Customer Reviews

Nokia X3 Slider GSM Quad-Band Unlocked Cell Phone with 3.5 MP Camera and 2 GB SD Slot Memory -- U.S. Version with Warranty (Blue)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

This phone is an excellent choice for those who want a Music Phone. The Micro-SD slot can be expanded to 16GB and the sound quality is superb. On the left side of the screen it has dedicated music controls making controlling your tunes a breeze, you can leave you MP3 at home after you buy this phone. The phone itself is good too, sound quality is clear and the buttons are big, it also provides good feedback so you know what you have pressed. Like other Nokias battery life is strong, usually a full charge last 4 to 5 days with moderate talk time. The phone is really compact and light, sometimes I forget if it's in my pocket and have to pat it just to make sure I have it with me =)

The downside is the camera, it's practically useless in low light situations. Even in moderate light there are still lots of image noise, you can get away with it a little bit by it being 3.2 Megapixels thus always giving you high resolution but at 3.2 it takes quite a few seconds for it to process the picture. Also since it's not a 3G phone, using EDGE for web browsing is a bit on the sluggish side.

The bottom line is if you want a stylish, light, practically phone with good battery life and music capabilities then you can't go wrong with this Nokia. If you want something more powerful with full 3G then shop for something else.

To clear thing up only two large US wireless companies uses GSM: AT&T Wireless and T-Mobile so this phone will only work with them. Overseas GSM is the dominate technology so you can easily use this phone outside the US.

For those who don't want to renew your contract, this is a wonderful unlocked GSM phone with quite a lot of feature at a very reasonable price.

Before I get started, there is one point to keep in mind. This is an unlocked phone. There is some configuring that has to be done in order to get internet and MMS working with your provider. Nokia used to have a site that would send carrier specific info to the phone, but I believe they have taken it down. You may have to search forums and/or call your carrier customer support for this one. Call and SMS will work "out of box", but anything internet dependent will require some fiddling.

On to the review.
I have found for a $140 phone, this pretty much does everything I'd want a basic cell phone to do, almost to the point where I don't really care about have a higher end smart phone.

Call quality is great and I have found that the Series 40 UI far easier to use than most of the carrier locked phones we have in the UI. If you're using an ATT or TMO Nokia phone, you are not experiencing the full potential that Nokia has to offer.

Nokia's email client is great for basic email checking and even without 3G data capabilities, I found EDGE data speeds more than sufficient. With T9 predictive entry, even sending basic reply messages is relatively quick.

The media player keys are a handy touch, and the FM radio is also a nice additional feature. Overall, I found Nokia's generic media player much more pleasant than that of most other low end phones.

Onto some cons...
I have accidentally hung up on some calls as the screen tends to stick to my face and if I keep moving my hand, I will eventually slide the phone far enough to cause the call to end.

There is no feature to auto-lock the keys when the slider is closed. You either have to select the "Lock" option immediately after closing the slide or enable the auto keyguard feature to lock after a set amount of time. This is kind of a vestige of Nokia's candy bar only phone days.

No Nokia Maps. Even though this phone has no GPS, it's nice to still look up maps when you're in a bind. I've used several other S40 phones with this feature(with and without GPS) and although it's no Google Maps or Nokia Navigation, for such an inexpensive phone, it's good enough.

Overall, for the price, you will get a lot. If you're looking for a basic unlocked phone sans contract, this is the phone for you. You may even be pleasantly surprised.

This phone is amazing. I have had this phone for about a month and it is all that I hoped it would be. I go to the gym daily and it was cumbersome taking my mp3 player and my cell phone to work out. Now, with his Nokia, I just grab it and go. I have my phone and an MP3 player all in one. I love it.

Got this phone today. Right out of the box it appeared impressive, pleasing to eye and touch. Tried to get the back cover off according to the manual's instructions but it was no go. Finally I got my jeweler's screw driver out to try prying around the edges. Fortunately without damage, I've discovered what the manual omitted from their instructions. You have to pry up, gently, the lower back case with a blade or tiny screw driver before pushing down and sliding it out. The bottom part of the cover has two prong like tabs which will prevent you from sliding it until you pry it up first. Having survived this part of the struggle then I proceeded to install the simm card and battery. Looking at the manual again I tried to flip up the simm door and it just fell out. It appears the simm door was already damaged and was just pressed in there hoping to pass for the sale. So I never got past this part and requested a return RMA label from Amazon. The simm door and back cover definitely could use a more robust design. In my humble opinion, while this phone offers lots of pleasing features, Nokia dropped the ball.
It's going to be returned via UPS tomorrow for full refund.

