UK mobile phone reviews - Nokia 3120 Classic Review

Your Nokia 3120 Classic Reviews

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Reviewer: Angry Joe - Australia
Date: 18th Apr 2010

In short really cheap & nasty, & crippled by the worst firmware ever.

DON'T BUY IT! Not even second hand. If somebody gives one to you for free, just say 'no thanks'.

The backlight problem is insufferable. This evolves the backlight switching off after 5 seconds, making the screen unreadable & this little piece of trash has no adjustment option. This fault makes the phone a hair tearing & frustrating struggle to use, adding a constant annoyance to your day, & living in an age when you are already more than stressed enough.

Pressing any key will bring the light back on, but also perform the function the key provides & you can't see what, one step forward, & one step back. Entering names or writing SMS, or reading ANYTHING becomes a hurried feat.

The phone is rendered practically useless. It's especially painful because most other phones, MP3 players etc, without a backlight, the phone is not just a little more difficult to see in low light, but practically unreadable.

It's like Nokia has a disgruntled employee who wants to sabotage the phone. Thanks for nothing Nokia, for not even deigning to respond to customer enquiries. I will never buy a Nokia again.

You will HATE this phone because of the backlight problem. Ignore reviews that say otherwise, I would be suspicious of their motives.

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Reviewer: Glenn - Colorado, US
Date: 7th Apr 2010

This was my first Nokia phone, & sad to say it will definitely be my last.

The backlight timer issue, the backlight stays on for only 5 seconds in the absence of key presses, & the timeout is not adjustable! is such a serious usability issue that I honestly cannot recommend the phone at all, unless you know for certain that you'll rarely or never be using it in a low light situation. Pressing a button every 5 seconds just to keep the backlight on is extremely annoying. I am returning mine today, one day after purchase.

Even sadder is that a search of the many Nokia forums shows clearly that MANY users are very unhappy because of this problem & have been requesting firmware fixes for at least a year (I write this on April 7, 2010). To the best of my knowledge, there has been no response from Nokia.

This situation indicates to me two important things about Nokia:

- Nokia's ergonomic design team is mentally retarded. As an engineer myself, I can certainly understand the parameter choice of 5 seconds as a default (in order to be able to quote long battery life times, since the backlight eats lots of power). But not allowing the timeout to be customer adjustable is frankly silly, & I use that word in its honest objective sense, not as a angry rant.

- Nokia does not pay much attention to customer feedback.

Putting the above together tells me that this is my last Nokia phone. These folks are putting a product on the market with a severe ergonomic problem & then not even reacting to theircustomers when they complain about it.

Never again Nokia, you lost me forever.

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Reviewer: Hope - Auckalnd , New Zealand
Date: 5th Nov 2009

This phone is so frustrating to use. I wish I had read the reviews before buying it. The backlight issue is a BIG problem! As per other reviews the backlight switches off after about 10 seconds (even during video calling!). After trying to find a resolution to the problem there does not seem to be one. You cannot switch to the front camera while video calling & you cannot see the screen if using the phone outside. I DO NOT recommend this phone at all!

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Reviewer: Mike - Ireland
Date: 28th May 2009

When using the phone first I was impressed. The camera is good enough for what I want especially with a flash. All the bits can be organised to make them handy. However, battery life is poor, 2 days. Worse still though, the speaker failed. I bought another one on eBay & that failed too. It appears to be speaker problems. Had the first one repaired under guarantee but how long is that going to last?

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Reviewer: Mike - Ireland
Date: 26th May 2009

I have two 3120 classic phones & both have now had speaker problems. The first I have just had repaired & luckily just as I got the first one back from repair the second phones speaker went down. Is this an inherent problem with this phone? I think it is a terrific phone otherwise but I just hope this speaker problem is resolvable or I have just wasted my money on them.

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Reviewer: Kylie - UK
Date: 20th May 2009

Bit cheap looking but for the price, I consider this phone to be great value for money. Does exactly what it should do & I think does it very well!

Very configurable which is very handy so I have the features that I use just where you need them.

Camera OK, but it's a phone first. Good enough for eBay!

Loud enough for my ears & I find the vibration to be strong. Having been away from the Nokia brand for a few years, it's a welcome return!

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Reviewer: John - York, UK
Date: 13th May 2009

Phone has caused me to be late for work twice now.

How on earth do you switch snooze on? (It was on, then disappeared somehow), very UN user friendly, rubbish for texting, bring back my Sony Ericsson!

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Reviewer: Himanshu - Noida, India
Date: 22nd Mar 2009

I think it is a good mobile phone. As I'm Using Nokia 5200, Nokia 6600, this has more features than 5200.

Still sound is not so good like 5200, but picture quality, camera & video quality is fine. Even better then Nokia 6600.

