Design and Looks
The phone is of bar design. On the front, it is surrounded by a solid metal rim that protects the screen from scratches. The casing is very strong and will save the phone from harsh use. The battery cover too features a locking system that will ensure that the cover is fastened securely to the phone's body at all times.
The keypad can be a little bothersome as it is made of glossy plastic that attracts a lot of fingerprints. It has large keys that are hard to press but this goes a long way in preventing typos. The keys are separated by fine 'splitline' borders that light up when the phone is in use and it all looks quite nice. The D-pad is an innovative alternative to regular navigation-keys although using it can be a bit tricky especially in this case because the navigational rim of the D-pad is pencil-thin. Rest assured you're bound to press the confirming center frequently without meaning to do so.
The low resolution of the phone display does not commensurate the large size of the display making the phone look very cheap. Simply put, the pixel-to-size ratio is off. A QVGA display would have been a better option here and the mismatch comes as a shocker given that Nokia normally get their displays right.
The phone sports a 2MP camera with 4x zoom that is common for phones in this range. There is a dedicated key in the alphanumeric keypad to access the camera. The camera settings are extensive and offer three different quality settings (from basic to high), colour effects and sequence shots which somewhat compensates for the lack of autofocus or flash.
The phone's music player is the XpressMusic player seen on the Nokia 5300 XpressMusic phone. It does a good job and supports many different formats. It does not offer the sound quality you'd experience on, say, an N81 but it is more than satisfactory. The videoplayer does not perform as well as the music player mostly because of the odd pixel-to-size ratio that mars the video viewing experience. What's more is when you're watching a video, the selection-keys labels do not disappear completely.
The phone features the snappy Series 40 User Interface that is common among mid-end Nokia phones. The phone is preloaded with many applications like Catalogs which connects to the Nokia Download Center where users can download thousands of compatible java applications for their 3500 classic. Then there's also a convertor application. For browsing there's the integrated WAP browser that offers a poor browsing experience at best, luckily the phone also features the OperaMini Java browser that finds favour over the standard browser.
The telephony of the phone is simply amazing. The reception is crystal clear even in areas with low signal, the voice quality is superb and the phone features a good ringing volume. It's good to know that being a basic phone, the Nokia 3500 classic scores well at what it is meant to do: to make and receive calls. The phone also features voice dial that is completely speaker dependant.
The phone is a great piece of work. Too bad it features an awful display. Not worth the price as there are much better phones available for almost the same rate.
Features
- Excellent design
- 2MP camera with 8x digital zoom
- Instant Messaging
- Expandable memory
- Voice recording and voice dialing
- MiniUSB
Accessories
- Nokia Headset (HS-47) (available with phone)
- Bluetooth Headset BH-208
- Bluetooth Display Car Kit CK-15W
- Universal Holder CR-39
