The Nokia 3600 is one of those phones that no one likes but everyone buys. Discreet yet comfortable, neat and compact, the slider maintains all the basic features while aiming to go beyond its price range in terms of image quality.
Key Features
The peculiarity of the model "Nokia 3600" was the emphasis on visualization. The 16M-color screen, 3.2MP autofocus camera, VGA video, and TV-out were well above the midrange price range. The rest of the phone consisted of a set of fairly simple components. It's an audio player, FM radio, Bluetooth, EDGE and expandable storage, all on the comfortable and reliable S40 platform in a neat, sleek slider package. While the phone's feature set was outstanding, having 3G would really make the choice easier.
Package
The composition of the retail set of the phone is quite average. The kit includes a regular Nokia 3600 charger (no mini-port), a USB cable and a pair of stereo headphones. The bonus is a 512MB microSD card. Also offered860 mAh battery, quick start guide and instructions for Nokia 3600
The dimensions of the model are 97.8 x 47.2 x 14.5 mm. The plastic phone is very compact and its shape is perfect for any pocket. The device weighs 97.3 g.
Design and construction
Under the 2-inch screen is a nice navigation bar with wide and tidy context keys, as well as call and end buttons located on either side of the well-raised navigation bar. All controls are very convenient and accidental omissions are completely excluded. The navigation bar is well and evenly backlit. The same applies to the display backlight.
The sliding panel is an alphanumeric keypad that occupies the entire bottom of the phone. The middle row is framed by a thin metal frame, reminiscent of the classic style of the Nokia 6230 keyboard. The buttons are large enough, they are well separated and provide a clear press. Typing errors are unlikely, users are very pleased with the build quality and comfort of use. The only problem is the limited space for the top row of buttons, due in part to the case's oval contour.
The backlight of the keyboard is very bright and allows you to comfortably use your phone even in the dark. On the top panel of the Nokia 3600 phone there are two connectors - for connecting a charger and headphones. 2.5mm port is the manufacturer's standard choice, whichreserved 3.5mm for high-end multimedia devices only. Between the connectors is a power switch, a short press of which calls up the call profiles.
On the right is the volume control and a dedicated camera button, the size and height of which allow you to quickly find them with your finger. Users are a little unhappy with the shutter release, which is quite normal at partial pressure, but hard at full pressure.
On the left there is only one element - the microUSB port. It is shifted to the top, and its plastic cover keeps the external perfection of the phone. The memory card slot, unfortunately, is located under the battery. The microphone and strap hole are located just above the USB port.
On the bottom there is only the latch of the battery cover. It is quite stiff and requires quite a lot of force to remove it.
The back panel is made of matte plastic, which does not leave fingerprints. The dual LED flash is located next to the lens, the entire module is placed on a glossy plastic plate. There is a speakerphone in the lower left corner.
Removing the battery cover, which is easier said than done, reveals the BL-4S's 860mAh battery and SIM card slot. The Nokia 3600 battery falls out immediately after removing the back panel, as there is nothing to hold it in place. In contrast, the SIM card slot is housed in a metal bracket, which at first seems a littlehard. The battery itself functions decently - the phone lasts 3-4 days on a single charge.
Small slider is nice to work with. Sliding extension is precise and reliable. The average quality case is pleasant to the touch and quite resistant to damage. Its positive features include a graduated color pattern and a fingerprint-resistant surface.
Display
2-inch screen supports QVGA resolution and 16 million colors. A distinctive feature of Nokia phones is the clarity of the image in direct sunlight, inaccessible to most other manufacturers. According to reviews, the size of the display is in line with the price range, but this is a slider with an emphasis on graphics quality, so according to users, the manufacturer could have offered a little more.
Communication
According to the owners, signal reception and sound quality during a telephone conversation do not cause problems. The handset is equipped with a background noise suppression system. However, almost all modern S40 phones also come with a noise cancellation feature called Voice Clarity.
The model is better at transmitting sound than the Nokia 6500 Classic. In any case, it is loud and clear at both ends, which means that there will be no problems with audibility when making phone calls. Vibration strength is also very good.
User Interface Summary
Nokia 3600 uses Series 40 version 5 user interface, FP 1. The number of customizable options has grown, but at the expensecomplicating the menu structure and navigation. The biggest advance in this version of the user interface is the addition of the Nokia Maps application, which works just as well as it does on Nokia Symbian smartphones. The program is compatible with an external Bluetooth GPS receiver, so finding the right way is not a problem, even for a traditional mobile phone.
No changes to screen saver. The display shows pre-selected wallpapers with the usual status readings such as signal strength, battery status, call profile icon and time in the top bar. The center of the navigation key opens the main menu, and the context buttons can be assigned a function of the user's choice. The font on the main display of any color at the request of the user.
