Nokia X3-02 Touch & Type review: the first touchphone on the S40
I want to start my review by saying that about a week ago I bought myself this phone, after reading many comments, both positive and negative, reviews, watching a video about it, I nevertheless decided and bought it myself !! And today I want to tell you about the Nokia X3 Touch & Type, which, as many say, became the first touchscreen phone, I want to emphasize the phone that also on the S40 platform, since before that only expensive smartphones had touch screens.
Content:
1. Delivery set
2. Appearance
3. Keyboard
4. Screen
5. Interface
6. Phone book
7. Calls
8. Messages
9. Email
10. Camera
11. Audio player
12. Radio
13. Games
14. Browser
15. Communication
16. Working hours
17. Conclusion
This phone appeared on the market not so long ago, but the description on the Internet has been fun since the end of summer, it was from that period that I was waiting for its release, and when it nevertheless appeared in our country and I went to the store to buy myself a Nokia X3- 02 Touch & Type and exactly black, they made it clear to me that in our country only the white model was certified, and I had to wait another two weeks. And what exactly pushed Nokia to create such a handset is, I think, the appearance of phones similar to the Korean market, which are also relatively cheap, this is what caused the appearance of such a hybrid, in which there is something from both a smartphone and an ordinary phone!
And here is the main question that arises after the creation of such a model: will there be full-fledged touchphones on the S40 platform? I think time will tell, but the main thing here is the sales indicator of this device for a certain period.
Contents of delivery
Nokia X3-02
Nokia Battery BL-4S
Nokia Compact Charger AC-8
Nokia Stereo Headset WH-102
User's manual
Appearance
I think that it was not in vain that Nokia chose such a form-factor as a candy bar, since it is still the most practical and most popular. I would also like to note the original design, in my opinion, this is the first phone from the company with such a design solution. Yes, I want to note that the phone, first of all, is very beautiful both in the photo and live, and even after viewing it by my friends, I want to say that they were impressed, since everyone liked it, and I did not hear from anyone bad criticism about his appearance. But here I want to note that not everything is so smooth, that not everyone is a fan of Nokia, there are still those who claim that the company has stripped the design of the Chinese, that Sony Ericsson has already released something similar and that this is quite fresh. Nokia's novelty is not. But still he conquered his buyer !!!
Regarding the colors, I can also note that it appeared in five colors, and this is also a huge plus, since everyone can choose the ideal option for themselves, including: blue, white-silver, pink, dark metallic, lilac.
Since I bought myself a black one, the photo will be with it. Maybe this is not the brightest and most colorful-looking phone, which is still not completely black, but made with a combination of black and gray, but still, both for me and for the majority who will choose it, it is still more practical and looks quite attractive and conservatively, well, and those who need a colorful and eye-catching color will pick up any other color option. And so we can draw a small conclusion that among the presented models, both men and women will be able to choose a suitable color for themselves, which is a very big plus.
I think few people like heavy and bulky phones, and when you take it in your hand, you won't feel it. Since it is very light and weighs only 78 grams, in short, I will say on my own that I sometimes don’t feel it in my jeans pocket, and when I put it in, I get the impression that it’s past. In this one can draw an analogy with the old model, a hit in its time - Sony Ericsson W880i, in which the weight was even slightly less, 71 g.
X3 Touch and Type today it is one of the thinnest all-in-one devices available. Its dimensions are 106.2 x 48.4 x 9.6 mm, for example, if you compare it with the compact Nokia 6300, it looks like a bulky phone, in principle, like all similar devices.
Phones with a thin body have such a disadvantage as ease of use, since it is too thin, but the engineers and designers of the X3-02 have thought of everything, and this device is devoid of the quality of the inconvenience of lying in the hand, it is quite comfortable, and its ergonomics are at the highest level ... Since it is very light and practical, it follows that the hand does not get tired during a conversation, it is very suitable for those people who talk a lot on the phone and during this conversation they flip the phone from one hand to another.
