Nokia 3200 is a very insignificant step forward for the number 1 phone manufacturer at the time of the release of this device. It was then, in 2004, Nokia began to lose a significant percentage of its market share.
As for the 3200, the phone had a huge range of functions at that time (loudspeaker, flashlight, high-speed EDGE, WAP, JAVA data, voice recording), but still had the line style with the Series 40 user interface. The manufacturer did not change the design of the devices for a long time. Relatively small, the phone fit well in the hands and was light enough to carry it in the pockets of a shirt. However, many reviews said that it is not too convenient in shape.
What did he look like?
As you can see from the photo, Nokia 3200 had an unremarkable design. The front and rear faceplates are in fact transparent plastic covers with color patterns inserted inside.
Keyboard Features
Description Nokia 3200 most often affects the original keyboard. Keys are another area Nokia has been trying to highlight. 3200 had only 9 buttons. Compared to a regular keyboard of 15-17 keys. This reduction is achieved by the fact that each key has a double function. So, the first key on the left is the number 1, if you click on the top, and 4 - if you click on the bottom. As soon as the device went on sale, many users were unhappy with this. However, later this feature was called convenient.
The manufacturer made the keys larger in size, as there are fewer of them, and after a bit of getting used to pressing them, it was no more difficult than pressing ordinary ones. The keyboard was backlit with bright white light. Speaking of light, Nokia at that time was distinguished by the installation of two bright white LEDs at the bottom of the phone, serving as a flashlight. There was no special key to activate it - you had to press # 7 and hold it for 2 seconds. If it was required to turn it off, such a press was repeated again.
Infrared port
The phone had an infrared port, but there were no ordinary small red windows for it. Users had to rotate the device several times to determine that the infrared port is on the top. The back panel of the device had a small hole for the camera. The Pop-port interface and the charging port were at the bottom of the phone.
Screen technology
Specifications Nokia 3200 on the screen are as follows. Being a mid-range telephone, the display is typical of a Series 40 device. Its resolution is 128x128 pixels with 4096 colors. For comparison, most Samsung phones of that time had 65,000 colors, and some 262,000. In addition, the screen worked using STN LCD technology, which is considered worse than the TFT used in most high-end phones produced in the first half of 2000 years.
STN displays (Super Twisted Nematic) have always been cheaper to produce than TFTs, but they are passive matrix displays. This means that each pixel needs to be updated many times per second, which reduces response time, brightness and contrast. This was especially unpleasant for gamers. The graphical GUI was obsolete, but Nokia was hoping to sell this phone to young people.
Messages
Messaging was the first available option after pressing the menu button. From this point it was possible to create, send, view already sent SMS (text). The 3200 came with four smart text input dictionaries. English, Spanish, French and Portuguese could be used through this service. Like all Nokia phones, the 3200 used T9 predictive text input. 10 text templates were also available for quick sending.
In 2004, MMS, or multimedia messaging, became the standard feature on most cordless phones. Unlike regular SMS, MMS can transmit not only text, but also pictures, sounds and videos. Nokia's MMS implementation was very easy to use. The user only needed to select the recipient (it could be a phone number or email address), insert text, image or sound recordings, view them, and then send.
IM, or instant messaging was also available on the Nokia 3200. Features and reviews indicated that it was possible to connect ICQ or AIM using this service. Their functionality was limited to sending only text messages, but the ability to stay in touch was always very useful.
Call logs
This is another menu item, second in the list. All phone numbers that the user called, which arrived on the device or remained unanswered, were recorded here. In addition, GPRS data counters were also in this menu.
Contacts / Phonebook
Since the phone was mainly used for calls at that time, the convenience of using the phone book was crucial for many. According to reviews, Nokia 3200 ranked first in terms of ease of use and intuition. Viewing the functions of the phone book did not make you think about how to perform this or that action.
It was intuitive what to do. Find a contact is the main search function that allows you to quickly filter phone book entries by entering the first one or more letters of the name of the contact you want to find. Since the 3200 had a camera, the phone book also had a Picture ID feature that showed a small photo of a person when making a call or viewing a phone book.
