Choosing Nokia over other brands was an easy decision. I know and have experienced its quality, battery life, ease of navigation, friendly features and convenient serviceability. With research, I found other brands either very good in one aspect and lacking in others or average in all features. My first phone was a 3120, then a 2630, then 3110c and now 3120c, with two Sony Ericcson Walkman series being briefly used in between.
I was looking for a progression in the camera specifications, combined with good looks, a rewarding battery life, decent in-built memory with a good expandable memory option, Bluetooth and infrared, refined sound quality, great games, larger display and of course, affordable price. I had an instinctive feeling I was asking for too much if I wanted it to be affordable! But my research of the latest and to-be-released handsets made me zero down to Nokia 3120 Classic. A combination of all this plus a bonus of video calling facility(but alas, we are still one year away from this technology) made me feel good about this handset.
I bought it in mid October for a not-so-low price of Rs 6, 750. Bracing myself for a full blown 3120 Classic journey and expecting the rush of impressions, emotions and finally reviews, I now feel confident sharing my experiences with it.
The sealed package was a shock of sorts. A good feature-packed handset in such a small box made my heart sink. I couldn’t expect anything more than the handset itself, battery, headphones and user manual, and that is what I got. The Nokia 6300 comes with the same features and price but with a carry pouch, strap and a memory card bundled in the box. So I knew the homecoming of 3120c wasn’t going to be’big’.
Looks wise, the phone scores. A neat two inch display bursting with 16 million colours, slim design with a video call camera(usually comes in otherwise big, high end and bulky handsets), a good colour combo of black and ash grey panel, soft keypad buttons, big in size so no fumbling and nailing the buttons for those blessed with big fingers. The flash light is a true delight. I actually wondered if I could use it as a torch light too, but there were no options for it!
There were, however a few dampeners. There’s no quick camera access button on the side panel. Hello, even cheap VGA camera handsets flaunt it. Wherever did it go on this phone and why? And then, no matter how much I hen-pecked the phone, I couldn’t locate any facility to use a neck strap. Will you beleive it now, that while writing this review, I was studying the phone again and finally found why? A tiny inlet next to the battery panel latch has a small hook like projection that goes under the panel. On opening the panel, the neck strap has to be hooked on to this projection and the panel closes over it, the strap then being snugly’trapped’ inside. Talk about cleverly designed inconvenience!
Also the back panel’s paint peels big time. Just a month into my using this phone, I found a small chip of the paint peeling off near the camera. I felt like this could be the biggest chink in my phone armour. I couldn’t come to terms with this. Where’s Nokia’s sturdy phone-makers gone? And why should expensive ones have such noticeable flaws?
Now, the phone in itself. The camera and camera options are good. The video quality is VGA. Video Gets Axed. A terrible decision to keep a 2mg camera phone’s video quality VGA. So what if the video lenght is maximum? One needs no guessing on how its VGA video telephony will look like.
The sound quality is mediocre. The one ear piece headphone is a let down. To top it, it’s not a stereo headset either. So if you’re a music buff, steer clear of this model. The sound reception isn’t the best either. A soft spoken caller will not always be heard by the other party. When the phone is encased in a cover, you have to put it away from the ear and onto the mouth and speak loudly to be heard. For a phone in such a price range, this is unforgivable.
The battery life is satisfactory. Speak at length for 2 hrs and you will perhaps spend a quarter or at the most half of its charge. The same goes for surfing or playing games. It could be better of course, but for an average user, it’s not bad.
The Applications are utility packed. The Presenter is a thoughtful application if you’re business savvy about your gadgets. I could not use the Widsets and Sensor. Though GPRS is enabled on my handset, it said’check your connection settings’. To some extent, they both appeared quite the same to me. Both require profiles to be made and uploaded, contacts added with the usual socializing features, except that Sensor help you’sense’ and connect with other Sensor users on their handsets, using Bluetooth. Opera Mini is a cute offer on the application list. Makes browsing more computer-like. But I felt the Web Search was redundant- featuring Yahoo search while Yahoo Go! already has this facility. It seemed to me like Nokia and Yahoo! have a rather snug tie-up. Be sure to use the Download! It has some good games to add on to the list. I wish Nokia added the Tip Calculator software on this phone. It’s one application that could be of use often.
Snake was a major disappointment in Games on this handset. The very game that defined Nokia phones and was so popular feels like some slow motion made-for-kids cuddly Snake game. You’d find a very colourful and action-less version of the game here.
The Gallery section have the option of downloading free wallpapers, games, themes etc from Nokia.com which is a decent add-on to those already in the handset. But you can get better ones online.
Also a general observation- I couldn’t fathom why some Nokia phones, this one included, have every possible use of a ringtone, except assigning it to a specific contact. Group ringtone is commonplace, but what’s the technological tantrum not to have this simple yet useful feature? I wish the Nokia phone designers stop discarding useful features of previous phone models in subsequent ones, just to make them’different’. Utility is always utility, no matter how sophisticated a phone may be, after all they all share the same basic functions.
All said and done, this handset still suits an average user like me who is not too keen on music, browses the net sometimes(the 3G technology makes browsing faster), takes more pictures than videos, downloads and stores a good mega bytes of gallery stuff, and wants a good looking phone with decent features and performance.
Here’s a parting advice. If you’re looking for long term utility, I’d suggest mono block or bar design phones. The 3600 packs just the same features as 3120c with the exception of Maps and the camera, but its slide design makes it a delicate bargain. The same goes with clamp phones. They’re difficult to repair(in some cases impossible), are more expensive and don’t have a very long life, especially with the latest and more sleeker or smaller designs in these categories making them look outdated faster. But if you’re one to change phones just a little less often than clothes, then let this pass!