2 main things that make me frustrated are.

- Backlight off so quickly.
- Front camera is not so usable until you use Video calling. Normal user can't use this feature.

I request to Nokia please do something for backlight problem.

Could you please add call timer to your new phones. It really helps me.

Rest is fine.

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Reviewer: Abhi - Hyderabad, India
Date: 21st Mar 2009

IT IS A VERY GOOD MOBILE. IT IS DESIGNED VERY EXCELLENTLY, BUT IT IS SHOWING ERROR IN CONNECTION WHEN WE MOVE FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER. IT IS A GOOD PHONE I AM SATISFIED WITH THIS. The ONLY PROBLEM IS SOMETIMES WE ARE NOT ABLE TO GET INCOMING & OUT GOING CALLS.

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Reviewer: Ian - Bangalore, India
Date: 13th Feb 2009

Please don't go for this phone as it has problem with speakers. Even after software update & repair the problem still exists. It looks attractive. Thats the only advantage with this phone.

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Reviewer: Ched - Pasig City, Philippines
Date: 9th Jan 2009

Just like a baby N70 in S40 Platform. Design is not that bad. Main functions as phone (messaging, call, organisers, etc.) work excellent. Sound works great if placed with loudspeaker facing flat on surface. Camera is not shy (but I hate the red eyes, fault of the flash). Video is excellent when set in higher resolution (I've recorded fireworks this New Year & it's beautiful). Thumbs up to web browsing, can check regularly my yahoo e-mail, friendster & facebook account. Also works good in YouTube! Data transfer works fast via Bluetooth or data cable! Just got disappointed, package included a single sided head set & no data cable! But still recommended! For those who don't know how to play the radio in loudspeaker, you need first plug in your headset (it function as antenna so it is a must), select settings, then loudspeaker!

I still wonder why opera mini's browsing is free of charge in my first 2 months of use. But now, it charges my load. But still great phone!

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Reviewer: Tugger - Australia
Date: 1st Jan 2009

Absolute rubbish, the backlight cannot be adjusted & cuts out after a few seconds, making it difficult to read even a short message. It's virtually impossible to read the screen outdoors, the music player memory is a joke (15MB), enough for 4 tracks if you're lucky. I was given this as a company phone, otherwise I'd be screaming for a refund!

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Reviewer: Radhakrishnan - Trichy, India
Date: 12th Dec 2008

I am using this phone for a month now & I am loving it. Excellent phone with great music player camera with flash. All works great. The Video quality is excellent. At this price this is the best 3G phone available in the market now.

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Reviewer: Anon - Ireland
Date: 12th Nov 2008

Excellent phone! Battery life is about 1 week! For all those who had problems with the back. Read the instructions. I read the reviews & wasn't going to get it but VERY glad that I did. Easy to use. It's everything I could of wished for!

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Reviewer: Ges Dami - Singapore
Date: 13th Sep 2008

Got this phone when renewing the 2 year contract. This is the worse phone I had. Buggy, cannot switch off. When I switched off, the phone restarted again. Battery life is short only about 2 days even when I hardly use it. Recording is soft & recording level could not be increased. Ringing volume is also soft causing me to miss calls. The camera resolution is low & not good in poor lighting. No transfer cable & software for downloading to PC. After a month of use, I switched back to my old phone, Nokia 6020.

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Reviewer: Brian - London, UK
Date: 27th Aug 2008

This phone has lots of potential but is let down by silly design. The case creaks & the phone feels cheap & nasty.

The display light, although nice & bright, goes off around 10 seconds after you last press a key, which is useless if you are trying to read a long webpage, there is no adjustment for this!

The keypad (or as Nokia call it, keymat, which is actually more accurate) is not great, thin, cheap & tacky.

If you want a cheap phone, there are others. I got my 3120c yesterday, it went back today.

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Reviewer: Taylor - London, UK
Date: 16th Aug 2008

First impressions were good, a Symbian phone in a small case, kind of a baby N73, sadly though nowhere near as good. Screen brightness dim, & not adjustable. Camera on this one gives green on any dark contrasting background. Video good though & VGA a bonus. Still volume not adjustable playing java games, S60 V3 for you, designed for Symbian games which there are few! Tacky casing, would highly recommend the Sony Ericsson V640i instead, lower res screen but better brightness & a more solid feel & still HSDPA & half the price approx.

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Reviewer: Babu Marwadi - Mumbai, Iran
Date: 25th Jul 2008

It very third class phone.

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Reviewer: Olivier - London, UK
Date: 19th Jul 2008

A truly great phone, for those who like Smartphone features without carrying a brick. The phone is really tiny. Great videos & OK photos, cool web browsing & a great baseline software package. Keys might feel a little small.



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