Above, I already wrote about the convenience of carrying it in a jeans pocket, but now it is a little more detailed, the device is very practical and ergonomic, that it can also be carried in a small pocket in jeans that is intended for lighters, and putting it in your back pocket, you do not you will feel it, you may even forget about it. Nokia X3 Touch & Type fits very comfortably in a breast pocket, which in turn is very practical for office workers. In short, its compact size and slim body provide tremendous comfort to use and generally make it attractive and attractive for frequent use.
And now about the material of the case, there is literally everything here: for example, the screen bezel is made of glossy dark gray plastic, the very base of the case is also made of matte plastic, other parts are also made from it. But the back cover is made of metal and is darker than the entire base of the case.
If we talk about how well the Nokia X3 Touch & Type is assembled, then here you can put a solid top five: it is neat and tightly fitted, there are no gaps, cracks, there is not the slightest hint of backlash in the metal panel. As for me, the quality of the materials is just perfect, as a result of which they made a high-quality case, I doubt that even critics will be able to argue about this parameter, this is simply not discussed, a perfectly assembled device as a result of great convenience in its use.
Let's take a look at the upper front part of the phone, at the very top there is a rather small slot for the earpiece, below - the Nokia inscription, in the left corner - the model name - X3, and in the right - the proximity sensor.
As for the upper end, there is a microUSB port, a standard connector for a charger, by the way, you can charge your phone via microUSB, as well as a 3.5 mm hole on top for connecting a headset. With the 3.5 mm input, you can connect any headphones to your phone.
On the right side there is a thin, oblong paired volume rocker with a short stroke. The button is very convenient, it may seem a little tight to someone, but this is already a subjective assessment.
There is a small button under it, which serves to lock the screen, but it is impossible to unlock it, for this you will also need to confirm by pressing the display.
Like Nokia E71 and Nokia X3 Touch & Type, there are small buttons on both sides, pressing them opens the back cover.
The hole for the speaker is located at the bottom end, the insert on which it is located is covered with recesses in the form of dots, this is just a design decoration, but it is also a kind of zest.
On the back surface of Nokia X3 Touch & Type, there are no details other than the camera, and the camera itself is located at the top, and a 5-megapixel camera lens is covered by a plastic insert.
The material from which the upper and lower ends are made is matte plastic, and the rear metal panel that covers the battery takes up most of the area and it is held very securely. It is also decorated with vertical stripes, which looks very beautiful. I would also like to note that the panel is practically not easily soiled.
There is a battery under the cover, which does not give access to the SIM-card, it is located on the same level with it in its slot, as I did not try to get it without removing the battery, I did not succeed, so you still have to remove the battery.
And here is the memory card, which is located nearby and in such a way that the "hot swap" of the flash-card is provided, but for this you need to remove the back cover. But it is not necessary to reboot the device, and after inserting, put the panel back and everything works fine.
Making a short conclusion on this section, I would like to note that I was very impressed with the design of Nokia X3 Touch & Type, it is really very convenient and at the same time a very attractive phone!
Keyboard
Below the 2.4-inch screen are the keys, 16 buttons (these are 4 rows of 4 buttons in each row). The keys are quite large, large, their size is 11x8 mm - and as a result, it is very convenient to press them, as for me. The travel of the buttons is small, clear, the keystrokes are soft, similar to a dull clicking. The keys are made of the same material, matte plastic, as is the case. The shape of the buttons is a bit non-standard, two-stage, very suitable for those who are blindly typing, you get used to it very quickly even to such a non-standard placement of the bottom row of buttons (but I judge this by myself). Still, this is one of the best keyboards in recent years, in my opinion, quite comfortable. The numbers and letters are painted in a pleasant white color and are very clearly visible.
The top row of buttons combines the main control functions. These buttons are glossy and made of plastic, somewhat similar to the screen cover - this makes them very well distinguishable from other keys. Here are the buttons for resetting and receiving calls, they are located in the right and left corners, respectively. There is also a button that is responsible for quick access to functions such as messages, and another button shows and minimizes the player, which is very practical.
