Weight: 110 g
Dimensions: 109 mm x 49 mm x 19 mm, 90 cc
Tri-Band Operation:
Tri-band coverage on up to five continents
(EGSM900/GSM1800/1900)
Display: Large, high-resolution TFT color display
Up to 65,536 colors
176 x 208-pixel resolution
Series 60 user interface (UI) with selectable themes
Price Range: $250.00 to $266.25
The Nokia 3230 is a budget smartphone. Nokia have tried to pack in as many popular features as possible into this phone, so on paper it sounds great, with a megapixel camera, video recording of up to one hour, MP3 player, Bluetooth wireless games and fast internet access. It also features a compact design and is one of the lightest smartphones available - at 110g it compares well with series 40 phones - and it’s priced to be popular.
The 3230 isn’t a great looker, except in a boxy retro kind of way, but it’s got a sensible keypad and a nice-sized screen. The screen is standard spec for a Nokia smartphone, and feature-wise it’s comparable with most of Nokia’s series 60 phones such as the 6670 or 7610. There are a couple of extras such as the Visual Radio, Push to Talk and Tunes Studio (polyphonic ringtone composer).
Following a tried and true recipe, Nokia’s 3230 comes across as a modestly sized and rather attractive smartphone at 110 g and 109 x 49 x 19 mm. Courtesy of a clever design trick or two, its delightfully bright and crisp 65K colour screen with adjustable brightness comes across as larger than it really is, yet is unable to draw our attention away from a couple of faux pas in the ergonomics department.
Despite excellent tactile feedback, the numerical keypad has been placed too far down on the front of the phone, leading to users having to choose between having the 3230 bobbing madly up and down with every press or choose a higher grip only to have their thumbs uncomfortably strained. Similarly poor, the flush navigational array just below the screen has uncomfortably short and heavy key travel, and combining small button sizes with placing the ‘C’ button right next to two other frequently used buttons isn’t clever at all. As usual, however, Nokia has managed to stick a standout feature among several mediocrities; one of its best joysticks ever sits smack dab in the middle.
Key Features:
1.3 megapixel camera (effective resolution 1.23 megapixels for image capture)
Customize your muvees with Movie Director
xHTML browser for real Web browsing
65,536-color screen
Push to Talk with dedicated key
Expandable memory (128 MB RS-MMC included)
New multiplayer games over Bluetooth™ wireless technology
Instant messaging with Presence contacts
Multimedia messaging
Customizable color themes
Digital Services:
Graphics, icons, animations, logos
Games: Possibility to download new games
Ringing, alert, and gaming tones: MP3, MIDI with support for up to 48 polyphonic sounds
Themes: Possibility to download new themes including animated wallpapers, animated screensavers, color schemes, and ringing tones
Messaging:
Multimedia messaging: MMS 1.2 for creating, receiving, editing, and sending videos and pictures with AMR voice clips
Text messaging: Supports concatenated SMS; picture messaging; SMS distribution list
Chat
Predictive text input: Support for all major languages in Europe and Asia-Pacific
