wireless multiplayer games over a Bluetooth connection like what we do in N gage/n gage QD.

We also chat via BT with other phones nearby within 10m.

GPRS: This works well with this phone and we can brwose through WAP sites and check mails etc.Data transfer up to 80 kbps. With it's XHTML browser, we can see more graphical content and enchanced viewing.

Infra red (IR):

The phone IR option for communcation between the phone and pc and another phone. We can do a host of things like trasferring files to sending business cards. W need to have a IR dongle for the same. And there may be some line of sight(LOS) issues with IR and the line between the phone's IR port and the IR reciever should be in the same line.

Push to talk (PTT):

This is feature where the user can tlk to many phone at the same time by just "pushing one button". It's technology is similar and can be compared to that of the wakie takie one.

This is a network based feature and to use this feature, the same had to be supported by the local network provider.

And it's a Tri-band phone covering on up to five continents (EGSM900/GSM1800/1900).

Screen:

It got a 65k color screen with 176 x 208-pixel resolution TFT LCD. It got a very large LCD which is very sharp and of high quality .The brightness intensity can be changed within the general options of the display settings.

The backlighting is good and there was not any problems and evenly spread over all the keys. We can set screensavers as well.

Sounds/Speakers/Music player:

Nokia 3230 has also equipped its new model with a FM radio and a music files (MP3) player.The music player supports MP3, AAC, AMR and Real Audio files. the drawback here is that it plays the files in mono sounds. As for the video player, it handles n H.263, 3GP, MP4, MPEG-4 video and Real Video formats.

We can record voices through the voice recorder and set it as rigntones also.

Phone also has an additional speaker, which is located on the top panel.

Memory:

IT got a 6mb internal internal memory and also the memory can be expanded with the multimedia memory card (MMC). The MMc comes with a 32mb as the standard package.

Nokia 3230 uses a memory card of the RS MMC (reduced size-MMC) type which is not the standard with other phones like 6600. This card format isn't used very widely yet, and you may experience some problems when using it with the memory card reader, unless you have an adapter, but the standard packaage doesn't come with an adapter.

This phone use hot-swapping of MMC, ie removing and replacing of the MMC without switching the phone off.

Battery:

The battery BL-5B is of the Li-Ion type and has a capacity of 760 mAh. It got upto 4 hours talktime and 150 hours standby time. Full charging takes 1 hour and 50 minutes.On moderate usage the battery lasted 55hours. so again in the battery and related area, there was no problem and this phone fairs well.

Radio:

It got a Stereo FM radio with visual radio. (visual radio is interactive and we can have info as to who plays it and other artist info). But this visual radio is not supported by networks in India.

The 3230's speaker produces really loud volume when played through it (with the headphones connected).

Games:

3230 has a lot of games and also different modes of playing as well.

Agent V: It's a motion-enhanced game and the camera captures background and translates actual phone gestures into gameplay movements. We can capture the phots and we can shoot them in realtime using the phone's movement.

RALLY PRO: It's a car rally/driving game, where we Choose our tracks, choose your cars and do racing!

Other than agent V it got multiplayer games like : Rally Pro Contest, Snake. Also MGS Steel Warrior, Card Deck, and Mix Pix and in addition to all this, we can download java games for the series 60 phones install and play the same.

Pros:

+ Feature rich

+ 1.3mp camera

+ Push to talk capability

+ stereo FM radio

+ Mp3 playback (but mono)

+ Hot swaping of MMC, expandable memory

Cons:

- Uses reduced size MMC (RC-MMC) so that is not the standard ones used

- Bit bulky and weighs 110grams

- Small letters on keypads, whcih may be difficult to read.

- Rigid key placements and no gap between one key and another.

Content of the standard package:

* A handset

* A battery BL-5B, Li-Ion 760 mAh

* A standard charger ACP-7 (in particular countries also a travel charger ACP-12)

* Stereophonic earphones Nokia HDS-3

* A memory card of the Reduced Size MultiMediaCard (RS-MMC) type with a capacity of 32 MB

* User's manual

Conclution:

At rs. 15.5k, it's offers a features of a hign end phone and is a feature rich phone. We can say that it has the features (almost) of 6630 and sells at the price of 7610!

The 3230 offers a good value buy for those looking for a smart phone, but it's degign, the keypads and the contruction brings down it's reputation.

Note: All images are sourced.

[itsnotabigtruck]

Why don't you take real pics of the phone?

[drgrudge]

I got one photo (that thumbnail). You want photos of the phone or photos taken from the phone?

[Opelman]

I'have this phone for 2 months till now

the phone is perfect for me exept for the rigid keys and I don't really like the camera cuz it take some time to save the captured pic.

and their is something annoying me that tone with go off after the ringing tone :angry: is this a bug in the software or I can remove it.

and I can take some shots to the phone by my camera.

at least it is a nice and high performance phone :D

edit:forget to say thanks for this great and usefull REVIEW.

[Osiris]

Not my type of phone, the only smartphones for me are Windows enabled ones,

But nice review none the less, I forwarded it to a friend whos looking at buying a new phone, shes considering this one now.

So cheers for the review.

[drgrudge]

the phone is perfect for me exept for the rigid keys and I don't really like the camera cuz it take some time to save the captured pic.

586351268[/snapback]

The keypad is the most annoying thing in this phone..nokia 6260 is another phone with bad builts (no problem in here :D) and bad placing of keys..

edit:forget to say thanks for this great and usefull REVIEW.

586351268[/snapback]

But nice review none the less, I forwarded it to a friend whos looking at buying a new phone, shes considering this one now.

So cheers for the review.

586353534[/snapback]

Thanks guys :)

[Wheazel]

Impressive photoquality for such a small phone

[Sigurd]

Thanks for the review, the design looks pretty sweet imo im getting a new phone soon so might be similar to this.

[J400uk]

I'have this phone for 2 months till now

the phone is perfect for me exept for the rigid keys and I don't really like the camera cuz it take some time to save the captured pic.

and their is something annoying me that tone with go off after the ringing tone :angry:  is this a bug in the software or I can remove it.

and I can take some shots to the phone by my camera.

at least it is a nice and high performance phone  :D

edit:forget to say thanks for this great and usefull REVIEW.

586351268[/snapback]

The beep you hear before the ringtone was put there delliberate by nokia to warn you to move the phone away from your ear so you don't get deafened by the ringtone. I have the phone as well and annoys me like mad. Apparently there is a way to hack the firmware to get rid of it.