Twist And Shout - Nokia 3250 Review

[slitchfield]

Steve gets his hands on the first S60 v3 phone we've had for review, the Nokia 3250 Music Phone. With an interesting keyboard layout (the bottom section spins around to reveal the playback controls) it's well suited for music playback, but how is it as a general smartphone? Pretty good, but for a few budget-related gotchas.

Read on in the full article.

[puterman]

Actually, you don't need your app to be Symbian Signed to use eg. Bluetooth. You'll get a warning when you install it, but that's it. I have no idea why these functions aren't restricted, as other things that seem more innocent to me, like setting a high sound priority or reading the phone's IMEI, are.

[JimH]

Steve, do you have to use WMA for music files?

What's the support like for audio formats that aren't locked in? Does it play mp3, ogg, flac as well?

[Rafe]

It also plays MP3, AAC, ACC+ and eAAC+. It does not play ogg or flac (have to wait for add on software I guess).

[nfinland]

I have been using the 3250 for testing purpose for one week. One more week to go, but first impressions are ok. I´m using a N70 and compared to that one the 3250 isn´t bad at all.

I will be writng a hands on review on my blog and related to this wanted to ask Steve if you have been using a screen capture software for those pictures in your review? The Psiloc screen capture I have been using is not compatible with the 3250.

[Rafe]

This is 3rd Edition comptiable.
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/softw...rd_Edition.php

[nfinland]

Great - thanks!

[nfinland]

P.S. When I tried to install the screebcapture software the phone says "certificate may not yet be valid..."

My certificate check was off and software installations settings on in appl. manager. What am I doing wrong?

[Rafe]

Might be wrth checking you have the right version (I think I got the link right)....
http://www.antonypranata.com/screenshot/index.html

Other than that recheck the settings?
Tools -> Aplications Manager -> Options -> Definitions -> Install Software -> Yes.

[nfinland]

It was none of the above, but my own fault. I use a test phone and had not bothered to change date settings. Changing the date settings made everything work!

Thanks again for all your help!

P.S. I listened to both the radio and the MP3 player when going to work this morning. The sound was quite terrible compared to my N70 that has Koss plugin headsets. Also the radio didn´t work as well as on my N70.

I guess the MP3 sound was so bad compared to my N70 because of the standard Nokia headset. Or what do you think? I used bass boost, but that didn´t help much!

And about the radio. Could it be Nokia has used some cheaper radio components in the 3250? I mean the radio sound was like listening to a radio in the 1940s (well what do I know about that...). The sound was not clean and had that sound (don´t know what you call it in english) when the frequency is bad.

[Rafe]

Yes I think it is possible Nokia used lower quality components in the 3250 - its a 3xxx series phone after all. I've only tried the radio briefly on a 3250 and it seemed OK to me.

I defintely notice a different between audio headsets, but the Nokia 3250 audio output might not be as good as the N70's.

[nfinland]

I used the 3250 with my Koss headsets and the sound was as good as the N70 (at least I didn´t hear any difference). Tested the radio once again and it worked ok - I guess it could have been some temporary problem with the radio last time I tested it.

P.S. The screencap was ok to install, but the shortcuts? Edit + ok? Edit is the pen, right and ok should be the button in the upper left corner. Pressing these doesn´t do anything on my phone...

i just bought the 3250
when i try to view an image it gives me a security message and the image won't open. i can change it to my wallpaper though, any ideas how to change this?

[jiayuan]

Hi! If we compare 3250 and N80, which is a better phone? especially camera quality wise.. thank you! =D

jiayuan

[Rafe]

I would say the N80 is better.