The only thing that some found somewhat confusing is the way to enter new contacts. Therefore, the instructions for the Nokia 3200 were sometimes passed from hand to hand. First, it was required to enter a name, then a phone number, after which the new entry was stored in the phone book. During the initial recording, it was never required to indicate which phone number (mobile, home, fax), as well as enter additional information, such as email address, postal address, note. So, to a large extent, it was required to save a new contact, and then find it again, execute the “Change” command and then make additions.
In addition, the phone book had support for the following:
- several numbers in the name (general, mobile, home, work, fax);
- Additional information, such as email address, web address, postal address or note;
- the ability to set one number as the main one, so when the user chose a name, he could just click on it, and the phone knew which number to dial (if there are more than one);
- contact subscribers could be organized into different groups, such as friends, family, VIP, business, etc., and then different ringtones assigned to each group would be tuned to them.
The settings menu gave the user unified access to all settings, such as profiles, call, display, time and date, soft keys, communication, security, etc.
Gallery
The only place to organize and access all multimedia is the Gallery. The phone came with several folders:
- "Graphics" - for pre-loaded images.
- “Melodies”, in which ringtones were stored.
- "Images" - all the photos that the user took or downloaded.
- "Records."
In Nokia 3200 the user was not limited only to factory folders. You could create your own, then delete, rename them, or pretty much manage them.
Multimedia
As mentioned above, the 3200 had a built-in camera with a CIF resolution (288x352). As you might expect from most cameras with this resolution, it could not replace a single standalone digital camera.
Images created with its help were devoid of color saturation, contrast, and were very blurry. Its characteristics in Nokia 3200 were limited to standard and portrait photographs, night mode (longer exposure for low light) and self-portrait (a timer was set, after which the photograph was taken). There was no video recording. In practice, the camera worked as one would expect from this class of devices.
Radio
In 2004, such functionality was considered a novelty. Despite the fact that the radio only worked when the headset was connected (since the phone used the cord as an antenna), many users rated this as a good bonus. You could listen to programs through a headset or activate a speaker. With a stereo headset, the 3200 also supported stereo output. The sound produced by listening through it was very clear and high quality. The speaker also worked at height.
The radio supported FM signals, and it was possible to store up to 20 favorite stations. There was also a setting that allows you to automatically find stations.
Dictaphone
The Nokia 3200 supported voice recording or the ability to record short voice notes (up to 1 minute each) or phone conversations. This feature worked flawlessly, and users responded very well about it.
Calculator, alarm clock and calendar
An alarm clock, calendar and calculator helped the user in the daily organization of time. Users expected Nokia to update its Alarm app in 3200 because it only supported one ringtone. However, this did not happen.
The calendar application allows you to enter scheduled appointments, phone calls, birthdays or memos for a specific day. Alarms could also be configured to turn off at the exact time of the reminder, or in 5-10-15-30 or a random number of minutes. This feature worked very well if the user installed a PC application from Nokia, which allowed you to synchronize your computer and phone.
The built-in calculator supported basic functions such as addition, subtraction, square root. The exchange rate was also part of it.
Applications
The Nokia 3200 came with J2ME (Java for mobile phones). Three games were preinstalled with the ability to download and install additional software. About 737 KB were available for the application, of which 164 were already used by three pre-installed games. Virtual me is a tamagotchi-like game where you have to use keys to control your tamagotchi and make him happy.
Services
Nokia models, like most phones in the mid-2000s, supported the basic web browsing - WAP. The sites being viewed were special, so the user could not type any address on the Web and go to it.
Most of the tasks that were most often used could be quickly accessed from the Go menu. It had a submenu from which the user could choose what to start.
Communication
A review of the Nokia 3200 would be incomplete without specifying connectivity. It supported infrared (at the top of the phone), high-speed GPRS and EDGE data. GPRS was able to provide speeds of about 40-45 kbps, while EDGE should exceed 100 kbps.