A love affair blossomed (Nokia 3410)

Member Name: NikkiH

Product:	Nokia 3410
Date:	17/12/03 (208 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use, Good standby time

Disadvantages: Not most up to date

In September 2002, I lost my mobile phone, and I called Vodaphone to tell them that I would not be renewing my contract as I did not have a phone. I was pleasantly surprised when they told me that they could offer me a free phone at renewal, and the phone on offer at that time was a Nokia 3410. I was really relieved that I did not have to go and buy another phone, and I accepted their offer immediately, but when I had time to think about it, I thought I had done the wrong thing.

The phone I lost was a Nokia 3210, and I really wanted a smaller model, something like an 8210. The 3410 was a similar size to the 3210, and cosmetically, I did not find it at all attractive. However, when my husband pointed out my track record when it comes to losing mobile phones (amongst other things), a small phone such as the 8210 may not be such a good idea, although I refused to be convinced that the 3410 was actually a pretty good phone, and I was gutted at the thought of being lumbered with it for a year before I could change it.

Anyway, the parcel containing the 3410 arrived, and on unpacking it, I have to admit that it was smaller, and more rounded than I thought it would be, and my initial disappointment started to wear off, and I could imagine myself and my 3410 becoming close! The battery and sim card were easy to install, and when the phone was completely put together it was still quite light (114g), and although still quite bulky in comparison to the 8210 (79g) it was noticeably lighter than it's predecessor, the 3210 (151g). So far so good I thought, even though it would mean admitting that my husband was right....again!

I charged the phone up overnight, and the battery life was pretty impressive. I do not use my mobile phone excessively (maybe 10-15 minutes worth of calls and 5-6 text messages per day at most), and I did not charge my phone up again for another 5-6 days, which as it was switched on 24 hours a day, I was more than happy with.
It became a habit that I charged the phone every Sunday night, and I rarely found it needing a top up unless I had use the phone to excess during the week.

One thing which kept me loyal to Nokia for so long was the ease of use, and the simple to use menus which have become a trademark, and this model was no exception. The 3410 was the first phone I had which supported Java, and it meant that the games were a lot less basic than I has encountered before. Snake II soon became a favourite way to pass the time when I was on a journey, or just wanting to fidgit whilst watching the television. There are 3-4 other games, but to be honest, I did not have the patience to try and get to grips with them, so I stuck with Snake, and was quite happy, although my game playing was not prolific, and I soon became bored.

You can personalise the 3410 with animated screensavers, some of which are pre loaded onto the phone, and some which you can download from various sources. The ringtones were slightly less basic than the 3210, but as my husband had just taken delivery of the new Nokia with polyphonic ringtones, nothing my 3410 offered sounded even mildly impressive in comparison. As with most Nokia phones, there are many tunes you can download for your phone, but being the miser I am, I just refuse to pay £1.50 and more for a ringtone, so I stuck with the basic tones (over 30 in total) which were pre loaded onto the phone, and proved to be more than adequate for my needs. However, if you are feeling adventurous, then the phone has a tune composer, but as much as I love music, I do not have a creative bone in my body when it comes to composing tunes which are listenable.

Text messaging benefits from predictive text, which means sending messages is quicker than the convential method of entering each letter separately. You can also jazz up your messages with pictures, and various emoticons, and I did use them a couple of times, but you have to make sure tha
t the recepient of your message can view picture messages, otherwise they will just receive a jumbled mess! The rubber buttons make use of the phone comfortable, and I did not find that they stuck when used, as I have on other phones. The phonebook takes up to 200 names on the memory of the phone itself, and if you know more people than that, then you can use the sim card to store even more numbers for you. You have to make a separate entry for each number, so if your friend has a work, home and mobile number, that will be 3 separate entries. You can then assign a speed dial facility to some of them, although I never did as I would never be able to remember who was assigned to which speed dial number! I only tried out the voice tag feature once....you know the one on the advert, where you say someone's name, and your phone dials their number. It looks good, but I have found that this never works so well in theory, and end up shouting down the phone and it still won't dial!!!The screen and the text on it are clear and easy to read. There are also the added features of a calendar, a stopwatch, a handy calculator and an alarm. I did use the alarm quite a lot, and it was just as effective as my bedside alarm clock. There is also a feature which allows you to ask the phone to remind you of appointments, or events you need to remember. It is useful feature, and one that I use more on my new phone than I did on this.

The covers are removable, and there are many jazzy replacements out there, although I did like the aqua coloured covers that came with the phone. I did change them once for a really cute Eeyore cover, but it was not designed with functionality in mind, and I could barely hear people when I called them on the phone, as there were not enough holes in the cover where the speakers were, so I quickly reverted back to the original cover, and never strayed again.

I've recently passed my Nokia 3410 onto a relative after I upgraded to a S
ony Ericsson T610, and I am sure that they will find it as easy to use as I did. It is a nice looking phone, which I came to like after my initial reservations, and I would happily recommend it to anyone who does not want the latest, most up to date models, but still wants a stylish, dependable and easy to use phone.

Summary: