What a phone! All the ’’Just Right’’ features, at a ’’Just affordable’’ price!
If you are looking for a entry-level Value For Money phone with most of the goodies packed in, look no further. This is the phone to buy, eyes closed.
PROs:
Very compact feature packed phone. The Nokia 3120 is nothing but Nokia 6610/6610i MINUS the Internal Modem, Stereo FM Radio and Camera, and a LOT less internal memory (473 KB compared to 4MB of 6610i). 3120 has the SAME look-n-feel as 6610i in terms of menu, screen resolution (exactly same screen, 4K color, 128*128 pix).
Customizable ’’Go To’’ menu with shortcuts to essential menu items, increasing usage efficiency for the busy executive.
Calendar feature is quite nice and reachable (right toggle key directly launches Calendar)
You can set all your friends/Family Birthday reminder setting with auto-age update (if you had entered the exact DOB)! I liked it.
Metallic-feel flat Keys are very soft, responsive and convenient for fast SMS-ing.
Very good Speakerphone, sound does not crackle even at highest volume.
I am extremely satisfied with the battery life. I mostly stay in good signal-coverage-area, and use the phone for approx 1.5 hrs per day calling, in addition to using other features like SMS, Organizer, Calendar, Contacts, Calculator (mostly). Battery (BL-5C) lasts 2 days with vibra-call on, and 2.5 days with vibra-call off.
Cons:
Looks & Colour: When I went to buy this phone, wanted the light blue one (which I really liked), but only the golden cover phone was available which looked pretty yuk; I didn’t like the looks of the Golden phone at all, although I am using it out of compulsion now. Someday very soon I will change the cover to something more tuned to my self.
Ringer Volume: Another thing I did not like is low ringer volume, in some of the cases I miss calls in noisy environments while the phone rings on in my pocket coz I forgot to turn on the vibra-call feature.
Microphone Reception is not comparably powerful as Ext Speaker: When I am using this in the speakerphone mode while driving or working, the phone is usually held/placed 12-18 inches far from my mouth. In these situations, the other person complains of poor voice quality most of the time, so I have to really speak near the phone (2-3 inches from the handset).
Connectivity is another problem - this phone supports the DKU-5 cable wit Nokia PC-Suite, no IR/Bluetooth connectivity. I had a tough time getting the thing work on my laptop with the DKU-5 USB Cable ... although it is a USB cable, you have to select ’’Serial Cable’’ while cable driver setup else it wont work ... I have burnt my fingers and learnt the hard way :) .
Little Memory: After you get the phone working with the PC-Suite and start sync-ing with outlook and upload pics for screensavers etc, you realize that the phone has surprisingly little memory (ONLY 473 KB !!!).
No Internal Modem: My main intention of buying the data cable was to connect to Internet from Laptop through GPRS, but I learnt with a shock that this phone does not have an internal modem so that is not possible.
But then, if you want all these features, you can always go up the price ladder by another 30-40% and you get the 6610i or 6020 with these goodies. Shell out more moolah, and you will get even more :) that is the rule of the market.
Summary:
Overall, this phone is a nice package at this price and I would say VERY good value for money, at its price of about INR 4500/- as in Nov 2005.