Nokia 3220 Review
First Impressions
I bought this from the middle east on it’s release date, so things in the box, the shape and color of the box might differ. The Nokia 3220 is a phone for most of us. On the first look, you might realize that is looks a bit childish, but don’t judge a book by its cover, the Nokia 3220 is filled with many features the can only be found in it and no other Cell Phone around. The phone that might be its closest ancestor is the Nokia 3200. The lack of Bluetooth and Infrared is quite disturbing. The Nokia 3220 would not attract the older range of people. It is specifically designed for teens (ranging around 13-19). I would say that because of its appeal. The outer look of the phone stays in your head, the X-press on fun grips light up all around and if you purchase the X-press On Fun Shell you will definitely not be forgotten easily by your friends (read further for more information).
The phone was the one that I really wanted, it had all the features I needed with a really good design. Also I found it to be the best out of all its other rivalries. You can use a type of ruler that is provided with the cell phone to create your own back cover; this helps out a lot because you will never get bored of the look of your cell phone. You can change these covers at anytime. Pictures of you, friends, famous people, certain views of landscape etc. will makes your phone have the style that you wan tit to. Here are some that I created. You can purchase (or sometimes receive), the X-press on Fun Shell. It is mainly a whole new cover for your phone with LED lights that enable you to write messages in the air (Max 15 characters). Other features like 2 Java games come with the Fun Shell and a motion detector that lets you play your games by moving your phone around.
The LED lights can be mostly used in places outdoors or dark indoors; there are 12 orange LED lights on the back of the phone, some of the characters can be graphic like hearts. I do not have this yet but it's surely a fun new way towards messaging. The motion games function using a power built-in acceleration sensor. The motion games let you play the games on your phone by just tilting your phone from side to side. The great thing about this is that -until now- can only be found on the Nokia 3220. As you see, waving the phone from side to side you can write a light message in the air
Sizes & Dimensions
- Length 104mm
- Width 44mm
- Depth 18mm
- Weight 86gm
Features
- Integrated Camera
- X-press On Fun Shell
- Lightening
- Screen Colours
Whats In The Box
In the box you will find the phone, battery, battery charger, 3 cut-out covers, guide, ruler to make cut-out covers, and survivor brochure. The manual is very detailed and for phone beginners can provide great help. I use this manual sometimes when I'm looking for specific things. The survivor brochure tells you from where you can download the Survivor game onto your game. Playing that game would actually be pretty nice, you make alliances with people and have challenges to gain immunity.
The Keypad
The keypad looks pretty funky. Like all new Nokia phones, the menu button is in the middle, the "go to" function is on the left, and any defined function can be placed using the right button (I have the gallery since that is the most thing I use). The numbers go next to each other in an orderly way. I can also say that these buttons look pretty cool because of the fact that some of the numbers of the buttons are put together. We had this in the Nokia 3200 but in it, the buttons were extremely hard to use, in this model I never mis-pressed any numbers. The keypad is a very important in this phone because many of the games in the phone rely on it.
Lights & Grips
The lights in the grips come in 2 colours, red and green, mixed together creating an impression of orange and sometimes yellow. They have the best effect at night. The grips all come in one custom colour (milky white) later on you can buy packages that contain a set of 2 cut-out covers and a coloured grip. Some of these grips are red, blue, and green. The lights in the grips turn on and off when the ring tone is on and during games.
The Display
Display sizes 27 x 27 mm and features resolution of 128 x 128 pixels. Quite normal, we can find it in some Nokia phone like the 6230 model. Displays 56 000 colours. The thing that amazed me most is that everything was easily readable even under direct sunlight, and that doesn’t happen with many phones. This display makes you realize that the camera is a going to be great. The games on the phone also feature colours.
Where Can I Use It
Nokia 3220 is a triple-band (tri-band) phone (900/1800/1900 MHz). The cell phone is now sold worldwide. I bought it from the middle east and now I use it in Canada. On average a person using the phone, the battery gets low in 5 days. You get 3.5 hours of straightaway talk. In standby mode you get up to 350 hours.
