This is supposed to be the “smartphone for the masses” selling at around $400 without a contract in US (the phone hasn’t been released officially in US yet so it’s rare to find). Here’s a comprehensive review of the unit at GSMArena with plenty of pictures. The device comes with a recent build of Symbian OS v7. Pros: GPRS class 10, EDGE class 5, 1.3 MP camera, Bluetooth, includes a 32 MB MMC card, FM radio, image/video editor, Real player, 176×208 hi-res screen, email, XHTML browser. Drawbacks: It seems to be using a rare kind of MMC (about $55 for 256 MB), only 6 MBs of internal memory, earphones only deliver mono sound for mp3 playback and they don’t seem reliable with FM either.
Nokia 3230 review: Smartphone for the masses
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Eugenia Loli
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Too expensive to become the option for masses.
Its a half-width MMC, and all Nokia cellphones sold in Europe have used them for quite some time. And they usually come with a 32 or 64MB one free – although that might just be the business phones. My 64MB one came with a registered copy of NetFront, which was nice….
It sells for 400 Euros in Europe too (a bit more expensive than the deal above). I would consider it more if it was in the US $300-350 range…
Until then, this might be a better deal for most ($89):
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=NOKIA-3300&cpc=SCH
Only drawbacks on this model is that it has no camera and it’s only dual band. But the keyboard is cool to do quick text messaging.
This model I link above is the US version, which has the full keyboard. The Asian/European edition does not have a full keyboard, just a dial pad and a joystick.
Stop being cheap. 400 for a smartphone
I have Tomtom Navigator Germany on a 512 MMC ( not the RS type ) and a ebookreader. There are also a lot of games and emulators. These things really rock! I just would like to have a flash for the camera or a bigger screen, so the 6681 or the 7710 will be my next phone.
Nokia might be testing the water – I think Palm/MS have the market cornered for smartfones as of now. Would love to see more options though.
Milione
For anyone loking for market statistics, here is a nice article on the subject (surprising source):
http://www.windowsfordevices.com/articles/AT4335151181.html
TO sum it up, worldwide, symbian 41%, microsoft 22% and palm 22%.
Of all symbian phones, Nokia is selling almost 80 %.
To understand the US view better, here are some stats for Jan last year for US only.
http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=6779
To sum it up, palm 46, pocket pc 22 ms smartphone 13, symbian 11. By March (last year) this gap was narrowed to palm 47%, symbian 20 %. No idea what the market looks like now.
Apparently Nokia has not been delivering the goods (S60 phones) to the US yet.
Does anyone know what’s the situation in the US at the moment? I would assume that symbian shares would have rosen even due to the poorly successfull n-gage.
Siemens SX1 costs half this, can do almost all that (less megapixels in all places, but that would not kill you).
Still, much better mp3 playback, good FM.
So what’s good in this new smartphone?
The main feature difference is EDGE. Though not so important, GPRS class 10 is pretty fast for me. It’s a shame for nokia to produce the smartphone with mono sound in the 2005. And they priced it at $400, what a mockery!
What on earth is EDGE ?
Per my company’s speak easy:
Enhanced Data rate for Global Evolution
A technology (also known as GSM++) that allows Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) operators to use existing GSM radio bands to offer wireless multimedia IP-based services and applications at speeds of 384 kbps with a bit-rate of 48 kbps per timeslot and up to 69.2 kbps per timeslot under ideal radio conditions. (A more realistic theoretical limit is 59.2 kbps per timeslot). The 384 kbps prediction is from an International Telecommunication Union (ITU)-defined objective in the ITU2000 standard. EDGE is fully based on GSM and requires relatively small changes to network hardware and software. For example, EDGE uses the same time division multiple access (TDMA) frame structure, logic channel, and 200-kHz carrier bandwidth as today’s GSM networks, allowing existing cell plans to remain intact. Formerly called Enhanced Data rate for GSM Evolution.
Also S60 software is more compatible with 3230 than SX1. OTOH SX1 looks better, is smaller and supports mp3:s. SX1s keyboard layout is not very fast to use.