Symbian Delight (Nokia 3230)

Member Name: unixgirl

Product:	Nokia 3230
Date:	10/08/05 (2095 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of features

Disadvantages: keypad is a bit small

I've worked in the telecomms sector now for a number of years and am very picky when it comes to mobile phones. I usually try and have one of the latest phones (sorry I love gadgets), and it usually doesn't take me long to figure something like this out. Nokia are one of the most popular mobile phone manufacturers in the UK, but popularity had been sliding in recent years as some of the other 'younger' manufacturers caught the imagination of the 'teen' market who were the first to grab hold of camera technology. The Nokia 3230 is one is a series of new phones recently released by Nokia, and so far these and the other phones they have released look like they will put Nokia firmly back in the No.1 position.

Its due to the specification that I bought this phone. Its extensive features list out-stripped anything else on the market when I bought this (May-June 2005).

Symbian? Although some of you may be familiar with this term and what it means, many still don't understand exactly what a Symbian phone is.


SYMBIAN (definition) : Symbian is an advanced open standard operating system for data enabled mobile phones. It includes a multi-tasking multithreaded core, a user interface framework, data services enablers, application engines and integrated PIM functionality and wireless communications
[PIM means Personal Information Manager, ie. calculator, reminders to do and calendar etc. where the user is allowed to enter data or information in text or picture format]

So what does this mean? Well it means the interface looks more like a PC or PDA, it has icons, file structure, and enhanced usability and functions. Symbian phones although more complicated in design are easier to use if you're use to using a computer or PDA. I teach people to use various models of mobiles (old and new) and have had feedback saying that people find Symbian easier to use and navigate.

So what features does the 3230 have?


Features:

Weight: 110g
Dimensions: 109 mm x 49 mm x 19 mm


1.3 megapixel camera (1280 x 960 image resolution)
supported formats: JPEG, GIF87a/89a, EXIF, WBMP, BMP, MBM, PNG
Customize your own movies with Movie Director application (can capture upto 1 hour of video)
XHTML browser for browsing
65,536-color screen
Large, high-resolution TFT color display
176 x 208-pixel resolution
Expandable memory (32 MB RS MMC card included with purchase)
New multiplayer games over Bluetooth wireless technology
Tri-Band
Text, Instant and MMS messaging


Normal view:

On old nokias the menu interface meant having a 'home' or idle' screen and you hit a menu button and scrolled through to find the item you wanted (Messages, Phone Book, Settings, Calendar etc). On this phone the 'home' screen has active icons on the left hand side of the screen. These are:

Contacts (List and Add a contact)
Call Log (Call List, Missed Calls, Received Calls and Dialled Calls)
Messages (New SMS, Unread SMS, Unread MMS, Unread E-mail)
Calendar (Today)
Camera (Take a picture, Media album, background)
Web Access (Orange World, Info, Fun, Tools, Your Page)

These icons according to Nokia are the ones most frequently used by most people. Underneath these icons you have two hot keys on the phone which you can customise to start any application you wish, mine are set to the standard (Contacts and Camera)

These are only a few of the available icons the rest can be accessed by pressing a button on the left hand side of the keypad that has a symbol on it that looks like two dots and arrows (Main menu button). On pressing this button you are taken to the main page of the phone and this is where it looks more like a PDA. Here you have access to all the applications or data stored on the phone. Each item is represented by an icon, similar to those used in the Windows Operating System or on various PDA's.


Available are (please note where there is an icon that accesses a sub folder or menu I have noted this):


1) Log (This is you call and data log details: Call List, Missed Calls, Received Calls, Dialled Calls and GPRS log)

2) Contacts

3) Settings (access to sub menus):
i) Phone settings (access to change hot keys, brightness and display)
ii) Call Settings ( access to change call waiting, displaying your number when you call, speed dialling, anykey answer and automatic redial)
iii) Connection Settings (access to change GPRS connection and Data call)
iv) Date and Time (access to time, date, date format, date separator, time format, time separator, clock type, clock alarm tone, auto time update, GMT offset, daylight savings)
v) Security (Phone and SIM, Certificate management)
vi) Call Divert
vii) Call Barring
viii) Network Selection
ix) Enhancement (This is for switching on a headset, induction loop or text phone)

4) Camera (Image and Video).
The camera can be set to three different resolutions for taking pictures (High, Medium and Low). Average number of photos that can be stored is 200. Average film length that can be stored is an hour.

5) Messaging

6) Web access

7) Profiles (different profiles can be set according to where you are, i.e. at work you could have your phone on vibrate and a setting for home with a normal ring tone)

8) Gallery (File structure for pictures, videos, edited videos, sound clips (including ring tones)

9) Calendar

10) Radio

11) Games (access to sub menus):
i) Agent V (This game freaks me out as the background is where you are! Its shown through the camera and tiny little viruses are attacking you and whats around you or what ever you have the camera pointing at! You have to shoot the viruses and save the day!)
ii) Rally Pro (Racing Game)
iii) Warrior (flight sim game)
All these are included on the Orange network. Games included may vary according to network.