Personalise Me
The phone is a personalizing machine is you ask me. Practically everything on the phone can be personalized. Starting from the outer parts, the cover, the grips, the keypad, and the cutouts can all be tuned around with. The covers featured are the covers shown in the image below, 3 new covers that have a Khaki, Red, and Blue base. The keypad has 2 colours the red and the navy blue. Going further into the phone, there are themes to use that include a wallpaper, screensaver, colour scheme, and ring tone. You can also include your own wallpapers etc. The graphics that come with the phone can be used for the wallpaper and screensavers.
Memory
Before you get too excited the phone supports 2.5Mb of shared memory, and no extension cards. The data is stored into files that are stored into folders.
Call Me
After you save someone’s number and their name, you can attach an image (which should usually be their picture), add a voice dial, and also be able to put their e-mail. You can sort your contacts into different groups, and each group would have its own ringing tone. (Ex. If someone from your family calls you receive a different ringing tone than that if your friend calls you.) During your call, you can adjust the volume using the arrow keys, and you will be glad to know that the hands free (and the speaker) is very clear. The speaker in the phone is clear, it never screeched or cut out while I used it.
Message Me
In this phone, you can find 3 main types of messaging.
- SMS: the usual written messages.
- MMS: Multimedia massage that allow you to send text, pictures, video, and anything you might record.
- Flash message: A message that is 70 characters or less. It pops up on the recipients screen. Only other phones with flash messaging should receive this.
- Wave: As I mentioned before wave messaging is a crucial part of this phone
Remind Me
The reminder function helps you out a lot. It also has a calendar that will help you organize all your important dates. You can view a monthly view, and an hourly view that will tell you what you have and when you have it. You also have the to-do list that lists all the things you want to do, and then you can sort them into priorities. And last but not least the alarm clock that can be set to anytime you want to do something (usually waking up) into any tone that you would prefer.
Applications & Games
In this phone, you can find 3 main types of messaging.
- Calculator: one of the best digital calculator, that has many different mathematical applications, and a currency converter.
- Countdown Timer: Counts down time to do something.
There are 5 games that come with the phone.
- Water Rapids: you battle the rapids from level to level. Could get addicted.
- Adventure Race: a race that is made from different tasks like running, biking, rowing, and finding your location.
- Phantom Spider: you fight alien and weird objects in the air, quite fun. You can also play with a friend.
- Club Pinball: The usual pinball with the best lightening ever! Extremely Addictive.
- Dance Delight: Memory game, you have to memorize your opponents moves that are divided into numbers and colours.
You are also able to download many Java games. One that is supported by the phone is Survivor. Most of us must have watched the show. In the game you make alliances and play challenges to gain immunity.
The Camera
The VGA Camera is quite good. It is way better than some of the Sony Ericsson cameras that are loaded with features but do not function anywhere near this camera. You have 4 modes for taking a picture.
- Portrait: use this when taking pictures of personal people. Low quality and Low memory.
- Standard: the normal kind of taking a picture in good light.
- Night: take pictures in the dark, quite helpful. Of course nothing would appear if you were in complete darkness.
- Video: You can take a video that is 50 seconds long. Takes quite a lot of space. The quality isn’t all that good though.
The camera in the phone is just awesome. It has a standard mode that you can use in places with normal light; Night Mode, for places that are a bit darker; Portrait mode, for smaller images of single face or people; Video mode, the mode you can use to capture videos. The videos you take can be up to 50 seconds. The videos are saved in .3pg format. Using sounds on your camera will help you to know if a picture has been taken or not. In the Nokia phone this feature could be turned on or off, while in the Sony Ericsson you will have to hear that sound every time you take a picture. Other than than, you can time the camera to start so you can have time to take a picture or even shoot a video of you. I place the cell phone on a flat surface and use it. The lights and sound indicate when the capturing will start. there is no zoom or flash in this phone.
Summary
The Nokia 3220 will ultimately find many fans (mainly teens). It is quite an awesome phone with a lot of features. But I think in the close future we will have many rivalries (Siemens ST60) from different companies. The phone is just a big seller. I don't think many people know about this phone yet but after a year from it's release date it should be worldwide and doing great. Some pros for this phone include, the amount of functions, its style and light effects. The con for this phone it the lack of connectivity to a PC.
- Discuss in the mobile phone forums