Nokia 3230 (2006)

Good – Very well-featured. Large but stylish. The screen is big but the SMS fonts are small yet surprisingly readable. The pictures taken come out at only a few kilobytes but they are okay. I bought this because it was a full-featured phone less than 15 months old (when I bought it on eBay for $7 in a late night bid with only $10 postage). Bargain for the features - Low-resolution camera (but very good late 2006), Bluetooth, MMS, SMS, great file manager, expandable memory, user-friendly controls and intuitive Nokia interfacing. Few, really. Bluetooth seemed to "fade" a few months ago, so much so that I could not use it so well hands-free in the car any more.

Good – This phone suits the purpose it was made for - a cheap alternative to some of Nokia's more expensive phones. It offers most of the features of the early model N series phones at a significantly cheaper price. This has been one of the better phones I've used. Go for it if you value durability and functionality. Don't go for it if you're looking for high quality sound and small size. This phone is feature packed and has a nice large screen. Intuitively placed buttons mean that you can send a text message easily with one hand (without dropping the phone). Like all Nokia phones, this thing can take quite a bit of punishment (mine survived a two storey fall and still works quite well). This phone just looks good, but in addition to that its single block design has no moving parts and makes it robust.

Feature-wise, this phone really delivers. It has everything one would expect from a smart-phone, and the number of applications that can be purchased are staggering. One great feature of this phone is that your messages can be saved on the memory card (using a free third party software), but every message ultimately serves to slow down the phone. I’ve only seen two colors of this phone in shops (black and a mulberry red) but the outer shells can be replaced with some novelty ones if you look around enough.

For its price, it represents serious value for money. The major problem with most 2nd generation symbian sets from nokia is the fact that they are AWFULLY slow. There are a few ways to fix these problems but they cost more than they're actually worth (if you're getting it done from a shop) and if you're like me and do it from home, then you run the risk of permanently damaging your handset.

Now the real problem with this phone is that dust tends to accumulate under the shell casing and without repeated cleaning, eventually covers up the whole screen. It requires to be opened up and cleaned almost on a weekly basis which costs around $15 from most shops. If you want to do it yourself (and you will!) go out to an electronics store and buy a T6 TorX screwdriver to unscrew the 4 screws on the back.

One feature that is crucial in a phone (in my opinion) is a daily alarm, which this phone does not offer.

If you're a fan of animated wallpapers, then free third party software can help.

Battery life in this phone is actually quite a problem, it runs for about a day and a half at first, but over time you'll find yourself charging it on a daily basis.

Other problems that I have had are the phone rebooting with sickening frequency (caused due to temperature changes or low memory). I recommend a free third party file manager (fexplorer) that can allow you to manage the phone's memory.

It may seem that the phone presents a lot of problems, but the phone is such a pleasure to use that you’ll eventually look past these. I’ve put up solutions to almost all of the problems, and once you get used to cleaning the phone it will be a two second job.