Nokia 3230 review: Smartphone for the masses

Nokia 3230 is basically the first smartphone, which could be considered a middle class one. Nevertheless, it has pretty rich functional equipment: it supports EDGE, Bluetooth, Push to talk and has megapixel camera and radio. As usually, we have tested the phone thoroughly and prepared a detailed review for you.

Key benefits

• Quick mobile data: GPRS class 10, EDGE class 5
• 1.3 MP camera
• RS-MMC memory card slot, which is replaceable without having to switch off the phone
• Built-in radio
• Image editor
• Setting Wizard program for quick setting of data transfers, MMS and emails
• High quality construction

Main drawbacks

• Use of MMC card of a standard size not possible
• The keys are sometimes much too rigid
• The voice memo is limited to minute-long records only
• Intermittent problems with the earphones connection

Nokia 3230 is positioned into the "middle class" category. When I was using it, however, I did not notice almost any differences from the mobile phones of a higher class. The main reason is that Nokia 3230 uses the Symbian Series 60 OS, which is nearly identical for most of the mobile phones, offering the same functions every time.

Since any smartphone is able to offer much more options that the usual phones, I consider it rather unnecessary to describe the individual pros and cons of the smart phones here.

Straight off at the beginning, we should probably explain this article's title. How come that we classify the Nokia 3230, whose initial price starts at almost 400 Euros, as a mass phone, since nowadays it is easily possible to buy a smartphone at half this price? Well, any direct comparing between the new coming phones and the one-year old ones just does not make sense, even if they offer basically the same functional features. If we compare the prices of the mobile phones when first launched on the market, Nokia 3230 turns out to be really the cheapest one. By this moment, not a single smartphone has been introduced at a lower price.

The well known Symbian

Although a initially we expected Nokia 3230 to be equipped with the latest operational system Symbian OS 8.0, our expectations did not come true. The manufacturer has built in it the older the 7.0 version.

For our testing process we used a product with the 3.0505.2 firmware version from February 19th this year, RM-51. When I unpacked the box I was slightly surprised by the absence of a software CD, which Nokia often delivers together with its mobile phones. Not even has the manufacturer mentioned a possible CD in the standard equipment of the phone on Nokia's official web-site.

Design: does it look familiar?

As I was speculating on how the ideal telephone should look like, various combinations occurred to me. One of them was the following: combination of the design of the newest Sony Ericsson models and the operational system of a classic Symbian. That is exactly what Nokia 3230 comes to offer. Even though I prefer to avoid any possible comparisons with SE, there are certain similarities one cannot overlook - especially as far as the keypad is concerned.

The design of the phone is a success indeed

The phone is going to be offered in two color versions: black and wine red. Looking for replaceable covers, however, turned out to be an effort in vain. The front grill is firmly screwed onto the device. Hence neither the keypad, nor the display can be reached by the user.

Construction: solid

Already the usage of non-replaceable covers comes to suggest that the construction should be good; and it is. The phone is really very compact and solid. During the whole testing period its covers did not utter a single creak when normally used. The very only hint of a creaky sound came out when I was trying to remove the back cover by forcing it. The camera lens has been very well allocated as well. The lens is embedded in the top part of the back cover, so it does not stick out from the phone's surface by even a millimeter.

A view from the back • a comparison with a card • the card and the battery when removed

I do not recommend you to unnecessarily remove the back cover. The reason is that the phone cracks quite loudly every time it gets opened and I can assure you that within the first few moments this will give you the heebie-jeebies. If it is really inevitable, then let me give you a tip. Press onto the back cover in the area below the camera lens. Just under it there is a hollow, in which the memory card is situated, so the opening goes more smoothly. Yet, do not expect the cover to ease off and open at the very first try.

