Introduction
I’ve been using the subject of this review with complete satisfaction for many days and I’ve been thinking about how to begin the eulogy and what to pick first from the great features of 3120 classic, but before writing the article I’ve taken a look at the price of the phone. It was a bit of a surprise, as the handset costs nearly 200 EUR, which has not been characteristic for phones of the 3 series.
Of course one could reply immediately: it’s a fresh model, this will get lower and maybe we don’t even have to wait too much for that. But if someone decides to invest such a sum in order to reach his or her telecommunication goals, than we come across a series of alternatives. I’d like to pick only a couple of alternatives from other manufacturers, which don’t even cost as much as 3120 classic: there is the great Samsung G600; if we need 3G then we have U700 or Sony Ericsson K770i.
But if this is the situation then 3120 classic, shipped by XXL GSM, has to be an extraordinary phone, as it has to be at least as good as the phones mentioned above in features, quality and style. Judging style is a subjective matter, but considering the other two aspects the little Nokia really has nothing to be ashamed of. But let’s give a moment for the snobbery inside everyone to emerge. 3120 classic? Well the “non-classic” version too has been a youthful piece of plastic, with a low price and anyway: having a 3xxx Nokia is not the same thing as showing off with a U700. We can’t get smug all the way with this, as 3120 looks like simple, insignificant stuff at first glance. But appearances can be deceptive. How much? We’ll see that immediately.
Exterior
The device came in such a box that we have started thinking: or the phone or the charger will be missing. But we even found a headset too crammed inside the package and Nokia wasn’t wasting paper, all accessories fit nice and tight inside the box.
After taking out the really slim and graceful phone, one still doesn’t get it immediately that he has to do with a device sporting mid-range features. The dark grey color, the logical key layout and the characteristic marks of the 3xxx series all suggest a low-keyed handset. The first thing that stunned me was the secondary camera above the display, but I just laughed: it has to be a light sensor. But what if it’s not? Then I’m holding a 3G device in my hands and it’s forbidden to use a 128 x 160 pixel display with such and usually there is memory expandability packed inside too.
And that’s true. The display has a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels and after taking of the back we can see the microSD slot on the side of the phone. It’s another matter that one needs extra-long nails to take the card out of its slot, but this shouldn’t disturb anyone so much. General assembly quality is quite good, but the material used is a shiny, slippery plastic – we can’t have everything. The typical Nokia layout of buttons won’t cause us any trouble, the keys are large, have a good pressure point, even the bit pointed bottom row is easy to use.
On back of the handset we have a 2 megapixel camera with flash looking at us. The left side of the phone lacks any buttons, while we can only see the volume control keys on the right. We can turn on 3120 classic with the button on its top and finally we have to mention the bottom of the phone, as this is the place where we can find the connector for the headset, the charger and the microUSB cable, this latter one being protected by a small lid.
Menu, basic functions
The 2” QVGA display has a beautiful picture. The menu system has the well known layout, we have the usual Series40 platform working on the phone. I have been waiting for this moment and I can finally write it down: those who don’t know what Series40 is should read our detailed review about Nokia’s most widely used system (just click on the link in the previous sentence). After this I don’t even have to mention that this model too has features like theme support, active standby screen, customizable function keys and menu with icon view. But we have to grumble again about the PTT (Push-To-Talk) feature being placed in the main menu, so the 3 x 3 icon layout has 10 icons and we have to go down a row to access the browser.
Let’s see a short video of 3120 classic’s menu system:
The phonebook can store 1000 entries which should be enough for any common man. We can assign a series of extra information to the contacts, like a picture or a video. However the index picture is seen only in tiny size at incoming calls, so it doesn’t have much meaning. The video is larger, but we can hear its sound instead of the usual ringtone.
Messaging is flawless. SMS and MMS have the same editing interface; it’s easy to attach all kinds of things. We can send flash SMS too, which can be used for fun mostly, as messages sent this way get their content displayed immediately on the addressee’s screen, so for example a message with the text “SIM Card Error” might cause some surprise.
3120 classic has email support too; it uses the usual Java-based client application. Theoretically the software can set the appropriate parameters after entering our address, but we can edit the settings manually if we want to. Authenticated SMTP servers are no problem, but attachments are limited to 100KB in size. Incoming messages are stored on the 30 MB internal memory, of which 20 MB is free by default.
Organizer, applications
The calendar has a graphical display in month and week view, and list display in day view. We can store five types of entries: meeting, reminder, call, birthday and memo. The software asks for different kinds of information at every type of entry. Unfortunately there is nothing to warn us about conflicting events, but even in graphical view we can’t really see that we’re going to have problems with getting to the other end of town for a meeting while having a dinner at mum’s.
The alarm clock is simple and easy to use, but it can store only one time point, which can be set to repeat. Snooze time can be set up to 59 minutes long, which presumes a nice and long late arrival. The calculator features trigonometric calculations too, while the stopwatch and the countdown timer are the usual one we can see in most S40 phones.
The list of applications includes a unit converter, the Opera Mini browser, the Presenter software and a world clock too. Yahoo Go! (a kind of web-based information database) has also been moved here, along with the Widsets app, which lets us set up other small applications like a weather forecast applet. Searching has its own menu item; it can find pictures and websites with the help of Yahoo.
