The Nokia 3230, which was releasedAnnounced November 2, 2004, became the first smartphone that could be attributed to the middle class. Nevertheless, it has quite a rich functional equipment: support for EDGE, Bluetooth, PTT, there is a camera and a radio.
Nokia 3230: user specifications
The main advantages of the smartphone are markedusers, this is rather good for its time, data transfer rate from GPRS-class 10 and EDGE-class 5, 1.3-megapixel camera, slot for an RS-MMC memory card, the replacement of which does not require turning off the phone, the presence of a built-in radio, editor images, data transfer wizards, MMS and e-mail wizards, high build quality.
Основные недостатки – невозможность использования MMC-cards of standard size, excessive hardness of keys, limited by one minute of voice notes, intermittent problems with connecting headphones.
Although the Nokia 3230 is positioned in the categorymiddle class, differences from higher-end phones when using is not observed. The reason is that the smartphone uses the Symbian Series 60 OS, which is identical to the operating systems of more expensive phones. Although the expected transition to the eighth version did not happen.
Familiar design?
The smartphone combines the design of Sony models.Ericsson and classic Symbian OS. The phone was offered in two colors: black and wine-red. The search for replaceable coatings turned out to be in vain. The front grille is securely screwed. Therefore, neither the keyboard nor the display is available to the user. Case for Nokia 3230 not included. It should be purchased separately.
Strong construction
The use of a fixed lid suggeststhat the design of the device should be good - and it turned out. The phone is really very compact and durable. During the entire testing period, its case Nokia 3230 did not emit a single squeak. And only a hint of a creak came from the effort to remove the back cover. The camera lens is placed very well. It is built into the upper part of the back cover and does not protrude even a millimeter from the surface of the phone.
Do not remove the cover unnecessarily.The reason is that the smartphone is cracking loudly, which is very unnerving. If you still need to remove it, it is better to press under the lens. There is a slot for a memory card, so the opening will go more smoothly. However, one should not expect that the cover will succumb the first time.
After a successful attempt, you can see the battery and memory card slot. To install a SIM card, you need to insert it under the slit mentioned above.
The memory card can be removed even when it is turned on.phone. The device will simply give a notice of its removal and closing of all applications. There may be problems here - the smartphone sometimes reports the absence of a SIM card and reboots.
У Nokia 3230 аккумулятор литий-ионный, емкостью 760 mAh, with a hologram of the company confirming the originality of the device. According to the manufacturer’s official data, the battery supports up to 4 hours of continuous calls and up to 150 hours of standby time.
Rounded box
На фото телефон кажется меньше, чем он выглядит in fact, although the size is 109 x 49 x 19 mm is not that big. Weighing (110 g) users are not very happy, finding it too large. Perhaps this is a payment for a solid design.
В нижней части устройства находится стандартный a Pop-Port connector to which you can connect a data cable, as well as the Nokia HDS-3 stereo headset included with the phone. Near the connector is the input of the charger.
Display: pure quality
Screen Nokia 3230 innovation has not undergone, as withprevious models of the Series 60 class, all the same 176 x 208 pixels and 65,536 colors. The backlight is uniform throughout the viewing area and is noticeably brighter than the Nokia 7610.
Glow intensity can be changed inwithin the general display settings. Users find the steps between intensity levels too large. In the same menu, you can configure the screensaver. There are two of them: date and time or text. There are 4 themes preinstalled on the phone that completely change its design.
Keyboard: hard
The user keyboard has disappointed.Before mastering the set with one hand, you need to learn how to hold a smartphone. The keys protrude above the surface quite high, but they are too low, which is why pressing is possible after bending the finger. In addition, the keyboard is harsh and requires considerable effort.
Things are worse with function buttons,located next to the display. The call accept and reset buttons respond well, but the rest are too hard. Each press is accompanied by an audible click. Two function buttons located below the display serve to launch the desired application.
Nokia 3230 Basic Control -five-way joystick in the middle of the function buttons. Although the navigation keys are more convenient, the joystick of this model pleased. It is easy to manage, it works for sure. In standby mode, the joystick is programmed to perform 4 actions. Moving left starts recording a text message; to the right - opens the built-in calendar; up - opens a photo and video, pressing or moving down translates into the address book.
The backlighting is uniform.
In addition to the standard control keysYou can use 2 more special buttons - turning on and working with call profiles, which are traditionally located at the bottom of the phone. The last one is quite tough. On the left is the PTT function enable button.
Memory: is it enough?
Телефон имеет 6 МБ встроенной памяти.Even if it’s not so small, other Symbian smartphones have already been accustomed to higher values. Along with the built-in memory, the device comes with a reduced-size 32 MB MMC RS DV card.