12) Connectivity (access to sub menus):
i) Bluetooth
ii) Infrared
iii) Connection Manager
iv) Modem
v) Sync (phone can be sync'd with a PC, PDA or another device.

13) To do

14) Themes (This customises your phones background, text and icon style)

15) Extras (access to sub menus):
i) Photo Editor
ii) Video Editor
iii) Movie
iv) Quickword (word processing package)
v) Quickpoint (slide show package)
vi) Notes (similar to Notepad in Windows)
vii) Calculator
viii) Convertor (currency, area, energy, length, mass and power)
ix) sound recorder (if you have enough memory this will record upto an hour)
x) clock
xi) memory (information on used and free)
xii) Wallet (can store card details safely with pin access)
xiii) About (license information about your phone)
xiiii) Presence (this can be used by commercial packages as a tracker. Business find this useful as it tells them quickly where an engineer is without disturbing them. The AA are also trialling this I believe)
xv) Chat (Instant messenger client, it is unconfirgured when you get the phone and would need information about the chat platforms you use)
xvi) Positioning (network services)

16) Orange Plus (Call Orange, Information, Group Texting)

17) GoTO (All your favourite shortcuts, configurable)

18) Help (sub menus detailing all icons and give help on each subject)

19) Video Clips (saved video clips, these can also be accessed through the gallery)

20) Real Player (same application that you find on a pc for playing music, films and video)

21) Tools (access to sub menu):
i) Manager (This is an app manager that tells you how much memory each application installed takes up, rather like File Manager or Explore function on PC's)
ii) Access to voicemail
iii) Speed Dial Settings
iv) File manager (details all saved pictures, sounds, videos etc)
v) Voice Commands (configurable for profiles, voicemail, bluetooth, Infrared, Voice recorder and Camera)
vi) Device manager (helps with pairing the phone with other pieces of technology i.e. a PC)

22) Installer Wizard (used for installing new apps safely)

23) Orange Music Player (available on Orange, this turns your phone into a jukebox. Songs can be downloaded from the internet and stored on your phone in various formats including MP3's).

24) Fireplayer (allows you to mix and customise different music and use it as ringtones etc)

Battery Life: 5 days. 3-4 hours talk time. Please note if you are playing some of the games (especially over bluetooth or GPRS) or using the radio this can eat up your battery life.


As you can see this phone has an extensive features list and would mean you could (if you wanted to) do away with a PDA and use this instead. Headphones are supplied with this phones as standard when you buy it so you could use it to listen to the Radio or MP3's.

What accessories are available for this phone?


Apart from the usual bluetooth headsets (prices start from £29), Car chargers, cases (prices start from £4.99), there are also available a foldable bluetooth keyboard (£85) and an inductive loopset (£70). Nokia are one of the few manufacturers of mobile phones that are compatible with the majority of hearing aids on the market. Accessories are available from all good phone shops, Network provider and Tesco (prices quoted come from the Orange website, Carphonewarehouse and Tesco).


Disadvantages:

There's only one disadvantage of this phone, thats the keypad. Its quite small. For me saying that (I have quite small hands), it has to be saying something. But Nokia on the plus side have not made the keypad hyper-sensitive as other manufacturers have (naming no names a previous tiny mobile I have I ended up using the tip of a pen or pencil to type texts as I was fed up reading xywenfkjshn or such-like on the screen). As I've gotten used to this phone I'm finding the small keys less annoying as I love the features.

Prices:

This phone varies in price from £30 depending on what tariff you are. It should be available on Pay as You Go in a couple of months. Phone is supplied with battery, charger, user manuals and stereo headphones as standard.

Overall:

I love this phone, as I said above I wasn't convinced at first by the keypad but the sensitivity of the keypad has been set just right. So overall once you have been using it for a few days you will get use to it. I did. The menus are easy to navigate and the large screen makes everything clearer. An essential item if you were wanting to make use of all of this phones features is a Bluetooth adapter for a PC. This would allow you to 'move' pictures, videos, sounds, tones and music back and forth from PC to phone easily. These are relatively cheap (although beware some models are incompatible with certain models of mobiles), I already had a Belkin (bought from PC World for £20) and this works great.
On the connectivity side when I first got the phone I did wonder why I would need an Infrared port on it, as well as Bluetooth. But many older devices or printers have an Infrared port. This meant I was able to print off a document I had stored on my mobile by beaming it (via IR) to a printer to take to my meeting. It could also mean you would be able to shares tones or pictures with someone who didn't have a Bluetooth enabled phone. After having it a week I can use all the functions easily and find it quite simple to use. Thanks Nokia!

Summary: Modern featyre full phone that will delight any gadget lover.

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