Among the assortment of Nokia there is also a music phone - Nokia 3250 XpressMusic. The device has a 2-megapixel camera, built-in radio, Symbian 9.1 OS, microSD card support and a wide range of accessories.
At one time, Nokia launched a real temptation for music fans, as well as for all those who are inclined to buy objects that cause admiration of others. The above smartphone replaced the famous 3230 model, repeating its keyboard and design. However, it is worth noting one very important detail: the Nokia 3250 is not just another example of “take a successful device, add some colors and a couple of new features and start selling it as a new model”. This gadget is the first phone on the market to be equipped with Symbian OS 9.1 and that says a lot.
Sizes and appearance
According to user reviews, the device looks quite large. Objectively speaking, its dimensions of 104 x 50 x 20 mm and weight of 115 grams do not allow us to call it a compact phone.
In any case, the Nokia 3250 is notthat smartphone that you can easily carry in your pocket. As follows from user reviews, the most popular is the pink color variant of the device. For those who find it unnecessarily bright or undignified, one of the other three options - green, black or silver will do.
Architecture
The build quality of the phone is presented at a very high level. All elements of the case are fastened very well and give the impression of very high strength. In other words, the Nokia 3250 is one of the best mobile phones on the market in terms of security. The sides of the device, including those that form part of the lower rotating segment, are made of metal. They cover all parts of the case so firmly that accidental damage is simply impossible. On the other hand, if you set yourself the goal of how to disassemble the Nokia 3250, you can spend a lot of time on it.
The only elements that "break" the metal sides of the phone are the Pop-Port cap, charger connector and latches on the back cover. The Pop-Port lid is made of hard rubber and features the company logo. However, it is not fixed well enough, and this is one of the significant shortcomings of the smartphone. The Nokia 3250 is a music phone that requires frequent use of plug-in headphones, and the need to regularly remove the cover significantly reduces all the benefits of use.
The back cover of the device can be opened by pressing the above latches located in the bottom area, whichlook like rectangular areas. The back cover has a huge glossy Nokia logo. Once the cover is removed, you'll see the BP-6M Lithium Polymer battery, which is significantly larger than other 60-series phones. The developers officially announced 245 hours of standby time for the Nokia 3250 (the battery has a capacity of 1100 mAh) and 180 minutes of talk time. According to user reviews, one battery charge is enough for 10 hours of music listening.
Screen
Unfortunately, Nokia developers did not use a QVGA display in this model. Nothing has changed in comparison with the Nokia 3250, however, the display now displays 262 thousand colors. Everything else is the same - resolution 176 x 208 pixels, surface 35 x 41 mm.
Compared to other Symbian OS Nokia models, version 9.1 brings with it several innovations, such as more icons and a much smaller font that seems to require a higher resolution than the reviewed model.
Management
The control keys are located directly below the display. In addition to two context keys and a pair of red and green call control buttons, there are several other keys borrowed from previous Symbian OS smartphones:
- Key to access the main menu and activate the manager for running programs.
- Pencil to work with clipboard.
- Reset button correction.
- Main control buttons.
The silver joystick is the main control element of the device. Clicking on it is necessary every time to confirm your choice. As follows from user reviews, the joystick is quite difficult to control. Getting used to working with it is not impossible, but it certainly takes effort. The correction keys are too small, so it is very likely to press the wrong button by mistake. Also, some user reviews indicate that sometimes the Nokia 3250 phone does not turn on after an incorrect key press. White screen and other problems continue until the reboot.
Innovative features
The Nokia 3250's alpha numeric keypad is by far the most eye-catching element of the phone. It is worth remembering that the Nokia N90 was the only Nokia model whose parameters include the "body with a swivel segment" element. However, the Nokia 3250 is also equipped with a similar design. In addition to the standard keyboard, its swivel segment also has a 2-megapixel camera and four control keys for the built-in music player.
At the bottom, the device rotates 90° in one direction and up to 180° in the other direction. It can be rotated in four cycles. The fixation in each of them is clear and is accompanied by a pleasant muffled cotton. In addition to performing certain functions, the appearance of the rotation is also very interesting and resembles the famous Rubik's Cube.
Keyboard
The basic number and letter keys work very well. The rubber layer guarantees excellent adhesion between them and the user's fingers. The keyboard is so well designed that it allows you to type at a very high speed. All keys are backlit with a white tint. However, the left side of the buttons appears slightly less lit than other parts of the keyboard. Overall, however, the backlighting of the Nokia 3250 can be rated above average.
If you turn the left side of the keyboard towards you, you will see the built-in camera lens. This position is ideal for taking self-portraits. The camera is activated from the main menu. If you turn the keyboard all the way away from you, the camera app launches by itself. If you turn it up to 360°, you will see four buttons in front of you, which are equipped with automatic lighting. They control the music player.
Incompatible Applications
Nokia 3250, which has different firmware from previous models, is the first smartphone with version 9.1 Symbian OS. It comes along with various innovative features, but also one very significant drawback: the platform is incompatible with older applications. According to user reviews, when trying to install several programs on the phone, the same error message is displayed every time: “The download is not supported by the system.”
This limitation complicates matters as software vendors will now prepare new versions of their products while users becomespending extra time looking for these new versions, downloading them, pre-registering them, etc.
In the middle of the display you can see the generic active standby mode, which was first introduced in the Nokia 6681. The Nokia 3250 has six icons for quick activation of frequently used programs (instead of five in previous models). All icons can be customized according to the user's preferences. Below this panel, you will see the events of the day on the calendar or the first event of the next day. The number of pending tasks, the name of the corresponding MP3 file (if recently played), and the radio frequency/station (if the radio was active) are displayed in the same area. In addition, all the blocks listed above are active, that is, by marking them, you can instantly go directly to the calendar, task manager, MP3 player, radio, etc.
There is one flaw however. All tasks performed in the active standby mode are controlled using the joystick, which limits the functionality. They can be disabled to quickly open frequently used applications. However, standby mode is disabled. In this case, the Nokia 3250 looks like an old smartphone.
Menu options
The main menu is displayed in a standard way - in the form of icons. Initially, all smartphones had signs of a 3x3 matrix. Nokia 3250 has four of them. Its menu matrix consists of 4 rows and 3 segments.
Menu can also be displayed as a list of items. Icons represent different applications and can be hidden in folders until the firstmenu level. They are also redistributed as needed by the user, so frequently used apps appear on the top bar.
