Nokia X3

The X3 is Nokia’s latest music phone, but while the name will give many the impressions that this is a cut down version of Nokia’s capacitance screen touting X6, in reality the two phones are completely different beasts. Whereas the X6 is targeted at the higher end of the contract phone market, the X3 is primarily aimed at pay as you go users looking for a more wallet friendly phone, which is reflected in its sub £80 asking price. The form factor is completely different too, as the X3 has more of a traditional slider design, albeit with some tweaks here and there including some dedicated music keys. In fact the only real ties between the two handsets are the fact that they’re both being pitched as music phones and they both share the same colours scheme. Like the X6, the X3 is available in black with either red or blue strips flanking the screen.

With its slightly boxy design we wouldn’t exactly describe the X3 as a looker, but when you slide the keypad open you’ll find that at least the extra girth means Nokia has been able to equip it with a relatively spacious keypad. And although the keypad is a flat one piece design, there is a bit of travel in each key which helps make it a fairly easy phone for quickly tapping out text messages. Nokia has also added three music keys on the left-hand edge of the display to let you skip forwards and backwards through tracks as well as starting and pausing playback.

Another welcome feature for music fans is the standard 3.5mm headphone jack at the top of the phone which makes it easy to swap the supplied earphones for your own cans. The top edge is also home to the standard Nokia mini charging port, but you can also charge the handset via its microUSB port, which may come in handy if you need an emergency battery top up when you’re around a mate’s place.

The screen is an area where manufacturers often cut costs on budget handsets and unfortunately this is definitely the case here. At a mere 2.2inches the display is very small and the resolution of 320x240 pixels means text tends to look a tad blocky. However, the biggest problem with the screen is its shimmery look that sometimes makes it difficult to focus on. The

reason for this seems to be its very narrow viewing angle, as a tiny rotation to the right makes it look very dark while doing the same on the left-hand side washes out the colours almost completely. As a result we could never really find a sweet spot where readability was acceptable.

When it comes to music the phone uses the standard Series 40 media player. To our mind this isn’t quite as attractive, responsive or as well laid out as the Walkman app on Sony Ericsson’s music phones, but it’s still pretty straight forward to navigate around. The music library is divided up into playlists, artists, albums and genres, and album art is displayed on the screen when a track is playing. You can tweak the audio output via the five band equaliser and there’s also a stereo widening setting that aims to increase the apparent width of the stereo image when you’re using headphones.

Download User Guide for Nokia X3

Nokia X3

Sony Ericssion Satio U1i

The Satio is currently top of Sony Ericsson's range of feature phones. It packs in a 12.1 megapixel camera with a Xenon flash, a full touchscreen interface, and class leading media playback. On the surface that's an impressive feature list. The screen is finished in a flexible and highly scratch prone plastic. One advantage of all this plastic is a relatively lightweight device; at 128g it's markedly lighter than its hefty dimensions of 110 x 55 x 18mm/13mm. The front is very minimal with just three buttons, for call answer, menu and call end, sitting below the 3.5in screen, while a video calling camera sits up top. On the left is a slider for locking and unlocking the phone, and below this is the standard Sony Ericsson port for charging, USB connection, and headphone connection. A MicroSD slot supporting cards up to 32GB also sits under a flap and handily the phone recognises when it is inserted or not and changes the camera's default storage appropriately. The camera app starter/shutter button, which is encircled by a glowing blue ring when in use, finishes things off. The only other control is the power button that's on the top

edge. The camera app starter/shutter button, which is encircled by a glowing blue ring when in use, finishes things off. The only other control is the power button that's on the top edge. Sliding the camera cover aside reveals the lens, which quite obviously looks the business compared to most pinhole camera phones. Above it sits the Xenon flash while off to the left is an LED that's used as a focus assist for taking photos and a lamp while recording video. The slide mechanism feels very solid and shouldn't be knocked open too easily but it's still easy to operate when needed.

In the box you get a 40in wired headset adapter and a short set of headphones which are of the canalphone type and come with a choice of three different silicone tip sizes. A lipstick-style stylus, USB cable, and wall charger are also included while an AV cable in particular sets this phone apart from the crowd. It's 60in long, connects to the phone's charger socket and terminates in three phono cables for stereo audio and composite video. The screen packs in 360 x 640 pixels which, though not the most, is certainly sufficient for sharp images and provides enough desktop space to not make browsing the web and such like too much of a chore. Colour reproduction is particularly impressive with plenty of saturation and a bright overall image yet still impressively dark blacks.

Another noteworthy addition SE has made is the multimedia interface. While it doesn't quite have the same level of functionality as the PS3's crossbar interface, which it is trying to imitate, it does make browsing through you media files quick and easy and looks quite pretty. Media playback is also better than many though there's no support for DivX videos or music formats more exotic than MP3, WMA, and AAC. Videos up to 640 x 480 are supported in MPEG4 format, though, and they look great.

Download User Guide for Sony Ericsson Satio U1i

Satio U1i