Nokia X3

The Nokia X3 is our first glimpse into the new Xseries and we’re excited to see how things have changed since XpressMusic ran the show. And they have changed, the new angular look is a testament to that. The S40 on the inside has changed as well, throwing Ovi Store and basic multi-tasking into the mix.

Currently the Xseries is composed of two completely different phones. The Nokia X6 is a touch phone running Symbian, and the X3 is an affordable Series 40 slider. It packs stereo speakers, excellent audio quality and a built-in FM radio antenna for a complete sonic experience. All right, we said affordable, so don’t go looking for top-notch gear beside the obvious full music package.

The Nokia X3 runs the Series 40 6th edition but it’s unlike any S40 handset we’ve seen before. For a brief, joyful moment, we thought Nokia have finally given in and added multitasking. The truth turned out to be different but still there were small steps taken in the right direction. And you should see what they’ve done with the Gallery – it’s only a notch bellow the S60 one.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves and let’s take a look at the Nokia X3 pros and cons.

Key features Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support 2.2" 262K color QVGA display 3.2 megapixel fixed focus camera S40 user interface, 6th edition; rudimentary multitasking Stereo FM radio with RDS; Built-in antena (so it plays on the loudspeakers even if you don’t plug the headset) Stereo speakers Standard 3.5mm audio jack Up to 26 hours of music playback Bluetooth (with A2DP) and microUSB port microSD card slot (16 GB supported, 2GB included) Rich preinstalled application package Ovi Store, Ovi Maps and Ovi Share

The specs look like nothing to be excited about but a shortish feature list never tells the whole story. So, think before you go “Nah, it sounds lame”, because you’ll be wrong about sound. We spent several days with it and now we’re ready to tell you the story behind those specs, the good, the bad and the ugly, the whole thing.

Design and construction The Nokia X3 moves away from the rounded corners of most recent Nokia handsets, and goes for bold, straight lines. The soft plastic on the back and the faux brushed metal finish of the keypad and backside of the slider combine comfort with style.

The front is a classic Nokia slider. It houses the display with two colored stripes on each side, the left of which comprises the three dedicated music keys. The red color accents are a familiar XpressMusic styling cue. Below the display are the S40 standard D-pad, surrounded by the soft and call keys.

The notch of an earpiece is centrally placed right above the Nokia logo up front. The handset lacks an ambient light sensor and display brightness is non-configurable. The music keys are thin but easy enough to hit.

The 2.2” screen seems tiny compared to the overall size of the Nokia X3 and spoils the looks of the phone – it just makes it look cheap. Cheap it is, but most of the exterior does a pretty good job of masking that.

When you turn the phone on, disappointment with the display grows even bigger. The contrast is poor and the colors are way off. The viewing angles are atrocious – if you’re not looking at it dead on, the colors begin to wash out. And sunlight legibility is very poor as well rather surprisingly for a Nokia phone.

Overall, the display performance just about beats an entry level color screen from a few years back (think CSTN quality).

Beneath the display are the D-pad, the soft keys and the Call and End keys. The navigation frame of the D-pad is nicely projecting over a very spacious and responsive confirm key. The soft and call keys are flat, the whole plastic deck sinking when they are pressed. The keys have a satisfying click.

Sliding up unveils the alphanumeric keypad, which takes the entire lower deck of the phone. The keypad is flat, with the symbols etched out on a plastic plate with brushed metal finish. Vertical and horizontal ridges separate the keys, making touch orientation very easy.

The top row is actually taller than the other rows, leaving plenty of headroom. Still, it’s not a heavy texter’s keyboard, but casual users will find it quite comfortable. And the speaker grill bellow the brushed metal looks quite appealing.

Speaking of sliding, it’s time to talk about the second major disappointment with the Nokia X3 hardware after the display. The slider’s spring is assisted, but the two parts of the chassis rub against each other too much to making the spring nearly useless.

The feel of plastic-sliding-over-plastic is not very pleasant either. The strangest thing is there’s about a millimeter between the two parts of the slider, which also makes a bad impression.

On the top side of Nokia X3 you'll find the microUSB data port under a neat plastic cap. Next to it is the 3.5mm audio jack and the standard Nokia charger port, both of which are left out uncovered. Charging off microUSB is possible, but the standard issue charger has the regular 2mm charger plug.

The grill of one of the stereo speakers separates the two parts of the slider at the top. The bottom is clear, save for the second loudspeaker grill.

The right and left side of the handset are quite neat – the left side has the microSD card slot hidden under a flap, just above the lanyard eyelet, and the right has the volume rocker and camera keys.

The back is made of soft matte plastic, which is pleasant to the touch and fingerprint-immune. A dotted pattern on the top and bottom break up the plain look – the only other things of interest are the engraved Nokia logo and the camera lens, framed by a thin line of brushed metal.

When open, the top part of the slider reveals more of that brushed metal finish on its back to reinforce the overall solid feel of the phone.

The glass covering the camera lens is exposed at all times, so you have to handle the phone with care or risk scratching it.

The Nokia X3 feels good in the hand, though the rough slider action spoils the experience. That and the awful display, of course.

The fingerprint-hiding matte plastic on the back along with the brushed metal make the X3 look good, and perhaps a bit too serious. The overall looks closely mimic those of the Nokia X6, but the X6 has the high-tech sophistication, which, the X3 can’t quite pull off.

User interface has a go at multi-tasking, but fails The Nokia X3 employs the Series 40 6th edition user interface, but it was updated since we saw it in the Nokia 6700 classic with some very welcome surprises. The environment is still well familiar - on the surface, the only things that seem to have changed are the revamped Messaging section, the greatly improved Gallery and some tweaks to the menus.

User interface – the basics Going back on topic, the standby screen of the Nokia X3 features the pre-selected wallpaper with the usual status readings such as signal strength, battery status, ringing profile icon and time.

The center of the navigation key opens the main menu, while the context keys can be assigned a function of your choice. The D-pad directions can be set up as shortcuts - by default, left brings up the new message menu and right the Calendar. Font color on the main display can be customized too.

Active standby mode is available. It consists of four sections that can be edited or relocated as users see fit.

In the most common case, the top area is reserved for instant access to favorite functions denoted by their respective icons. The second section displays the currently playing track or radio channel info, with shortcuts to the players if nothing is playing at the moment. Next is the Ovi Contacts application and then a shortcut to the Ovi Store, promoting the dedicated application.

A super fit phonebook The phonebook of the Nokia X3 stores up to 2000 contacts and that should be more than enough. Each contact can be assigned a variety of fields but the phone numbers are limited to 5.

First names are stored separately from last names, eliminating problems which may occur with synchronization.

You can assign ringtones to each contact. There’s also an option for a video ringtone, which will run on an incoming call.

Ovi Contacts Ovi Contacts integrates tightly with the Nokia X3 phonebook as a new tab and offers an IM client with a twist. You can search for people already registered with Ovi or send an invitation to anybody using Gmail since the Ovi contacts supports G-Talk, Google's own IM, as well.

Thanks to this service you will be able to chat in real time with all your Ovi/Google Talk-connected contacts, change your status messages and mood, and all that kind of social networking stuff.

In addition you can even go as far as sharing the name and the artist of the track you are currently listening to.

Telephony is great Signal reception is great and in-call sound is very clear with the Nokia X3. Like almost all current S40 midrange phones this one also features Voice Clarity, which is another way of saying that it applies some sort of background noise suppression during calls.

Sound is clear on both ends but even at the loudest setting it’s not really loud.