Nokia 3200

~Screen~
The screen has 4096 colours over 128 by 128 pixels; it allows 5 lines of font. This is adequate enough; a larger screen would be more expensive and thus take it away from the teen market. I have recently got a new phone, Motorola mpx-200 which has 65,000 colours over 176 by 220 pixels, which is by far clearer and larger. But would have cost more, so I can justify the screen on the Nokia 3200 and it does its job well.

The keypad has been completely re-designed, but I wouldn’t say revolutionised, as I don’t think it will catch on with other phones, but will show designers that different styles of key pad are acceptable. Where as before, or normally, you would have one button for each number, we now find ourselves with 2 numbers being used on one button. The buttons include the numbers one and four, two and five, three and six, and so on. The buttons act like see-saws, pivoting in the middle. So if you press at the top, you will get a different response to what you would, if you pressed the bottom of the button. This becomes much clearer when you see or use the phone.

The camera is ok, but nothing great. They could very easily put in a much better camera, but this again would increase the price and again take it away from the grasp of most teenagers. The size of the pictures are 352x258. This is ok on the phones display, but useless on the computer screen. I only used the camera to take pictures of people and used their face in the phonebook. That is a nice function, known as a ‘picture phonebook’. You can assign a picture to people in your phonebook, so when they call, their face or any other picture you decide, will pop-up on the screen when they ring you.

There are different ways connecting using this phone; you can stay connected with people via calling, SMS and MMS. There are two ways to transfer data, via the POP PORT or Infra-red. Calls and SMS are made via the normal GSM network. MMS works via GPRS which runs on 2.5g network, which is not quite the new 3G network but more advanced than the GSM network. GPRS allows you to connect at higher speeds, allowing you to use the internet quicker when compared to WAP and send bigger messages via MMS. Doesn’t technology use a lot of abbreviations, never mind, it saves me a lot of typing, so they keep me happy. The best and easiest way to transfer data is by using the POP port. This is the port used on virtually all new nokia phones; it can instantly tell what device has been plugged in so nokia only need to make one port, rather than a separate one for handsfree, charging and data transfer. This will keep the prices down a bit, thus giving the consumer a cheaper phone. I got a cable for £29.99 but I would recommend anyone to look on eBay for the data cables as you can pick them up for under £10. I was too young to operate on eBay when I got the phone, so was unable to get it from them.

Radio – using the hands free earphone, via the pop port, but you can listen to the radio aloud using the loudspeaker. You have to plug the hands free in, as this is used as the aerial.
Flashlight – there is a useful white LED light, which works really well in pitch black or almost pitch black conditions. I have used it for going downstairs at night time, or looking down backs of cupboards, so all in all it’s a positive having a little light on the phone.
Changeable covers with a twist – the actually covers of the phone are made from transparent plastic. This leaves the ability to place paper cut-out covers to be placed, which makes it look like a proper cover. You can add the paper covers to the front and the back. When you buy the phone you get ten sheets of special photo paper with pre-cut holes so that you can fully customise the phone. And best of all you can also order a phone cover cutter. So that you can cut out any picture you like and use it as a phone cover.

I got this phone as soon as it came out so cost me £169 sim free from carphone warehouse. I just did a quick search on kelkoo.co.uk and the cheapest price that came up was £99.99.