Nokia X3-02 Touch and Type Review

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The new generation touch and type mobile phones are rightly worthy of being labelled as the new avatars of the Symbian S40 operating system. With the unique and quite intuitive touch and type interface, these are getting a lot of popularity amongst users throughout the country and across the globe.

While touchscreens are better for navigation, keys are definitely good when it comes to typing messages. The freedom it brings to the users, to enjoy the benefits of both a touchscreen and keys of the phone, is probably the biggest reasons behind its growing popularity.

Nokia X3-02: Design & Build

The Nokia X3-02 looks great and gets full marks on this front. It manages to grab maximum eyeballs the moment it comes out from the pocket. The slim profile and sharp but human friendly edges give it a sophisticated and a rich appearance. Even, while holding it in the hand, the phone feels good and gives a good grip to the user.

The placement of the keys and the touchscreen is perfect, letting you to type in one or in two hands quite comfortably. So in a nutshell, the X3-02 looks great and feels great too so full marks here.

Nokia X3-02: Usability

The keypad is big, nicely laid out and spaced well. Although the placement of the keys might be a little funny as the Hash and Asterisk keys come on the extreme right along with the 0 key. But you get two dedicated buttons for media and messaging and a very comfortable keypad

Nokia X3-02: Display

The 2.4 inch touchscreen, although resistive, gives quite a high degree of accuracy and comfort while using. Even the slightest touch translates into a perfect action. Considering the price of this phone, we would have expected a capacitive touchscreen in place of a resistive one but with the Series 40 OS the screen compliments the user interface.

Nokia X3-02: OS & UI

This is the first time ever that the Symbian S40 operating system has been optimised for a touch based operation, but sadly the user interface is still not fully optimised for such a touch based operation. The menus are still little longer and take a lot of time in executing commands. Users may also need some more time to get used to the dual input based interface.

Besides, though the OS uses both the inputs at the same time, there is no way in which a user can just make use of the touch or the type (keypad) independently. This is also not the first time that we are seeing touch and type interface based phones here in India, all thanks to the direct Chinese imports.


Nokia X3-02: Performance

Performance wise, the IOS is pretty swift and during the whole review it never hung or crashed. All the actions were completed without any delays and users will definitely like the new variant of S40 a lot. But still some tweaks in terms of placement and spacing, looks, menus and some more tune ups are required to make it perfect.

Nokia X3-02: Internet and connectivity

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPRS, 3G - anything you can possibly think of vis-à-vis connectivity options are there in this phone. One of the best features of the X3 is the USB on the go feature that allows the users to connect low power consuming flash drives to this phone and access content directly on the phone similar to the feature that came with the Nokia N8. Although the cable for USB on the go connectivity is not supplied but it is a super feature to use and you won't mind buying the cable for a few additional bucks.

Wi-Fi connectivity is standard although there is a slight issue which I faced while using it: the phone kept using the phone's GPRS connection as well while using Wi-Fi and the interface misses the button to switch to the only-WiFi mode.

Nokia X3-02: Camera & Video

The camera is mediocre with no flash and doesn't have the much needed auto focus capability. Video recording also comes at 15 FPS, which is jittery. But on the other hand, this is the first time that Xvid playback is added to S40, so you will enjoy it definitely.

Nokia X3-02:Multimedia

In the audio front also, the X3 fails to impresses unlike other handsets from Nokia in the past. Nokia decided to put the microphone and the loudspeaker both at the bottom of the phone. Although the mic is hidden beneath the 9 key, still loudspeaker causes some trouble while talking on loudspeaker.

Nokia X3-02: Memory

Nokia X3-02 has 16GB of expandable memory but as you go upwards after 4GB, it starts making the phone sluggish. So a maximum of 8GB is what is recommended for this handset.

Nokia X3-02: Battery

Usually the battery backup of Nokia phones is good. Nokia X3-02 Touch and Type comes with standard Li-Ion 860 mAh (BL-4S) battery and the best part is that it can provide up to 408 hours stand by time for both 2G and 3G.

Conclusion:

An affordable phone that offers a good keypad and a reasonable touchscreen, the Nokia X3-02 is a decent choice for those who can't let go of physical buttons. With no GPS and poor app support though, it's tough to recommend over an Android alternative if the keypad doesn't light your fire.

Nokia X3-02 Touch and Type Specs & Price >