As you can see in the photo, the keypad in the phone is a bit non-standard: a row of buttons with marked *, # and 0 symbols is located in the right column, although usually it is located at the very bottom. The idea is even very good, because if the developers had left it at the bottom, the phone would have turned out to be very elongated, and with very large keys. A peculiar idea allowed to create an ideal image of the device, however, this may not be to everyone's liking, if we take into account the convenience, but as I said, you get used to it very quickly. But still I want to note that a user who is accustomed to Nokia phones will feel some discomfort and he will have to retrain to this location of the "space" key: if in other phones it was in the center, then in this device it moved to the lower right corner, afterwards, pressing this button is still a little inconvenient, for this you have to bend your thumb strongly when you hold the device with only one hand. If you don't use the * and # symbols very often (mostly they serve only for dialing when you want to find out your current mobile account balance), then everything is not so smooth with the space. But for those who have the main left hand the phone is still more convenient, the finger itself seems to lie directly on the key. Basically, only the "space" button can be the only minor drawback which I still think for someone who wants to buy this device will not be so important.
The # key is used to turn on the silent mode. In the dark, the buttons glow with a very pleasant white color, the symbols are simply perfectly readable, the backlighting is uniform throughout the entire keyboard.
Screen
This model has a TFT screen, its diagonal is 2.4 inches, it displays up to 262K colors, and its resolution is 240x320 pixels.
The display in the device is of average quality, but it seemed to me that it is quite reliable, covered with plastic that resists scratching, and when you press the screen, you can feel the plastic "bending".It is a pity that there is no manual brightness adjustment, although the screen is still good, but on the street it fades and it is possible to read the text, but in the room everything is clearly visible, its viewing angles are quite good.
Naturally, this device has a resistive screen, but it is good enough, the kinetics in the menu is a little slow at times. The diagonal of the screen is quite enough for comfortable work, it's good that the keyboard is separate and you don't have to use the screen to enter text.
Interface
The X3 Touch & Type is based on the Series 40 6th edition platform, tailored for touch input. To begin with, it is worth noting that the phone lacks a joystick and a navigation key, the volume keys are also of little use and play no role in navigating the menu. Using the numeric keys - navigation is possible when the number on the keyboard duplicates an icon or menu item. For example, when clicking on "1" opens "Music". By pressing "2" - the radio opens. This method, after frequent use, will help a little in the work, but it is not the main one. The main thing is still to control the device with your fingers and the touch screen.
The menu is characterized by kinetics, while the phone is very convenient and pleasant to work with. When you press the screen, vibration feedback is produced, it is not strong, very similar to the one used in Nokia C7, as it was in C7 that the vibration response of the screen was very pleasant. I want to note the same in this phone, vibration does not interfere with the work, but only complements and provides even greater convenience when working with the phone.
The view of the menu and other details is as unified as possible with non-touch devices, the one who first takes such a touch-sensitive phone in his hands can easily cope with its control.
On the desktop there are such indicators: battery charge, reception of a cellular network signal, date, time, the selected mode is displayed. Its customization is possible for every taste, even if you completely clean it, even make it - like the S60.
The desktop has the ability to display 4 lines, to which you can assign any of the proposed list of functions, all this is very easy to configure, you need to hold your finger on the selected line, after which a list will appear from which you select and install anything. Functions on which you can set quick access: favorite contacts, notes, calendar, link bar, timer, event indication, mail, search, radio and music, notifications, communities, clock, WLAN, chat.
You can also move the links you created around the screen as you like for convenience. In order to enter the menu from the bottom on the screen there is a virtual key. The buttons on both sides of the menu can also be reassigned at will to any others, when you buy a phone they have installed: a phone book and a shortcut menu, which consists of 9 different applications, and which can also be changed to any other from the list offered by your own discretion.
The phone menu consists of 9 icons arranged in a 3: 3 matrix, which are not movable, as they are fixed in their places. You can also set a different display of the menu, including a list or the same matrix only without labels.