Inserting the SIM card • memory card slot

After having removed the cover the only thing to be seen are the battery and the memory card slot. In order to place the SIM card into the phone you need to insert it under the above mentioned slot. As for the memory card, it is possible to remove even when the phone is switched on. The device will simply give you a notice that the card is going to be removed and that all applications are going to be closed. However, here is where I ran into problems for the telephone once or twice notified me of the absence of the SIM card and restarted itself.

The battery and the card slot

The battery BL-5B is of the Li-Ion type and has a capacity of 760 mAh. On its surface you can see the reserved hologram of Nokia Company, which is to prove the device originality. If you cannot see it, the battery in front of you is simply not an original Nokia one. According to the official statements given by the manufacturer the battery is to support up to 4 hours of continuous calls and up to 150 hours stand-by.

A rounded cuboid

When I saw the phone in the first official pictures it seemed to me smaller than it is in reality. Anyway, its dimensions - 109 Χ 49 Χ 19 mm - are not big at all. As far as the weight is concerned (110 g), however, I was not that satisfied. I just find the phone unnecessarily too heavy. Perhaps that is the tax, which is to be paid for having an excellent construction. Even if that is the case, for this phone I am willing to pay it.

I just can't help comparing...

On the bottom of the phone is the standard Pop-Port connector. In it you can plug a data cable as well as the Nokia Stereo Headset HDS-3 earphones, which are delivered together with the telephone. Next to it is the outlet for the charger.

Display: pure quality

Nokia 3230 does not offer innovations in the display - just like with the previous phones of the class Series 60. A resolution of 176 Χ 208 pixels and 65 536 colors are features we are already used to. The backlighting is evenly distributed all over the viewing area. However, it is notably brighter compared to the backlighting of Nokia 7610, for example.

A view of the display

The brightness intensity can be changed within the general options of the display settings. I find the jumps between the intensity levels unnecessarily big though. The three lowest setting modes make the display go out completely. In the same menu you can setup the screensaver. There are two standard screensavers to choose of: Date and Time or Text.

The backlighting intensity is really high

Nokia 3230 takes in an option for graphic themes changing. The theme wraps up the whole phone including the icons and the menus into a different design. When delivered the phone is equipped with four pre-installed graphic themes.

Graphic themes

The keypad: it is tough here

Whereas I extolled the display, the keypad brought the moment of disappointment. Before you master writing with one hand only you will have to first learn how to hold the phone. The keys may be lifted enough above the surface, but they are located much too low, which makes the pressing possible, only provided you bend your thumb considerably. Moreover, the numeric keypad is a bit rigid and it requires quite an effort to handle.

If I claim not to be satisfied with the numeric keypad, then I am twice as much unsatisfied with the functional buttons placed close below the display. The reaction of the buttons for accepting and refusing a call is good, but the rest of the buttons are much too rigid. Every press is accompanied by an audible click. The two functional buttons located below the display serve for setting the start of the program desired.

Keypad details

The main control element of Nokia 3230 is the five-way joystick placed in the middle of the functional buttons. Although I am more of a fan of the direction buttons rather than the joysticks, the 3230 model's joystick was a pleasant surprise. It is easy to control and works very exactly. When the phone is in a stand-by mode, four actions are steadily attached to the five ways of the joystick. A move to the left starts the writing of a text message; a move to the right opens the built-in calendar. A move upwards opens the Photo-Video application and a press or a move downwards takes you to the address book.

The joystick is just fine

The backlighting is also excellent. It is evenly distributed among all keys and you will hardly find an area, where it is notably brighter.

The keypad backlighting is really good

You can use other two special buttons, in addition to the standard control keys. The switch on/off button and the button for work with ring profiles are traditionally placed on the bottom side of the phone. The latter one is quite rigid, as well. As for the left side of the phone, here you will find the button, which starts the Push to talk function.

Memory: is it enough?

The phone has 6 MB internal storage memory . Even though it is not that little, the other Symbian phones have already made us get used to higher values. Along with the built-in memory the phone also comes with a 32MB memory card. Nokia 3230 uses a memory card of the RS DV MMC type (Reduced Size Dual Voltage MultiMediaCard).

