This is the story about the Nokia 3230 I bought the day it launched in Trivandrum.
It was time that I had to get a new handset. My decision was to buy a Nokia itself since my wife was using a Nokia 6600. My desire was to buy the same 6600 itself so that the phone will be compatible with my wife’s phone as the models are the same.
But then fitting a 6600 in your jeans pocket was a difficult thing (according to me ok). So I dropped the idea of buying 6600. Then the model which I liked was the 3230 and since it was the latest launch of nokia, I decided to buy that. I bought the 3230 for Rs.15, 250/-, with bill from Trivandrum, the day it launched.
The Good
There is nothing new to say about the phone other than the sleek long design, picture quality and mp3 player.
The Bad
--> The phone was very slow in functioning. For example, when I unlock the phone, it used to take a while to say the phone is active. Similarly, when I press the menu key, the menu appears in a couple of seconds, as if it the icons are loading from internet connection. I spoke to the authorized nokia care center and they asked me to check whether my phone’s memory is full or not. I checked and told them that only a few addresses are stored and nothing else in the phone. Then the nokia care person told me that we can try solving this issue by re-installing the software. I said its fine but then thought since its a new phone let me use it for a while and then give it for software upgradation.
--> The second thing I noticed was that whenever I receive a call, before the ringtone starts ringing, another beep sound beeps first and then the ringtone starts. I thought this could be a setting issue. But I found out that its not.
Why I will tell you
When I’m in a meeting or so, I put the profile to meeting/office. But when a call or message comes, the beep is so loud that it distracts the meeting. Couple of times this happened and myself and others got irritated in between the meeting. I then had to switch off my phone, which I never liked to.
I first wrote to nokia website complaints section. I received a reply saying it is an alert from your phone that you are getting an incoming call. I wrote to them back I have set a ringtone in the phone so that the phone will play the ringtone when a call comes, but why an extra alert for an incoming call? They did not reply me back. I then informed nokia site that this is a bug in the software of nokia 3230. Received no reply for that as well.
Then I went to the nokia care and told them about this beep sound. They said I’m the first one to complain about this and Anoop the person in charge immediately called Nokia ernakulam and spoke to the nokia people there. He then told me that we may have to send the handset to ernakulam to upgrade the software. Anoop was really helping and he told me to leave the phone with him to install the newer version of software by sending it to nokia ernakulam. I gave the phone and got it back with the new software after 10 days.
When we tried the phone to see if the issue is solved, we could’nt hear any beep. But then when I reached home and when an incoming call came, I heard the beep sound again, but very mild. Though the issue did not solve completely, I adjusted myself to that beep sound and started using the phone.
--> The next issue I started facing was the when I speed up pressing the keys, the phone started hanging. In the sense, when I scroll through the address list etc a bit fast, either the phone will hang or it will restart by taking atleast 2 minutes. This was really irritating.
--> I have a cellone connection. In my native, inside my house, when a call comes in, I’ll have to rush outside the house because the signal is poor. But with my new Sony Erricsson K750i, I can speak sitting anywhere inside my house. So the signal is bad for 3230.
Summarizing
With slow motion functions, hanging, restarting and beep sound issues, I got fed-up and sold my 3230 phone for Rs.8000/- in the fifth month after purchase and bought a new Sony Erricsson K750i.
Praise The Lord. What a difference? The design is cool and small. Features are too good. Display clarity is excellent. Sound is amazing. The speakers are too good that it plays even the minute details. Its a real walk-man when you listen to songs using headset. THE PHONE IS REALLY FAST. Battery life is 2.5 days (to fully discharge). Web support is too good. You can upgrade the software directly from the web using the USB cable and by installing the sony erricsson software that comes in the pack. Since I’ve used both 3230 and K750i, we can make out the quality difference. 3230 is nothing in front of K750i.
The only drawback I found in K750i when compared to 3230 is that, you cannot store multiple mobile, office, home, fax, other numbers for a single contact. You can only store one number for each of these. Also, you cannot set a ringtone for a group. You can either set a general ringtone or a special ringtone for each contact There might be an option to give different ringtones for each group, but I have not found it. But these are really nothing when you feel what the phone offers otherwise.
I’ve decided to use only Sony Erricsson from now on. They have really improved. So... bye to nokia.