Optionally, the background can be changed with any picture that you have on your phone, it also supports themes that work great as 4 pre-installed and downloaded ones.
When the screen is locked, it does not display any additional information. But when you press the button to unblock, information appears: missed calls, network signal strength, date and time.
I want to note the convenience of rather large buttons, as well as two additional function buttons are very practical when working with the phone, these keys give access to music and messages, but this is their limit in work, but multitasking is still absent.
Phone book
It, like all series 40, is completely traditional, here you can store 2000 contacts, and each can be assigned up to 5 different phone numbers.Additionally, for any contact, you can set the same: number type (work, mobile, home, etc.), e-mail, date of birth, organization, position and more. Also, for each contact, you can set any picture, melody or video that will be triggered with an incoming call.
The book can display contacts, both from a SIM card and from a phone, or both at the same time. After selecting a contact in the phone book, you can perform some actions: call, send a message or e-mail, as well as supplement the contact with additional data. By pressing the key, you can view all the data about the contact.
You can sort the list of contacts both by last name and by first name, you can create separate groups of contacts and set a picture and a melody on them, there is also a book search by the first letters of the last name and first name.
Calls
The call log is located in the phone book, it contains the following: all calls received and dialed, as well as missed. Separately, there is information about the transfer of packet data and more.
Each category of calls stores up to 20 numbers with the following information: subscriber's name, date, time and duration of the call. New numbers can be saved or old data updated.
The phone supports Internet telephony, which works over Wi-Fi, and for this you also need to register with Gizmo.
As a priority connection, you can define a voice call or Internet telephony, or set any one as the main one. There is also a fast dialing, T9 is supported, there is a possibility to record a conversation.
Posts
As in the IPhone, a conversation with a person can be displayed as a single list, displayed as a dialogue. All messages arrive in a common and unified folder.
You can add an audio file, picture or video to any SMS message, after which it automatically becomes MMS.
Text input is performed on a mechanical keyboard, it is very convenient and good, maybe the lower right corner will be a problem for someone. The phone has T9, the input languages change through the menu while typing - for this you need to “swing” a little, which is not very practical.
Conveniently, to navigate the message, there are two keys with an image in the form of arrows at the bottom of the screen, like S ^ 3. This makes life much easier, in the event that a mistake was made in the text that needs to be corrected. There is also a set of emoticons, additional characters that are called by the context menu.
When you send SMS, the phone offers a choice of phonebook destinations, journal and e-mail numbers, recently used numbers, and also send a message to a selected user.
Working with e-mail is available from a built-in application that helps you quickly set up a mailbox on any one mail server. In my case, a Ukrainian mail portal was tested, with which everything worked perfectly and there were no difficulties. Automatic download of messages is supported, you can choose between one of three intervals.
The phone is able to download letters with attachments, however, there are still some problems with viewing files, for example, documents, since the data display capabilities apply only to images. Mail supports multiple e-mail accounts, protocols such as POP3, IMAP4, SMTP work.
The mail client has basic features, including: send a file, write a letter.
Camera
The phone has a 5-megapixel module, the lack of flash and autofocus is a little disappointing, there is also no shutter and a special button to launch it.
The interface is pretty straightforward. There are a number of icons that allow you to access photo and video settings, as well as switch between photo and video modes. You can shoot both in landscape and portrait orientation, you can switch between the views in the menu.
The camera has the following settings:
Saving pictures: phone memory or memory card.
Snapshot title: automatically or enter your own.
Photo quality: 5 MP (2592 x 1944), 3.2 MP (2048x1536), 2 MP (1600x1200), 1.2 MP (1280x960), 0.3 MP (640x480), 0.1 MP (320x240).
Photo viewing time: unlimited or 3, 5, 10 seconds.
Camera sound: off or on.
Self-timer: 10, 5, 3 seconds.
Effects: Normal, Sepia, Grayscale, Negative.
White balance: automatic, incandescent, daylight, daylight.
