NOKIA X3-02 REVIEW

Nokia, once known for really solid budget phones
(essentially, the non-smartphone category), seemed to
have lost the plot, off late. Remember the
ruggedness of the 3310 and the 3315? Those phones
were so solidly built that no matter what torture they
went through, they almost always survived without a
grimace. A few years after these phones were
released, Nokia made some really solid phones, which
offered the looks, functionality and solidity. However,
off late, the Finnish handset manufacturer had lost the
touch a bit. The non-smartphone category devices
were drab. The Nokia X3-02 attempts to set the
problem right, with an offering which has a
touchscreen and a physical keypad as well.
First Impression: Extremely slim
The X3-02, straight out of the box, feels extremely
slim. And looks very traditional as well, with the
physical numeric keypad as well. Essentially, this
looks like a traditional candy bar phone. And you will
be forgiven if you don ’t even realize that this is a
touchscreen phone! The 2.4-inch screen has the
goodness of touch as well.
The phone that we got for review was dressed in a
combination of black and grey, which looked quite
good. The matte finish makes this less needy of
cleaning against the fingerprints and largely immune to
the scratches. The numeric keypad has the star, hash
and 0 keys to the right. The top layer has dedicated
buttons for call connect/disconnect music and emails.
The right side panel also has the volume keys, the
phone lock/unlock as well as one part of the battery
cover open hinge. The left panel has the second part of
the battery cover latch. The top panel has the 3.5mm
headphone jack, microUSB port and the familiar Nokia
charging port. The rear panel has the 5MP camera, but
no flash.
The build quality is quite good. While you do feel that
the phone is essentially a plastic body, it doesn ’t feel
cheap or creaky. The battery cover is anodized
aluminum though. The slim form factor does allow it to
sit well in the hand.
Features: Touch and type
The X3-02 looks a lot like the traditional phones with a
numeric keypad, and it isn ’t easy for most people to
figure out that there is a touchscreen there as well, just
by looking at it. But for a price of just less than Rs
9000, the X3-02 attempts to offer the best of both
worlds. Add dedicated buttons for multiple apps on the
keypad, and you have a phone that really means
business.
The interface has taken a lot of cues from Symbian’s
smartphone OS, which gives this a pretty similar
appearance, interface wise. However, an essential
app- the music player does have a very drab interface.
While the screen size constraints may have had
something to do with it, a good-looking media player is
almost a necessity now!
Performance: The hidden talents
The X3-02 is not a smartphone, and you can feel that it
tries to show that it is not a dumbphone either. The
S40 Symbian interface has taken a lot from the
new Symbian 3 interface, in terms of the icons,
mostly. It took Nokia quite a while to get the
touchscreen interface working on the Symbian S60 OS
(remember the N97 and the 5800 XpressMusic?), and
sadly, this is pretty much the same story with the S40.
While the interface looks good, the touch doesn ’t work
very well. The resistive screen’s limitations really
show up, particularly because the touch response isn’t
very sure and consistent. This is most felt when you
are scrolling up and down a menu. While you may
attempt to scroll down the menu, you may actually
end up selecting something and opening another menu.
Touch response related annoyances take the sheen off
the fact that the physical numeric keypad is fantastic.
The keys feel solid, and the response is sure. The only
thing that needs getting used to is the fact that the
hash, star and zero keys are on the right. And if you
have the habit of typing without looking, that can be a
bit of a learning curve.
The 2.4-inch display is very basic, offering 256k
colours in a resolution of 240x320 pixels. If you are
looking forward to watching videos on the phone,
expect a very basic viewing experience. Audio
playback is pretty good as well, assuming you have a
pair of decent headphones plugged in to the 3.5mm
jack. X2’s built-in speaker is extremely loud. Crank up
the volume beyond 70%, and there is a really sharp
edge to the sound, so much so that it can hurt the ears,
if you are listening to music. Music may not be best
heard on the speaker, due to the lack of punch, but will
help a lot on calls.
Being a phone primarily, the X3-02 does well on the
call quality and clarity front. The earpiece volume
levels are quite loud, and the same is true for the built-
in speaker. Calls, even in noisy situations, will not be a
problem. Clarity offered is pretty good for the earpiece
and on the speaker as well, up to a volume level of
70%.
Since this is not a smartphone, without the bells and
whistles of the syncing apps, and with basic hardware
specs, battery backup is a steady 2 (and a bit more)
days from full charge to full discharge. The tiny
860mAh battery does manage extremely well, perhaps
helped by the fact that there aren ’t a lot of apps
constantly syncing online. The phone could have done
with a bigger battery though.
The 5MP camera is quite okay. Without the flash, the
capabilities are extremely limited. Images are passable,
with quite good clarity. However, colour depth isn't
really there. Video recording is also something which
essentially makes up the numbers. Videos are smooth,
but the camera does get annoyed in case of sudden
lighting changes and jerky movements.