Symbian is not the fastest OS on the market.The model does not immediately respond to clicks. But, compared, for example, with the Nokia 7610, the phone seems a little faster. Its advantage is more noticeable when running any application. This does not apply to image storage, which takes about 5 seconds, which is very long.
RAM is about 9 MB. The Jbenchmark app gives him 2561 points, which is somewhere between the Nokia 6600 and 7610.
The installation wizard has become the standard on all modern mobile phones. There were no problems with his work. The installation itself lasts about 10 s.
Camera
The Nokia 3230 is equipped with a built-in camera with an effective resolution of 1.23 megapixels. Thanks to this, photos reach a resolution of 1280 x 960 pixels. The image recording format is JPEG.
Twilight mode turned out to be useful for conditionspoor lighting. The disadvantage is the presence of only three digital zoom and sharp transitions between individual zoom positions. Photos can be viewed on the display or saved. The latter option leaves the camera ready for further photographing.
In addition, the phone has an image editor that allows you to delete an unnecessary part of a photo or convert it into a postcard for sending as a multimedia message.
Video shooting is also possible, durationwhich is limited by the availability of free memory. Up to one hour of video in a resolution of 176 x 144 pixels in H.263 format can be recorded on a 32 MB card. Video can be edited with a special application - add frame borders, sound, etc. The result can be sent as MMS via Bluetooth or infrared.
Nokia 3230: a review of multimedia
Nokia equipped its new model of FM radio, andalso a music player. The radio produces good stereo, but the MP3 player is only mono. It’s a pity, as in the 6630 model the company has already demonstrated the ability to create stereo players.
Headphones can be used for listening.music, as well as for loud dialing in the car. They are connected via the Pop-Port connector. Despite the ordinary, the sound was not so bad. Unfortunately, after a few minutes of listening to the radio, the connector began to junk and the sound turned into mono. As for the sound itself, neither the high frequencies nor the bass were too loud. But the sound quality of Real Media Player is terrible.
In addition to MP3, the player accepts AAC, AMR andReal audio files. The phone processes not only H.263, but also 3GP, MP4, MPEG-4 video and Real Video. Real Media plays both local files and network streams. Multimedia is stored in the “Gallery”, accessible only from the menu.
Using the model as an answering machinedifficult because the voice mailbox will not record messages longer than one minute. This is difficult to understand, since the video recording time is unlimited. Entries are saved in the “Gallery”. In addition, you can export them to a playlist or list of music.
Telephony: typical Symbian
There are no innovations in the functionality regarding making phone calls. It is no different from previous models with the Symbian system.
The speaker is mediocre. Noise is heard when talking with the connected hands-free kit. In teleconferencing mode, the smartphone does not switch between calls.
Names in the address book are stored in shared memory,the size of which reaches 6 MB. You can search the address list by typing the first letters of the names. Individual entries can be highlighted using a special call mode. The list can be sorted by last name and first name.
Message exchange
Nothing new here either.There is a T9 dictionary for quick typing when writing SMS, MMS, email or instant messaging. As for images inserted into multimedia messages, their size can be automatically reduced to fit for MMS.
Email has improved. It supports SMTP, POP3 and IMAP4 protocols. When using POP3, only the message header can be downloaded; To download all text, you must select it.
One of the new features is PTT. Thanks to her, you can easily communicate with other people over the network. The principle of the application is similar to a walkie-talkie.
Internet: no problem
Nokia has already released several mobile modelsphones with their own browser for WAP, HTML and XHTML pages. The situation with the 3230 is no different. The program is simple, but it performs basic functions: viewing pages, supports JavaScript and a data counter. The latter, however, is reset when the page is reopened.
Communication: any way
Nokia 3230 offers many optionsconnecting the phone to the outside world, including three ways of local communication: via USB, infrared and Bluetooth. Thanks to it, you can quickly synchronize contacts, calendar notes, etc. As for remote synchronization, the company chose SyncML.
The maximum data transfer rate using GPRS technology is 80 kbit / s, EDGE - 118.4 kbit / s. The only strange thing is that EDGE can be used exclusively for downloading.
There is no installation disk with software for connecting the smartphone to a PC, the program must be downloaded from the manufacturer’s website. You can also find out how to flash Nokia 3230 with it.
Decent Intermediate Level
Users are satisfied with the design of the Nokia 3230.The silver strip surrounding the entire front cover is very elegant and does not spoil the overall look. The functionality of the model is significantly higher than the average level analogues. The advantage of Nokia 3230 is EDGE technology.
At the same time, there are many complaints. The official price of the phone at issue was 400 euros.