Burst shooting starts. Snapshots are saved quickly - the process takes about a second.
The quality of the images is not impressive, and there is also a lot of noise, and the color rendition leaves much to be desired, which is clearly visible on white: it goes into pink or purple shades. In short, the camera will not replace you, see the photo below.
The maximum video extension is 640x480 pixels, 15 frames per second, you can also choose a smaller extension: 320x240 or 176x144. The settings are the same as for photos.
Audio player
The player can play the following formats: eAAC +, MP3, AAC, AAC +, MP4, WMA. The song list can be sorted by artist, album, genre.
When listening to music, a picture from the album is displayed on the phone screen (if it is embedded in the song), information about the name of the song and album, about the artist, and the duration of the song is also visible. There are three buttons to control the player: back, forward and play / stop, which are visible at the bottom of the screen. They are large enough that there are no errors when clicking.
Compositions can be listened to both in shuffle mode and repeat all songs or just one. There is also a five-band equalizer, which has seven profiles, two of which can be adjusted and saved as you like.
When the player is minimized, information about the song that is playing is displayed on the screen. The volume is quite enough even for listening to music in the subway.
The X3 Touch & Type played fairly well when tested with average quality headphones, although it is not a fully musical device. Of course, the device is slightly worse than the devices under the control of Series 60, but as for me, there is not much difference. This phone may well replace an inexpensive player.
Radio
FM radio operates in the following ranges: 5-108 MHz / 76-90 MHz. You can save up to 20 different stations in the device's memory, when the application is minimized, the name of the station you are listening to is displayed on the screen.
Photo album
When photographing with a camera, the photos taken are saved in such sections for further viewing: "timeline" and "my photos".
"My Photos" looks like a set of 3x4 pictures, in this group you can watch a slideshow, while you can choose the time of the slide show and the method of transition between pictures.
When you click on the picture, it opens in full screen, you can immediately use the scaling using the keys on the screen. It is possible to send a photo by e-mail, MMS, Bluetooth, you can also upload it to Twitter or Facebook. You can view pictures by simply swiping your finger across the screen, which is very convenient.
Timeline - Here photos are grouped by date. You can choose any day and view only those photos that were taken on that particular day.
The built-in image editor has quite large capabilities, you can change the size of the photo, add a frame, text and many other effects to the photo.
Video
The phone supports the following video formats: H.263, 3GP, MPEG-4, H.264. Video files can be viewed both horizontally and vertically.
When testing the X3 Touch & Type, I found that it can even play "avi-files", but unfortunately those that are no more than 700 MB, if they are larger, then only sound is played. All this is a huge plus, but with such a small screen it is not very convenient to watch a movie, but this opportunity is still pleasing.
The calendar
Here you can view both the whole month and separately the weeks, you can set the day from which the week will start, and it is also possible to automatically delete obsolete and unnecessary entries.
There are four types of events available to create: appointment, reminder, birthday and call. The time and date of the beginning and end of the event is set, as well as a repeat for a year, month, week or year. Search for the event you need is also available here.
Alarm clock
This application looks very good, here you can set the alarm time, set any melody, and you can also set the time after which it will repeat. But it is not possible to create multiple alarms.
there is timer and stopwatch.
It is possible to display the time on the screen of four cities at once.
The phone has a built-in very simple application that provides access to social networks - Facebook and Twitter. It is available to write new messages or read the feed, but sometimes the program knocks out errors.
A converter can be used to translate various measures, there is even a size converter which can sometimes be very helpful.
There is a search function.
The calculator application is very well executed, an engineering one is also available, and even a loan calculator which are very well implemented in this device.
Shazam is a practical application that, while listening to music, records an excerpt, sends it to the server, and then displays information about the song: title, artist, album, as well as an album picture. But the installed version of the application is only a demo version.
Ovi Store
This is a store of a variety of entertainment content. The app is very user-friendly. You can register and download free or buy various applications.
With a dictaphone, you can make a recording for no more than an hour and save it to a memory card or phone.