It is generally known that the operational system Symbian is not one of the fastest on the market. The reaction of the keys of the 3230 model after having been pressed is not immediate either. Once again I have the opportunity to compare with Nokia 7610. The new phone seems to be slightly quicker. Its advantage is most notable when starting any of the installed applications. This does not hold true for picture saving though. Saving a picture in a mega pixel resolution takes the phone approximately 5 seconds, which is a relatively long time.

When running a program the phone uses storage memory (RAM). Even though the manufacturer does not give any exact values, according to the AppMan application the RAM is about 9 MB. However, when tested by the JBenchmark application, Nokia 3230 did not perform as well as one might have expected. It gained 2561 points in the 1.0 version, which is somewhere between the performance given by Nokia 6600 and Nokia 7610. It is worth pointing out that during the tests the phone did not jam even once, except for the already mentioned moment, when the memory card was removed. We will have to wait for the final version of the phone though, because the firmware of the one tested still has some smaller drawbacks. In some way or other, Nokia has definitely taken the right direction.

SettingWizard: a no time set up

The SettingWizard program has been slowly becoming a standard part of the equipment of all modern mobile phones. It enables for simplified setting of data transfers, multimedia messages or emails. It is an application, which automatically selects the type of setting according to the operator. Unlike Nokia 6630, in which smaller complications would sometimes occur, no problems arose when setting Nokia 3230. It took me about 10 seconds to start using GPRS, MMS and e-mail through T-Mobile service.

The environment of the application SettingWizard

The camera: megapixel

Part of Nokia 3230's equipment is a built-in camera with an effective resolution of 1.23 megapixels. Thanks to this your pictures could reach a resolution up to 1 280 Χ 960 pixels. The saving format of the pictures is JPEG.

A view at the camera lens

Another helpful application is the twilight support mode for low light conditions. This time, however, Nokia apparently did not focus on the digital zoom. The approximation here is triple at the most; in my opinion, the jumps between the individual zoom positions are unnecessarily big. After having been taken the photographs are either viewed on the display, or directly saved into the Gallery. The later option leaves the camera ready for further photographing.

The camera viewfinder • local menu • settings

In addition, the phone has a Kodak Mobile Service application. It requires the use of GPRS and enables you to comfortably send your pictures to Kodak Company's address, where they are printed, put into an envelope and sent back to you by post. In addition to this application the phone also offers a picture editor, which enables for removing the inessential parts of the photograph or converting it into a greeting card, which can be subsequently sent as a multimedia message.

Kodak Mobile Service • picture editor

Sample photos: we did not edit the photographs, but left them in their original resolution. So be sure to expect a little bit bigger files.

Digital zoom

With this phone you can also shoot video records. Their length is limited by the extent of the free memory only. With 32MB card you could record up to a one-hour video. The videos are saved in a 176 Χ 144 pixels resolution in a H.263 format and have the same color features like the photos.

The video recorder viewfinder • local menu • settings

The videos do not necessary have to stay unchanged. Modifications are possible thanks to the Movie director application, which we already know from the older Nokia models. They offer options for touching up the shot records by adding frame borders, sounds etc. You won't miss the Video editor program introduced by Nokia 6630 either. It lets you cut the already shot video and add effects or your own music background to it. The final result can subsequently be sent as a MMS using Bluetooth or infrared port.

Movie director • Video editor

The multimedia: mono, unfortunately…

Nokia has also equipped its new model with a FM radio as well as a music files player. The radio plays pretty well in stereo, but that's where perfectionism gets knocked down: the MP3 player is monophonic only. It is a pity since the 6630 model proved that Nokia knows how to make stereophonic MP3 players.

The earphones delivered with the phone can be used for listening to music as well as a light Hands-free set in the car. They connect to the phone through a Pop-Port connector.