This is the first unlocked phone that I've bought off Amazon, and I'm very pleased. I bought this phone to replace a damaged "smart phone". I decided I'm too careless to carry a smart phone, so a dumb phone would have to do... and this is one of the best dumb phones out there IMO.

Pros:
- Very polished and intuitive UI, Nokia at its best
- Customizable home screen is a plus
- Great music player, very good sound quality, good controls
- Nice to have OVI apps
- Cheap

Cons:
- Stock headphones are really weak (or I'm getting deaf! :))
- Screen plastic feels cheap and gets scratched easily (definitely needs a cover)
- Overall doesn't feel all that durable, expected more
- No 3G, but that's what keeps the price low

This is a very good phone in terms of functionality it offers. The call quality is good and it has a very good music player and even radio. It has a good price for what it offers. I liked the phone so much that after getting one for me, I got one for my wife. However, my phone simply died in a week. Turned off on its own and never came back. It was the flashing white screen problem, which I discovered to be a common problem for some nokia phones by searching online. I got a replacement from Amazon and they handled everything greatly as always. Now my wife's phone is having problems with sound. I cannot hear when someone calls me but they can hear me. It does not happen all the time but started to happen often. I am sending this phone back but for a refund this time. Hopefully, my replacement phone will work but I am a bit concerned now.


Update.

My replacement phone is going back. It has "hearing" problems sometimes. I cannot hear when I place a call or receive a call. It happens often and I am not about to play the game. 3 phone of the model are having problems and for me it is enough to look somewhere else.

I purchased this phone to use while traveling to India. I didn't need Data, email etc, since I have my Blackberry with International Data turned on for that.

I bought the phone to avoid high roaming costs that US Cell providers charge. Purchased a SIM while I was over there, and this was a very inexpensive way for me to keep in touch with people back in the US. The phone works great. Very clear audio. I allowed my 70 yr old grandma to talk to my parents back home, and she had no difficulty in hearing my parents.

I bought this phone based on the reviews of others. My primary attractions to the phone were cost, size/ weight, it is unlocked, and ability to serve as an MP3 player. The phone is OK. My frustrations with it are as follows:

Opening the battery case is difficult enough to do, but the fact that the sliding front keeps opening and closing during the process makes it even more difficult.
I am a frequent international traveler and consequently need to swap out SIM cards frequently when I arrive in a new country. It's not easy to open the battery case or the SIM compartment. It's not impossible, but it should be easier.
When playing music, the phone has a "ghost skip" every 10 seconds or so. By this I mean it cuts out for a fraction of a second. Consistently. It is distracting.
The operational software is antiquated. It's not super easy to navigate to media player, for example. And because I'm loading songs from a mini-SD card, it has to load the songs EVERY time the phone turns on - takes a while with 1200 songs. Then navigating between and among songs (with this many songs) is difficult.
It is almost 2011. Surely companies could have solved these shortcomings by now.

I'm really happy with the phone. Top of the line it is not, but if you want a phone with a pretty decent music player and FM radio then it lives up to the bill. It also comes with a nice set of ear buds. My only complaint is the shoddy call quality that occurs every once in a while. Overall the phone is worth the price and I do recommend it for purchase if you're not looking for the next I-Phone.

My Wife used to own the LG Vu phone by signing up for the 2 year contract with one of the wireless services .. and she lost it recently.
From that day I have searched a lot for buying one for her and finally ended up buying this product ... as though there are not much reviews to really base on, I liked it very much in the first look.

I gave her a surprise by the time she is up from her bed with a working sim card in it... she looked it for a minute and finally said 'WOW'. And thats all I wanted when I am searching for the phone.

Not just that .. it has lot of cool features and as usual the NOKIA's best battery life ... color combinations.. sound clarity while speaking and while listening to songs or videos.

Finally it worked out to be one of the cool gifts that I presented my wife!

Cheers
- Vik