14 DAY TRIAL // Created for people that are looking for a low-budget handset, the Classic series developed by Nokia offers only basic communication features and an ordinary design. Usually compact and sturdy, the Classic series mobile phones are older models, which have been refurbished and software-updated to fulfill these days? requirements. Nokia 3500 classic is such a phone, but that doesn't mean that it looks ugly and cheap. On the contrary, Nokia did a good job with this handset, and made it look much better than its one year older predecessor, Nokia 3110 classic. Nokia is specialized in handset face-lifts and I think we will have more 'classic' handsets launched on the market every passing year. Nokia 3500 classic is more like a mid-level handset, through design and performance, and a low-budget one thanks to its cheap price.
Announced in June 2007, Nokia 3500 classic has been available on the market since October 2007. Those that are looking for a cheap and reliable Nokia handset will be happy to find out that the price of the Nokia 3500 classic handset is pretty reasonable - 150 USD without any plan. The candybar phone is available in four different colors: Grey, Pink, Manadarine and Azure Blue.
Design
Even if Nokia 3500 classic doesn't have a fancy design and can easily pass as one of the many mobile phones in the crowd, there are still some strong points that make it desirable over other mid-level handsets. One of these strong points is the compound used for manufacture, especially the one on the back cover. The material is a rubber-like plastic, which is very elastic and doesn't get fingerprints. On the other hand, the mixed plastic on the front of the phone and the keypad are made from a shiny material, which removes the feeling of cheap, but it is a fingerprint magnet. So, prepare yourselves for a long and painful use of a cloth. The front of the phone has been framed with a metallic strip which protects the device from taking too much damage when it's dropped by mistake. The small display has also been covered by a protective glass that limits the number of scratches it gets when you put it in the pocket together with other hard or narrow objects.
The bar form of the device and its size (107 x 45 x 13.1mm) make it look like an ordinary handset, which will surely not stand out from the crowd. There are only a few external keys and ports included on the four sides. The dual-volume key has been placed on the upper right side, making it easy to access the volume with the finger when talking on the phone. On the top side, the usual Power button has been placed, while on the bottom, there are three ports: charging, 2.5mm jack and miniUSB.
The front part of the handset includes a generous keypad, which is very responsive and tactile. Its only drawback, as I have stated above, is the fact that it will be full of grease and fingerprints most of the time. The D-pad is easy to use, but the edges of the buttons are a little bit too narrow especially for those who have large fingers. The small display and the in-call speaker are above the keypad. On the back of the bar phone, there are a 2 Megapixel camera and a loudspeaker. The back cover pulls out pretty easily, and even if it may look a little flimsy, don't worry as it won't break. Overall, Nokia 3500 classic looks very nice for a classic mobile phone and will most likely attract more buyers than expected.
Display and Camera
Unfortunately, Nokia 3500 classic features a 1.8'' TFT display that supports 262K colors, but only a resolution of 128x160 pixels. That is pretty low and unexpected from a handset manufacturer that produces nearly the best mobile displays on the market. The moment you startup the phone, you'll be unpleasantly surprised by the poor image quality and will probably disdain the Finnish manufacturer for such a horror.
As seen in the benchmark screenshots, Nokia 3500 classic is not compatible with 3D graphics and scored below average in most tests.
When used outdoors, the screen is visible and it won't be a problem to dial a number when users are in strong light areas.
The 2 Megapixel camera on the back of the phone lacks flash, autofocus and macro capabilities. It features 8x digital zoom and can take pictures and record videos. Snapshots can be taken with a maximum resolution of 1600x1200 pixels, while clips can be recorded in 3GP format using a resolution of 176x144 pixels in QCIF mode. While the pictures are average for a 2 Megapixels camera, the video recording capability is a failure, as it cannot meet today's quality standards.
The S40 platform offers only a basic camera interface and few settings are available for the user: White balance (Auto, Daylight, Tungsten, Fluorescent), Effects (Normal, False colors, Greyscale, Sepia, Negative, Solarise) and Night mode. The last is totally useless as the camera lacks any flash capabilities. Overall, Nokia 3500 classic module camera offers only average quality, exactly what should've been expected from a low-budget phone.
Menu and Software
Nokia 3500 classic runs on a standard S40 platform interface, which is the most user-friendly one at the moment. If you own a Nokia handset that doesn?t have a Symbian OS, then this candy-bar will probably feel the same. Even if displayed in a crappy resolution, the S40 is unchanged overall, with the exception of the usual icon animation which is not present in this model.
Besides the Standby display and the large number of user-configurable options, Nokia 3500 classic also includes some useful applications such as: Yahoo! Go, Alarm clock, Calendar, To-do list, Converter, World Clock and Stopwatch. The menu is fully customizable and you can designate any MP3 as ringtone. Nokia's integrated browser hasn't changed, but you might want to use the included Opera Mini for faster and smoother browsing.