It is possible to create notes-notes with a priority of your choice.
Games
Climate Mission - the application tells about the importance of caring for nature.
Several music games: Hip Hop Tour and Guitar Rock Tour 2.
Memorize is a memory development app.
Profiles
The so-called "flight mode" is supported, in which the GSM module is turned off, and all other functions of the phone can be used to the fullest.
The phone has 7 different profiles, here you can set a ringtone, its volume, a signal for a message and similar notifications. You can also assign an automatic transition to another profile at the time you choose.
The settings allow you to make many changes to various parameters.
Browser
The built-in browser is able to open even large resources, it all depends on the incoming traffic.
Since the screen is not large enough, from my own experience I will say that the phone is not very suitable for frequent surfing on the Internet, but if you check your mail or look at some news, the weather will be fine. Pages adapt to the enlargement of the screen, there is scaling, only its speed is not impressive, here he still thinks a little.
The browser supports creating a bookmark, setting the default access point, changing the font size, and other settings, which are not so few.
Opera Mini 5 version is also installed in the phone, which is very pleasing, and working with it was very impressive, as it is an ideal and very convenient application to use.
Communications
The device works in GSM 850/900/1800/1900 and 3G networks, EDGE and GPRS are supported.
Bluetooth 2.1 with excellent data transfer rate (EDR) supports A2DP profile.
Using microUSB, you can connect your phone to a PC and charge your phone.
When the phone is connected to a PC, the following operating modes are available:
- OVI Suite mode;
- storage mode, when both the phone's memory and the card are used as storage;
- transfer of videos, photos and music.
The phone has Wi-Fi bgn, which is not standard for Series 40.Using Wi-Fi bgn on Nokia X3 Touch & Type, you can use Internet telephony, view mail, and surf the Internet. It works very well, you can save passwords for access points and do not enter them every time you connect.
The built-in memory of the X3 Touch & Type is approximately 50 MB. As indicated by the manufacturer, you can insert microSD memory cards up to 16 GB into the device, the support for "hot swapping" of the media is also encouraging. During testing, I also inserted a 32 GB card into it, no "glitches" were noticed, this card has been worth more than a week and everything works fine.
The file browser can move and copy all files from the phone memory to the memory card, create folders and rename them, as and wherever you want. The data can be sorted by format, name, size and date.
Working hours
Nokia said the handset can last up to 430 hours on standby and up to 5 hours on talk time. If you only listen to music on your phone, it will last about 25 hours. Well, at once from my experience: if you take 30 pictures for about half an hour a day, record a couple of videos for 5 minutes and listen to the player for 2.5 hours, then the phone will last for about 2 days. Well, if you use it to the fullest, connecting it to your computer via bluetooth, playing games, surfing the Internet, watching videos and listening to music, then you will have to recharge it a couple of times a day!
Conclusion
The phone is loud enough, therefore it fits perfectly for use in noisy Kiev, in the metro, the vibration is not the strongest, but it is also quite enough.
As for the assembly, I can note a fairly good quality in everything, and especially a pleasant material. This is a handy phone with good battery life, a practical and intuitive interface. A fairly large set of communications, including support for 3G networks, the presence of Wi-Fi makes the phone even more unique, and its thin body and low weight make it an ideal companion.
Among the shortcomings, I want to note the lack of multitasking, support for viewing documents, there is also no GPS and the camera is devoid of flash and autofocus.
The X3 Touch & Type, which combines a touchscreen and a mechanical keyboard, is pretty good. Phone control is very practical, similar to other Nokia phones, where the menu looks much the same. The phone is for those who want to update their old one without losing the mechanical keyboard, but are ready to try working with the touch screen.
At the moment, the market is oversaturated with touchscreen models, and there are no devices of a similar form factor yet. The most similar device is also Nokia, but a somewhat cheap model, Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type, and which is not yet available in Ukraine. The price for Nokia X3-02 is UAH 1,768. As for me, it is fully consistent, because this phone has already become almost a hit for its practicality, functionality and other advantages!