Pop-Port • stereo headset delivered with the phone

Even though the headset is a trivial one, the sound is not that bad. I was most satisfied with the radio sound. Unfortunately, after few minutes of playing its connector started acting up and a monophonic sound began to come out only. As for the stereo signal itself, neither the highs, nor the basses were too loud. The sound appeared to be balanced just right. However, I do not dear speak that positively about the MP3 player's performance. The quality of the sound of the enclosed Real Media Player is bad indeed. In short, the situation here is very much the same as in the 6260 model.

Apart from the MP3 format the music player also works with AAC, AMR and Real Audio files. As for the video player, it handles not only H.263, but also the 3GP, MP4, MPEG-4 video and Real Video formats. Along with the files saved onto the local storage, the Real Media program plays network streams also.

RealPlayer • playing • local menu • settings

All media are saved into the Gallery file, which is accessible from the menu only. The Gallery itself is divided into further sub-files, according to the multimedia content of the record.

Gallery files

If you feel like using your phone as a voice mailbox, then I will have to disappoint you. Nokia has not learned from the mistakes made in its previous models and thus the voice mailbox won't take in a record longer than one minute. Along with an unlimited video application, such a drawback is difficult to accept. The recorded results are usually saved into the Gallery. They can be gradually searched in the Sound clips and Digital sounds files in the phone memory. Additionally, it is possible to export the list with the created records to the play list or the list with music pieces.

Audio recorder

Listen with your eyes

It would be a pity not to take a more detailed look at the radio. In the menu it is placed under Visual Radio. Even though it is possible to listen to the radio by using the loud speaker, the latter won't work unless the earphones are plugged in. The tuning process is driven either automatically according to the signal intensity, or manually, by dialing the frequency of the desired station. The automatic tuning will select a station provided the signal is really intense. If the broadcast gets disturbed even a bit, the phone skips the station and goes on searching.

If you know the name of the station, but you cannot remember its frequency, you can use the list with radio stations, which is easily accessible directly from the application. It is possible to save the station into the list in order to avoid a repeated search once the phone has been restarted. The list contains twenty vacancies altogether. As for the incoming calls, they are easily recognizable for the radio sound deadens and the ring melody starts running through the headset. The same process is initiated when a message has come.

Address book with radio stations • main window • the list • manual tuning

My excellent impression of this application was spoiled by a small error that occurred when I started the Visual Radio and the camera simultaneously. The playing station switched to another one and kept on doing this until I turned off the camera.

The Visual Radio technology enables for receiving not only a sound signal, but also a data flow with various details on the music pieces and their content. The first radio station to work with Nokia Visual Radio was launched in Finland just days ago.

Telephony: typical Symbian

Speaking about telephony functions, no innovations are coming along. All features are the same as in all older Nokia models equipped with a Symbian system.

As usually, the sound of Nokia 3230's speaker is rather average. Certain noises could also be heard while phoning with a connected handsfree set. While testing the phone's calling features, I ran into smaller difficulties concerning the conference calls. The telephone would not manage to switch between the calls and would therefore terminate them.

Numbers dialing • address book • contact details

A shared memory is used for saving names in the address book. There is up to 6 MB of memory space. Every name can be accompanied by several different attached items. You can search in the address list by progressively dialling the first letters of the names. The individual names can be differentiated by using special ringing modes. The list is viewed either in a Surname Forename format, or vice versa: Forename Surname.

Messaging

No new developments are to be found among the message options either. There is a T9 dictionary for quick text inserting when writing a SMS, MMS, emails or instant messaging. As for the pictures inserted into the multimedia messages, their size can be automatically reduced to the one suitable for MMS.

Files • creating a SMS • a notice informing about present special characters • MMS editor

The Email box is another recently improved application. It supports the SMTP, POP3 and IMAP4 protocols. When using POP3 it can download just the header of the message; to download the whole text you need to subsequently select it.

Downloaded headers • email body

One of the new functions is the Push to talk function. Thanks to it you can easily communicate with other people through the GPRS packet transfers; the working principle is similar to the walkie-talkie one.