The phonebook can store up to 2000 contacts and 200 SMSs. The fonts can be customized, but only those that are showed when opening Contacts, Web browser and messaging sections.
There are also three Java games preinstalled: Sudoku, Snake III, and Soccer 3D. There is a limit to the size of any application that you might want to install on the phone and that's the usual 300KB. This might be the case for most of the Java compatible applications, but I have noticed that I could run some files that were around 700-800KB in size. Nevertheless, I couldn't install any application that surpassed 1 MB in size, so you might try it yourself.
Communications
Nokia 3500 classic is the best deal in its mid-level class as it has been gifted with EDGE technology for faster data transfer speed. Nokia 3500 classic characteristics sheet says that the device is fully compatible with GPRS Class 10 (53.6 kbps) and EDGE Class 10 (238.6 kbps), but as benchmarks revealed, the device attained only average scores in terms of data transfer speed (EDGE only 133 Kbit/s download and 72 Kbit/s).
The phone also features Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support for those that intend to use a wireless headset to listen to music. Synchronization with PCs is possible through the usual miniUSB port, but don't forget to install the needed software. I didn't have any problem synchronizing the phone with my PC, and transfers were made quite fast.
In terms of messaging, the phone accepts standard text messages, MMS (300 KB attachments), as well as emails. The message client works with POP3, SMTP, and IMAP4 protocols and supports several email accounts (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo etc.).
The tri-band (GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900) network compatible candybar has above average GSM signal reception. The sound is above average in quality at both ends, and pretty loud, but it might register some distortions when GSM signal is weak. The vibration alert is somewhat mediocre in intensity and cannot be set to higher levels.
Processor and Memory
Nokia 3500 classic is powered by an ARM9 family processor, but I wasn't able to determine its speed. My bet is on a 100 Mhz CPU as the handset is pretty fast with all Java applications and benchmarks that I managed to run. Browsing through the menus offered me a smooth experience and I didn't encounter any problem even when I used a large capacity microSD card.
The candybar embeds only 8.5MB user free internal memory, which can be expanded up to 2GB thanks to the microSD slot card. Unfortunately, the microSD card is not hot-swappable as the slot has been placed under the battery.
Multimedia
Nokia 3500 classic is not a dedicated music phone, so don't expect too much audio quality. Anyway, the nice music player and the 2.5mm jack port make the candy-bar a decent choice for those that want only limited music functions. The music player supports MP3, MIDI, AAC, AAC+ and WMA files and features a basic Equalizer (Normal, Pop, Rock, Jazz, Classical, Customized). Users will be able to make their own playlists with favorite songs and artists. Files can be sorted by albums, artist and songs and predefined playlists are generated by the handset with the most frequent listened tracks and such. The 2.5mm jack port offers users the opportunity to replace the standard HS-47 wired headset with better 3.5mm headphones.
The only thing needed is an adapter that is easier to find than other proprietary ones. For those that cannot buy themselves a microSD card, there's an FM radio, which can store up to 20 base stations. The radio lacks RDS function, but can be listened to the loudspeaker as long as the headset is inserted. Reception is not that good, so the sound might register some distortions and quality drops are pretty frequent. There's also a video player that can run 3GP and MP4 files in full screen mode, but to no avail as the screen is too small to offer a decent experience.
Battery
The 860 mAh Li-Ion (BL-4C) battery has an officially stated life expectancy of 288 hours in standby and about three hours in talk time mode. Being a low-budget phone has its advantages and one of these is the long battery life as you have no high-end functions that will drain the energy. I sincerely believe that Nokia 3500 classic could have been provided with a better battery that would offer at least four or five hours of talk time. I mean, this is the main use of the phone, all the other features are mostly average and if you don't offer longer talk time for a basic handset, the phone will not sell that good. After three days of standard use with no more than 10-15 minutes talk time per day, the phone totally depleted and had to be recharged.
Impressions
At first glance, Nokia 3500 classic looks appealing, mostly because of the successful mix between the shiny plastic on the front and the rubber-like material on the back. The metallic frame that keeps the phone safe from damage is also eye-catching and might convince some of Nokia?s fans to buy it. Unfortunately, all the other features are average or even below average.
The Good
Besides its appealing form, low price and 2G technology, there's nothing more to add to the positive features of the Nokia 3500 classic. If this had been called 'The Average', then I would've enlisted almost all the features of the handset.
The Bad
The only thing I consider unacceptable is the small screen that features such a low resolution (128x160 pixels). The battery also could've been better, but three hours of talk time are still OK if you don't use the phone too much. The MicroSD slot card could've been placed onto one of the sides of the phone and not under the battery.
Sales package
Nokia 3500 classic handset Nokia Headset HS-47 Nokia Travel Charger AC-4 Nokia Battery BL-4C User guide
Photo: Tudor Raiciu for Softpedia.com