Nokia X3 - Review

(Nokia X3 )

The latest and the more affordable addition to the Nokia X series is the Nokia X3. This compact slider phone is a feasible option if you need a good quality music oriented phone without creating a big hole in your pocket. The phone has a rather small 2.2 inch display accompanied by audio playback buttons on the left panel , a 3.2 mega pixel camera, a 3.5 mm audio jack and a loudspeaker on top of the phone. This piece is available in several colour combinations like red and black, blue and black and grey and black.

Interface

Nokia X3 uses the series 40 6^th edition user interface. The pre selected wallpaper, the usual status readings and a strip on the top containing the favorite shortcuts take up the topmost space of the homepage. Then below that we have the currently playing track or the radio channel currently in use and shortcuts to the players and the Ovi store. The main menu which is more or less the standard Nokia menu can be reordered according to ones preference. The gallery has been given some welcome changes and now has categories like photos, videos and all contents. Overall the interface gives all the basic conveniences needed.

Music Player

The Nokia X3 is a music oriented phone and it does not disappoint you there. The sound through the snug round headed speakers is clear and sharp. The D pad also lights up while the music is playing. The playback buttons on the left panel on screen can be used to control the music. A2DP profile supports the use of Bluetooth earphones and the 5 equalizers also enhance the experience.

FM player

One of the best features of the Nokia X3 is that it has a built in antenna for the FM radio which is a rare feature and so one doesn’t need plug ins to turn it on. The frequency and channel in use are displayed on the home screen.

Ovi contacts in collaboration with the X3 enables the user to send an invitation to anybody using Gmail and hence chat with them on Gtalk which is supported by Ovi.

Ovi share gives the user free access to unlimited storage where you can share images, video and music.

Telephony is pretty good on this phone. The incoming and outgoing calls are sharp and clear thanks to the Voice Clarity feature, smart dialing is not available and the loudspeaker is average. However vibrating alert is fairly strong.

Phonebook is rather impressive on the Nokia X3. It can store up to 2000 contacts and a variety of fields can be assigned to each. Ring tones can be assigned to each contact, even video ring tones is an option. The SIM contacts and the phone contacts can be viewed separately. The contacts can also be grouped under various heads as per the users convenience. The font size can be changed and the voice dial feature is also available. Another interesting feature is the Find on Map which locates the contacts address on the Ovi maps if entered accurately.

Nokia X3 supports all message types including SMS, MMS and also audio messages. The phone also has the conversation thread feature in which messages between two people can be viewed as conversations with speech bubbles. One can always switch to normal message view when wanted. SMS becomes MMS when you use any media file making it convenient. So the messaging options are very satisfactory.

Email client on Nokia X3 is very easy to use. An account can be created by just entering the Email address and password. The user can be notified of new mail if the connection is active and one can view just the message headers or whole messages as per requirement.

The Nokia X3 packs a 3.2 mega pixels camera which gives image resolution up to 2048×1536 pixels. The custom settings available are white balance, three quality levels and various effects. Landscape and portrait shooting can be switched, but the camera lacks LED flash and autofocus. In good light, the camera can click sharp pictures. The camera also shoots video on QVGA resolution at about 10 fps, so the video shooting is average.

This phone can support 3GP, MP4 and WMV formats and the videos can be viewed on full screen mode while the controls remain on standby. DivX, however is not supported and as Adobe Flash is not supported you tube videos cannot be viewed.

This phone uses Webkit based Web browser which gives decent performance. The options to make calls , receive calls and messaging while browsing are available. The web pages are well rendered and scrolling is fairly quick.

X3 has a variety of phone applications like the Google search, currency converter and even shoe size converter. The Flickr Application allows you to upload your pictures on the site. Nokia maps although don’t have GPS can look up addresses and browse maps. There is also the feature of route planning once the destination and the starting point are entered.

Nokia X3 is a good choice if you need an affordable phone that has all the basic features required and excellent music quality.

Size	Dimensions 96×49.3×14.1mm, 65.8cc Weight 103g
Display	Type TFT,256K colors Size 240×320pixels, 2.2 inches
Sound	Alert types Vibration, downloadable plyphonic,MP3 ringtones Speaker phones: Yes with stereo speakers
Memory	Phonebook :2000 entries Call records: 20 dialled,20 received,20 missed Internal:46MB Card Slot: micro SD, up to 16GB,2GB included
Data	GPRS: Class 32 EDGE : Class 32 ,296/178/8kbits Bluetooth: Yes ,v2.1 with A2DP USB: micro USB
Camera	Primary: 3.2 mp, 2048×1536pixels Video: QCIF at 15fps
Features	Messaging: SMS(threaded)MMS,email Browser: WAP 2.0/xHTML,HTML Radio: Stereo FM Radio with RDS, built in antenna JAVA: MIDP 2.1 Stand by Upto 380 h Talk time Up to 7 h 30 min