Active standby is available. It consists of 4 tabs that can be edited or moved around as needed. In the most popular variant, the top area is reserved for instant access to favorite functions, indicated by the corresponding icons. The center is reserved for access to the music player, radio and calendar. At the very bottom is the web search bar. Naturally, the behavior of the two soft keys can also be customized.
The icons themselves have not changed, keeping the well-known design with animation of the selected icon. They, too, can be freely reordered if the user finds the order inconvenient.
Submenus are displayed as lists. As usual providedalphanumeric shortcut keys for menu items. According to reviews, the interface is fast and responsive.
Nokia 3600 has 6 ring tones. This is enough to cover almost any scenario. There is also an airplane mode that disables all transceivers and allows you to use your phone without a SIM card inserted.
Music player
Audio player "Nokia 3600", according to the owners, is one of the best applications of the model. It has a decent design and good functionality, including showing album art and supporting a wide range of formats.
The player is controlled using navigation keys. In addition to the standard features, the Nokia 3600 music player allows you to sort songs by artist, album and genre. It plays AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, MP4, WMA, AMR-NB, Mobile XMF, SP-MIDI, MIDI Tones (64-tone poly) and True files. Naturally, the A2DP profile is supported, allowing you to use Bluetooth stereo headphones.
The player has one additional skin. Playing tracks are displayed on the active home screen. If you don't like the headset that comes with your phone, you can easily replace it, all thanks to standard 2.5mm jacks.
The player offers a large number of customizable options. The sound can be improved with equalizer settings and stereo expansion. There are 5 presets, but you can easily create new ones as there are two custom slots.
Sound quality
According to the reviews of the owners, despite the fact that this is not a music phone, the slider has a fairly good frequency response. "Nokia 3600" is not impressive with other sound parameters, but there is nothing to worry about. However, you need to know that most of them are below average. Considering the realistically low price range and the fact that this manufacturer has phones that are much worse, we can say that the sound of the Nokia 3600 is decent.
An alternative to preloaded content is FM radio. It uses an audio player interface and supports all the main features. Like the music player, the radio also has 2 themes. RDS support available.
Video player
The Nokia 3600 video player supports 3GP and MP4 formats. Videos can be played in full screen mode, as well as fast rewind. The option to hide softkey functions allows you to better use the full screen mode, improving the viewing experience. Of course, like the FM radio and audio player, the player-player runs in the background on the phone's active splash screen.
Camera
Image quality was to be the highlight of the Nokia 3600. The phone offered the most affordable 3.2 megapixel camera at the time, with resolutions up to 2048 x 1536 pixels. As usual with the 40 series, its customization options are rather limited, but reasonable given the model's price range. The user can set the white balance, 3 quality levels from basic to high, andvarious effects. Sequential shots and shooting in portrait and landscape modes were also among the available options.
According to the owners, the autofocus camera corresponds to a higher class, but the LED flash is rather weak, suitable only for close objects. Owners liked the dedicated shutter button, but its excessive rigidity robbed them of much of the enjoyment of using it.
The Nokia 3600 camera is hardly among the best 3.2 MP models. Image quality is average. In favorable weather, you can get decent pictures, a little sharp, but with good color reproduction. The noise level is still high in monophonic sections. The lack of detail in photographs is another weakness of the image sensor.
Camera speed is unremarkable and file save times are below average.
In terms of video recording, the Nokia 3600 allows you to shoot in VGA resolution at 15 fps. The length of 3GP videos is only limited by the amount of available memory. While video isn't stunning at all, VGA resolution was still fairly rare in the mid-range.
Games
The phone is preloaded with 6 entertainment applications for gamers. For fans of classic board games, the manufacturer offered Backgammon II. This is a nice Java interpretation of the popular backgammon game. Snake is a common occurrence for Nokia, so its presence is unlikely to surprise anyone. The next 2 games are the golf sports simulator Golf Tour and the Java version of the popularJapanese Sudoku. The challenge to the user's brain and reflexes is thrown by City Bloxx. The goal of the game is to create a city by stacking tower pieces on top of each other. Music Guess tests the ability to recognize songs from small excerpts from them. Games on the phone are characterized by good graphics and comparative simplicity.
In conclusion
End-tier models are often unfairly expected to deliver higher performance and features due to their high price tag. A neat and comfortable Nokia 3600 phone will not surprise you, but you can count on its reasonable performance. The nice looks of the model motivate us to explore it further and appreciate its useful feature set: 16-color QVGA screen, FM radio, Bluetooth stereo, expandable memory and Nokia maps. The 3.2MP camera didn't impress users, especially given the high claims for image quality, but the TV output and VGA video made up for it.