There is no surprise among games, but at least the designers were generous. Backgammon is the first, followed by Golf Tour and HighRoller Casino. Then comes Rally 3D, the third edition of Snake and Sudoku. I’m in the fortunate situation of not having to present any of them, as their names tell everything.
Multimedia
Even though there is a 2 MP fix-focus camera in 3120 classic, it still takes quite good shots. The viewfinder can be in landscape or portrait mode too, the highest possible resolution is 1600 x 1200 pixels; the average size of pictures rich in details is about 300-400 KB. Fortunately we had a good weather so I could take lots of pictures, but we can still observe a powerful noise level in more homogeneous and dark areas. The flash works fine, so I’ve been quite satisfied on the whole. Test pictures coming up:
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The phone has fine video recording qualities too, as it sports CIF resolution (352 x 288) movies, which doesn’t make it world’s first, but it is exceptional amongst phones in this price range. Viewing speed is also fast, it takes only moments to change between the 2 megapixel pictures, so 3120 classic performs great in this matter even though it’s not its main profile.
There are no problems with music. The single speaker on the back has surprising power; of course quality is characterized by boominess, but it’s still better than the average. The headset can improve this situation, but as it cannot be taken apart, we can only use our own headset after acquiring a converter – until then we have to make do with the medium quality one included in the package. We will need it to make the built-in FM radio work, which is of course stereo, but lacks RDS support.
There is nothing to complain about regarding the music player. It can run in the background, it has repeat and shuffle features, has equalizer presets and we can make two by ourselves. The graphical interface can be of two types, only our taste can decide about this. The phone supports stereo Bluetooth, so wireless music playback is also possible.
Data transfer, battery
Even though there is no HSDPA support, the phone can still operate on GPRS, EDGE and UMTS networks. This comes in handy if we’d like to use the built-in Opera browser and it also makes the phone capable of making video calls, for which we can use the secondary VGA camera on the front. Not all phones from the 3xxx series can do this, but 3120 classic can function as a modem, so we can have an internet connection on our PC by connecting the phone via Bluetooth or microUSB.
It’s interesting that the standard Nokia charger can used for charging the 1000 mAh battery, since the microUSB port can also be used for this. The battery is surprisingly thin and flat (BL-4U), based on my own experience it can keep the phone online for three days without problems.
Summary? 3120 classic has its greatest opponent made by the same manufacturer, it’s called Nokia 6233. It has almost exactly the same features, but currently it costs 25% less – which is clear, as it’s an older model. The subject of our current review is a lovable phone, working like a back-room boy, satisfying all needs of a usual user. I think it is a bit overpriced, if it would cost about €40 less, then I’d put the word “highly” in front of:
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| Nokia 3120 classic |
Bog
Translated by Szaszati
Nokia 3120 classic has been provided by XXL GSM. The phone can be bought at:
Budapest VI. Jókai tér 6.
Budapest VI. Teréz körút 18.
On-line at www.xxlgsm.hu.
Specifications
| Nokia 3120 classic | ||
 | General | |
| Technology | GSM, UMTS | |
| Size | 111 x 45x 13 mm | |
| Weight | 85 grams | |
| Available colors | black, red, violet | |
| Display | ||
| Display diagonal | 2” | |
| Display resolution | 240 x 320 pixels | |
| Display type | TFT | |
| Number of colors | 16 million | |
| Memory | ||
| Phonebook capacity | 1000 entries | |
| SMS memory / max. MMS size | n/a / 295 KB | |
| Internal memory | 30 MB | |
| Memory expandability | microSD | |
| Data transfer | ||
| Frequency bands | 900/1800/1900 MHz | |
| GPRS / EDGE | Class 10 (4+1/3+2) / Class 10 (236.8 kbps) | |
| UMTS / HSDPA | present (384 kbps) / none | |
| IrDA / Bluetooth | none / 2.0 (A2DP too) | |
| WiFi | none | |
| USB | 2.0 (microUSB) | |
| Push-to-talk / RSS | present / none | |
| GPS receiver | none | |
| Basic functions | ||
| Profiles | present | |
| Vibra function | present | |
| Built-in hadsfree | present | |
| Voice dialing / voice commands | present / present | |
| Sound recorder | present | |
| Alarm clock | present, also when turned off | |
| Predictive text entry | T9 | |
| Software | ||
| Platform | Series40 5th edition | |
| WAP / HTML browser | 2.0 / present | |
| E-mail client | present (POP3, IMAP4, authenticated) | |
| Java | present, MIDP 2.0 | |
| Games | 5 | |
| Currency converter | present | |
| Extra software | Yahoo Go, Presenter, Converter | |
| Multimedia | ||
| Main camera | 2 megapixels, fixed focus, flash | |
| Secondary camera | present, VGA resolution | |
| Video recording | present (H.264 format, CIF, 15fps) | |
| Music player | present, runs in background too | |
| Equalizer | present | |
| FM radio | present | |
| Battery | ||
| Main battery | 1000 mAh Li-Ion | |
| Standby time | 290 hours | |
| Talk time | 210 minutes | |
| Other | ||
| - | ||
