Nokia X3-02 Touch and Type review: Slim and sharp

Introduction

Nokia is trying really hard to build back some lost trust. The new Symbian^3 smartphones are just one weapon in their armory. The other is the touch-enabled lineup of feature phones called Touch and Type. S40 has never before been into the touch business, but the X3-02 is here to change all that.

You have the right to remain skeptical. In fact a healthy does of skepticism is welcome – this market just might not have enough room for yet another touchscreen feature phone. And it’s a S40 phone at that. But you know what – the Nokia X3-02 will not listen to doubters. It’s a phone whose glass is always half full. Half full with touchscreen and half full with keys.

Nokia X3-02 Touch and Type official photos

The Nokia X3-02 Touch and Type doesn’t rely on its touchscreen only but on good looks and charm too. It comes in four different colors and has a redesigned keypad. That’s right, Nokia refuses to give up on the good old numeric keypad and it will be an essential companion on the X3-02.

So, you have the touch, and you have the type. There’s the right measure of style too. But that’s not always enough for a classy phone. People want features as well. So, let’s take a closer look at them.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• Quad-band 3G with 10Mbps HSDPA and 2Mbps HSUPA
• Neat and well built, slim and lightweight, metal on the body
• 2.4" 256K-color resistive TFT QVGA touchscreen
• S40 6th edition UI
• 5 megapixel fixed-focus camera
• VGA video recording at 15fps
• Wi-Fi b/g/n
• Stereo FM radio with RDS, Visual radio
• Bluetooth v2.1 (with A2DP)
• Standard microUSB port (charging enabled)
• USB On-The-Go
• microSD card slot (32 GB supported, 2GB included)
• 3.5mm audio jack
• Innovative vibrating touch feedback

Main disadvantages

• Small screen (for a touch phone)
• No multitasking
• No GPS
• Fixed-focus camera
• No document viewer
• No smart dialing
• No video-call camera
• No accelerometer sensor

There are quite a few things left off of this S40 handset, but it’s the first with a touchscreen on board. Wi-Fi is a rarity on this platform too. In fact we’ll admit quite ahead of our conclusion – we do like the Nokia X3-02 already.

The Nokia X3-02 Touch and Type Dark Metal and White Silver versions all over

But it’ll take more than that. You’ll have to simply love it. You’ll have to not notice the bad. One thing the Nokia X3-02 won’t give you is multitasking. Another important absentee is GPS and navigation. We just can’t have everything, can we? That might be quite an omission for some, but we hope the performance and ergonomics will make up for that. Let’s see how those shape up right after the jump.