vB Easy Archive - Nokia 3100 Review

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Nokia 3100 Review
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Posted by: thebishop74

First of all, I got to say, this new Nokia 3100 in tiny, for those with big hands (myself included) it's quite daunting when you first pull it out of the box, particularly if you have not upgraded phones in a while.
Sure the 6100 is thinner, but it still manages to make one look big somehow, and I personally prefer some extra thickness, it makes for a more comfortable phone to hold and use.

My next worry was how a guy with big fingers and hands was going to be able to use the very small keypad, but after a few mins playing with the phone, I was put at ease.
The rather strange looking new keypad layout must have had more thought put into it than I first assumed, because it's design means even big hands idiots like me can quite easily thumb in numbers and text with no problems, just be sure though to keep your nails well trimmed.

The new style soft keys are odd, not quite old style soft rubber (which I'm not sure anyone liked) but not quite hard either, but they very feel positive to use, and don't detract from use of the phone at all.

Looks wise, I got to say it's a lot nicer in the flesh then in pics, I have the stock blue one, and it's not as bright and "gay" as in pics (tough blokes with image issues can stop worrying and buy the phone now), and the phones looks just somehow work better in real life 3D, sure it's still a little bit ugly, but in a nice way. (another plus for the tough imaged challenged)

The new cover design is ok, the back cover comes off easier than say a 3315, the front takes a little more work, but it does "feel" a little fragile, the plastic is fairly thin and very lightweight, and has a bit of flex to it, but once in place it seems solid enough, I'm just wondering how it will hold up to long term use, but being replaceable I suppose it's not a huge issue. (Perhaps Nokia know this, some lighter materials are not known for being tough, so why not make them replaceable?, not a bad idea really)

The colour screen is great, so far I can't fault it, good brightness (plenty of adjustment), and nice depth, maybe I just got a good one, but if they are all this good, I can't see anyone having any major complaints.
Note that on some backgrounds, mainly dark colors, there is a tiny bit of screen flicker, it's not really noticable unless you really stare hard at the screen up close, but it is there, some people probally won't even notice it, seeing it depends on light levels and screen brightness, I doupt it will bother me, it took me long enough staring at it just to notice it, time will tell though.

As for sounds, well, it's one area Nokia really needs to work on, if your new to Polly tones, it's amusing, but the limited tone range on this model just lack depth and balance, some sharp tones sound like they distort a little, and lower tones are almost too quiet.
On the same note, it's not quite loud enough either in general, the phone comes with the ring tones already on max, I went into the menu right away to up the volume only to find it was maxed out already.
None of this is really a huge problem for some, it has good volume, it's just that it may not be enough for some people.
Also it lacks ring tones, I'd personally prefer to see it come with more ring options, not everyone wants to download more tones for their phones all the time.

The 40 series ware on the phone works well, speed seems to be fine so far, with no bad delays or hang on anything, the games load fast enough and data entry seems quick and painless, there is a little of the lag some speak of, say when scrolling through a menu etc, but it does not really bother you unless you start to obsess over it, if you have that sort of personality, stay away from software like this.
But really, it does the job, and unless your "The Flash" I don't think it will ever be an issue.

My phone came with Bowling, Beach Rally, and Snake EX2, all are quite amusing, but I'm not a huge phone game fan, so it's more of a boring train ride thing for me, only to be used when there really is nothing better to do.

RF so far seems to be good, better than an older nokia I had, and better than my T20s or 768, it gets a strong signal currently, it will get much more of a test in the next few days though, I live on the edge of a bad RF area, so look out for an update.

So far, the phone has a solid 4 out of 5 from me, but taken from different points of view it could be considered a 3,4 or 5 out of 5.
For the function junkie, it's a 3, not enough features, and the tones just don't live up to what is otherwise a great phone.
For the budget user, in Australia at least, you can get this phone for $0 on a fairly cheap contract plan, and in terms of size and features then, it's very good, and very hard to beat, unless your a sound junkie, but still an easy 5 out of 5.
Overall though, so far, 4 out of 5, with an extra half star depending on sound quality in use, which is yet to come.

Well that's all for now, in a few days time I'll add more info on the phone in use, and how it performs in that respect.
Bye for now.

Posted by: thebishop74

Ok, this may be really silly, but the new 3100 should get the nickname of the dancing mobile!!!

Not all the Nokias I know of have a base as flat as the new 3100, but it's a phone that stands on it's end very well, without fear of it falling over, now that may be no big deal, but it comes into it's own when you start setting off the poly tones and set it on a nice smooth surface.

Stand it upright on a flat surface and set off a tone, and the first thing you notice is the phone will do a little dance, it's ballance is such that it does not fall over, but just vibrates and flashes in tune with the music, which makes it do a diffrent dance for every diffrent tune.

Maybe it's the light weight of the phone, or just it's ballance in general, but I've never seen a phone do it as well as the 3100.
Strange stuff.

Posted by: MJGunn

Great review so far, just wondering if you could comment on both the loudness, and quality of the audio. I've owned a couple of series 40 phones, and they both vary a lot from one model to the next.

Posted by: thebishop74

Well, updates so far, I've still not used the phone much, so I can't fully comment on sound quality, but so far it seems loud enough on the few calls and mailbox setup I've made, I'll say more when I know more.

But, Nokias do tipicaly have their own type of sound, anyone who has owned a Nokia and any other phone will know what I'm talking about, it's that tipical loud but not very "realitic" type of audio, it's ok, but it's never been anything write home about, I miss the speaker quality of the Ericsson a little, but the nokia 3100 does seem to have good volume so far.

Other things I've noticed, the on/off switch on the top of the phone is tipical Nokia rubbish, damn hard to use, to small and hard to press, why they continue to use this when they could just have the press and hold off hangup button function like some other makers is beyond me.
I don't hold it against the phone though, it's not like you really turn a mobile off and on that often.