I'm back with a vengence! Where has everybody gone while i've been away?
I'm back with a vengence! Where has everybody gone while i've been away?
Member since:29.05.2006
Reviews:75
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I was given the Nokia 3100 as a Christmas present in 2004 and although this phone is now outdated and old in comparison to other mobiles it is still a good little phone. Its been dropped, stood on and well used over the past year or so and still does exactly what it is supposed to without a single problem or scratch.
One of the things I like about this phone is its small and slinky stylish design. Measuring at 10.19cm tall and 4.28 cm wide it is quite suprising that it only weighs 85g. My Nokia 3100 is grey in colour with glow in the dark strips on the side so it is easy to find in the dark. The casings are interchangable so if you don't like the colour you can change it, although the facias like most nokias are very flimsy and could easily be broken when replacing them.
The keypad is very well presented with all the normal numbers, shortcut and navigational keys that allow movement both left and right, up and down when making selections. Plus they are a nice size making it easy for you to text with one hand without hitting othr keys.
The screen itself is square measuring 2.73cm by 2.73cm. It is a high resolution, passive matrix colour display that supports 4096 colours within 128 x 128 pixels.
All of the features are accessed by the menu button which is the left soft key on the keypad, but that can be changed if needed. The menu, like on most Nokias is extemely easy to navigate by using the up, down and select key on the keypad. I shall take you through all of the menu below.
Messages
This
is where you can create, view sent, delete or view saved text/multimedia messages. I should imagine that this feature like on most mobiles is the most used. Texting couldn't be simpler either with the added predictive text and T9 dictionary already installed on this phone.
One of the downfalls to this phone is that it doesn't have a camera on it, but it can be brought as an attachment. Still, saying that you can still send and recieve multimedia messages which I have done on many occasion without any problems at all.
Call Register
This is a very handy feature as it allows you to keep track of all your dialled numbers, recieved calls and missed calls, along with the time, date and length of call. It also tracks your use of the GPRS data network which not only stores the WAP sites you have visited but also records how long data takes to be transferred to your phone.
Contacts
You can save your contacts to either the sim memory, phone memory or both if desired, I personally recommend that you save to the phone memory as this then allows you to add multiple numbers to a single contact. All names and numbers can be added and deleted very easily. You can also add email adresses to your contacts but I found this quite hard to do as you need to be online to do it.
Profiles
This function of the phone allows you to personalise your phone to suit you. It has 6 presets that you can change plus 2 others if you want to make your own. Here you can set your ringtone, wallpaper or screensaver that you desire.
Settings
The settings feature allows you to set shortcuts on your phone by changing the functions of the soft keys and/or the navigation pad. You can also change the time and date settings plus how long it takes for the screensaver to activate when the phone is not being used. There is also the option of restoring the factory settings should you make an error.
Alarm Clock
This obviously allows you to set an alarm on your and come pretty much as standard on mobile phones these days. When turned on a bell appears on the right hand side of the screen. The alarm can be changed from a simple monotone beep to one of the polyphonic ringtones from your gallery. When the alarm sounds the phone will flash with the ringtone selected and also give you a snooze option giving you another 10 minutes lie in when pressed.
Gallery
This allows you to view your images that you have saved to your phone or hear the ringtones you have. In addition to viewing galleries the feature allows folders to be created for data downloads.
Calendar
This is one feature I personally cant do without as I am always forgetting dates and appointments. It allows you to store dates and times that are of importance. You can set an alarm to your specified date to sound at a given time you desire. It also allows you to add a text account of what is happening on that day plus you can add simple notes should you wish to keep a diary of whats happened that day.
Games
One of the great things about this phone is the fact you can play fairly decent games on it. It comes with Snake, Bowling, Beach Rally and Snake pre-installed. These can be deleted if you feel like a change and more can be downloaded using the WAP feature of the phone. The fact that this phone accepts Java means the amount of variation in the games that can be downloaded is very extensive.
Applications
Should you wish to, you can also download Java applications to this phone. If you do then these are stored in this section of the phone and also, some games may also end up in this feature. There is a problem with this feature and Java in general and thats the fact the phone memory isn't big enough, so some applications may not work. The amount of applications you can add varies on the memory size of each application, however the phone will tell you if you need to delete any other applications should there not be enough memory.
Extras
Included within the extras feature is the calculator, stopwatch and countdown timer. The only thing I have used in this feature is the calculator which I find fiddly on this phone and have seen easier versions on earlier models. As for the rest I personally don't see any need for them.
Services
This is where you access the WAP feature on the phone. WAP stands for Wireless Application Protocol and enables you view the mobile world of the Internet. Most new phones come with this these days but this particular one uses an XHTML browser which was very new to mobiles when this phone was first released. Its up to you what you do here, but I must warn you not to expect the same aspects of accessing the Internet via a PC as most phone browsers cannot view that kind of scripting. Mind you, saying that, this phone can view a lot of internet pages as long as you keep any other saved data like pictures and ringtones to a minimum.
This is one of the best features of any mobile and when I'm not using my PC I am on WAP chatting in one of the many forum sites that have been created specifically for mobile phones. It does have one downfall as the Nokia 3100 can only store up to 30 bookmarks which for someone like me who makes very good use of it, it is not enough.
Go To
This is a great feature to this phone, you can add Go To functions on this phone under the personal shortcuts option in the settings menu. You can add anything to it, from quick access to the alarm clock to bookmarks that you have saved in services. I have this saved as my right soft key on my keypad so I dont have to keep going through the menu and have all of my bookmarks are added to it for quick access to the internet.
My Overall View
Although this phone is now old and outdated by newer technology it is still a great hpone to own. It does all the basics and plenty more.
Its small and stylish design is easy on the eye and looks good and classy to other people. I highly recommend this phone to anyone thinking about purchasing this mobile for a first time user or as a phone for the simple minded.
It is strong and very robust, which unlike many other mobile phones that go through the wars as much as mine has, they would have simply died by now.
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Advantages: Small, Light, Colour Screen, Good Battery Life Disadvantages: Crackly Reception, Screen Not As Good As Other Brands, Not Many Accessories Available (yet)
broadbandrew 03.05.2004 (03.05.2004)
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Review of Nokia 3100
Jul 4th, 2006
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