Organizer: nothing has changed

As the text given above indicates, the devices of the Series 60 are quite alike in a number of aspects. The system for time organizing is none of an exception. I did not discover any new developments in the calendar, the task organizer or the notes. To make the list complete let us also mention the calculator, the converter, the clock and the wallet.

Calendar • tasks

Notes • calculator • converter • wallet

Games: Bluetooth party

As a standard, the phone contains three preinstalled games

Agent V: your task in this game is to destroy the parasitic viruses circulating around. The camera lens is used as a means for multidimensional moves.

Rally Pro is a racing game. The task here is to reach the final point within the shortest time possible. This game could be played among more participants through Bluetooth.

Warrior is a classic "shooting game", where you fly in a rocket through the airspace trying to destroy your enemies. What is a bit odd here is the necessity to turn the display to the right by 90 degrees.

Internet: no problems

Nokia has already launched several models of mobile phones, in which it uses its own browser for WAP,HTML and XHTML pages. The situation with Nokia 3230 is no different. Even though the program appears to be relatively simple, it offers all main features, for example: correct page viewing, basic JavaScript support or a counter of data transferred. The latter, however, gets reset whenever the according page is opened again.

Text version of MobilManie in the internet browser

Communication: any possible way

No matter whether you'd like to communicate with a nearby or distant environment, Nokia 3230 offers you plenty of options to choose of. There are three available methods for local communication: a USB connection, an infrared interface and Bluetooth. By using these options you will easily and - most of all - quickly synchronize contacts, calendar notes or any other items. As for distant synchronization, Nokia's choice has fallen onto SyncML.

Connection item • Bluetooth • a list of familiar devices • modem options

If you feel like conquering the world, the phone provides you with mobile data transfers. The maximum speed to be reached by using the GPRS technology Class 10 is 80 kbps. As for EDGE, it is Class 5 with a maximum downlink of 118.4 kbps. The odd thing here is that EDGE can be used for downloading only - a limitation, which Nokia mentions on its web site.

I have already mentioned the fact that there is no installing CD delivered together with the new phone. The PC Suite for Nokia, which enables for communication between the mobile phone and a computer, has to be downloaded from the web page of the manufacturer. I did several tests with PC Suite 6.41 and all types of Bluetooth communication ran without a single problem. Where Nokia 7610 would sometimes give me hard times and would deny cooperating, the 3230 would run promptly, showing no signs of complications.

Conclusion: what could we possibly add?

I am satisfied by Nokia 3230 in terms of design. The silver stripe framing the whole front cover is very elegant and does not spoil the overall representative outlook of the phone. Since we are still talking about a middle class phone, it must be pointed out that this model's functional equipment is considerably above the average standard. One of Nokia 3230's great advantages is the EDGE technology. The combination of the latter and the built-in operating system is very interesting indeed and will be difficult to resist when looking for the right phone.

At the same time Nokia 3230 gives us plenty of reasons to complain. The tested version turned out to be full of errors; hence Nokia 3230' overall evaluation will depend to a great extent on the quality of the final version of its software. And since the phone is already in the distributors' pricelists, its developers may have to quicken their step. The official price is expected to be somewhere below 400 Euros incl. local taxes. I am sure, however, that the phone will be possible to find for less and what is more - its price will be gradually falling.

Competition

Among its own siblings the biggest competitor of Nokia 3230 seems to be Nokia 6600. The 3230 model offers a lot of additional functions, while the 6600 model has the advantage of a relatively price-friendly phone due to its age. Within the same price category two other phones - Nokia 7610 and Nokia 6670 could be forecasted as competitors for they are comparable with Nokia 3230 as far as functional options are concerned.

As for the rest of the competition, a certain alternative choice could be Siemens SX1. Even though its starts to notably grow in age, this is the only present-day smart phone of the Series 60 class, which offers a combination of stereophonic radio and a MP3 player in the same device.

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 manuals and further documents