While we know this little budget music phone has been around for a few months now, we wanted to have another look at it – and bring you our detailed thoughts together with some close-up snaps.
Being the logical sort, we’ve started at the beginning: Get the X3 out of its box and the first thing you’ll notice is its vibrant red and black design (unless of course you’ve gone for the blue on silver colour scheme). There are dedicated music keys down the left hand side of the screen which not only look good but enhance your aural experience. With these keys, you can change songs directly without the need to unlock the screen, for example.
The handset feels solid and well made, and the slide mechanism is smooth. The touch-sensitive keys beneath the screen are easy to press – much easier than those on the Nokia 7230 – watch out for our Snapshot of this device coming soon – but still require light pressure, making wrong presses unlikely.
Typical of a Nokia handset, the menu is laid out simply and you can effortlessly scroll through all the various functions. Some of the little touches we liked include the Speed Dial option in Contacts because you can add 9 friends’ details for swift dialling; the home screen because it can be personalised with any shortcuts you like, for example, calendar or radio or media player or alarm clock…; and the keypad because it’s very finger-friendly despite its compact size.
Speaking of size,
the X3 is light and can be used with one hand, whether the keypad is open or closed. Have a look at it next to an iPhone to see how it compares.
The screen is only 2.2 inches but we found it bright and clear to look at and view images, videos and more. And the camera was surprising too. Although just 3.2-megapixels, we found the picture quality high – have a look at the picture (below right) and judge for yourself.
Naturally the thing the Nokia X3 does really well is music – it would be a shock if this weren’t the case, seeing as it’s a music phone. The sound quality is impressive, even on its highest setting – which is loud. The X3 doesn’t lose definition on high volume, making for a great audio experience.
The X3 is no Nokia X6 – there is no Wi-Fi, 3G or Comes With Music service. But considering the price, the Nokia X3 is fun, easy to use and a joy to listen to.
You can find out more about the X3 by checking out our X3 reviews.
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