Weaknesses
Most phones these days are becoming smaller and
thinner, but with its bulky frame, the 3110 goes against the grain. On the plus side this gives it the advantage of larger buttons
that are ideal for texting, but it also means the phone looks
distinctly old fashioned, especially next to super trim, low cost
rivals like the Sagem my150X.
Also, although the 3110 does have a camera, it's not a very good one. It has a lowly 1.3-megapixel resolution, which makes photos look washed out. It also lacks a flash so it's pretty much useless for taking indoor shots in dimly lit conditions.
We can understand these issues, but what we find harder to fathom is Nokia's decision to ship the handset with mono headphones, despite the fact that it has a built-in music player. It seems like madness because when we tried the phone's music player with a stereo headset from a Nokia 5200, the playback quality was actually very good.
Conclusion
There's very little to get excited about
with the 3110 Classic. At around £90, it's designed to appeal to those
people who find all the bells and whistles on the latest handsets
annoying rather than tempting and on that front it does the job nicely.
The large buttons and clearly laid out menus make it very easy to use and it also has a strong battery life. It's just a shame Nokia hasn't included stereo headphones to let users make the most of its surprisingly good music features.
Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Jon Squire
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User reviews2
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rupe 12 February 2008
Good: packed with features from expensive phones in a VERY classy cool but understated looking, and GREAT VFM (£60) package
Bad: Camera is ok, but not for serious photography. 2.5mm headphone jack means Hard to get non nokia headphones - only decent ones Sennheiser Cx300 2.5 or use adapters
Comment: The looks, for the black at least are refined, elegant and classy, without being flashy so very simple. Its very light, not that big at all really (mere MM bigger than much more expensive phones). It has lots of features - bluetooth, infa red, voice dialling, voice commands, good colour screen, very high quality MP3 player (you can now get up to 8GB memorycards so loads of tracks) with good headphones or via stereo line in, Radio, and a camera thats pretty good if there is reasonable light.
As you can get it for £50-60 on PAYG, its very over speced for the price, dead easy to use due to clear (and good sized but not too large) buttons, large screen, easy memory upgrade, Nokias easy to use menu's. Voice dialling great for hands free. It was nice to get a handfree headphone at all, so saying ti should have the stereo one is moaning (and nokia ones are rubbish headsets anyway like Ipod headsets etc, best to get some decent ones yourself rather than Nokia to charge extra for adding their own in).
The camera is good, if you are not looking for a phone specifically to take pictures, but as an added feature for the odd pic while out. The quality for this is ok, and if there is reasonable light pretty good, but it's sensor sturggles with noise where there is limited light, even in night mode, where it can even become oversensitive. A handy feature to have, but no substitute for taking a proper camera on holiday. but then NO phone camera is really.
Add in that you can surf the net quickly and easily, you can stream video and TV downloads, and even do you email on it (subject to service provider) by easily setting up POP's to download from your email account, then its all round fantastic vallue for money.
Sure there are phones that do the same things better, except maybe for the MP3 player which is really very good (with decent headphones), but they cost lots more, and add in sophisticated good looks, and you have a great buy. Highly recommended for a good allround phone at a great price with lots of features.
Simon Williamson 19 December 2007
Good: Easy to use and perfect for texting with quite a few added extras and a simple but stylish look
Bad: In a word - the screen
Comment: I bought this phone after an unfortunate accident in which my 6131 decided to take a dive into water.
Having already bought two phones this year I could no longer justify going out and spending another large wad of cash (as I had with the 6131) but really wanted to stick with nokia and it was then when I stumbled accross the 3110 classic. From the shop description it seemed to have everything my last phone had had but at a seriously lower price and so I snapped it up... and I haven't been disapointed since.
The first thing you notice is how solid it feels in your hand; it really seems well put together with no creeks or clicks. The keys are a delight for texting; large, well spaced, and very responsive and all in all it looks fairly good, not super thin or ultra stylish, but smart and professional.
After further examination you'll find that it has a 2.5 mil earphone socket, which means you have (slightly) more choice than just to use Nokia earphones, a slot for microSD memory cards, a mini usb port, and a 1.3 mpx camera, all of which are very welcome on a phone of this price (granted the memory card slot is under the battery but then I don't change it too often)
When you switch it on you find the now very familiar and user friendly s40 interface with it's usual mix of applications; again it seems that no compromise was made there. The media player is really very respectable for a low-mid range device and reproduces mp3s loudly and clearly.
But as with nearly everything in this life there are a few downsides. Firstly the package in general is very basic, no memory card, no PC suit CD and only a mono earphone (however stereo headphones and a memory card can be picked up fairly cheaply and PC suit can be downloaded from the Nokia website)
The second, and probably the most important downside is the screen. It is bright and easy to read but with a resolution of 128 by 160 it is really behind similarly priced models. In fact when you first see it (especially comparing it to the 6131) it looks pretty poor, but this is also due to the pre-selected theme which is far too light, once I changed this for a darker one it improved quite a bit, but I guess I couldn't ask for everything.
The camera also isn't really up to scratch. It has the same fault as most low-mid range nokia phones in that it has no flash and can only manage grainy- green tinged photos in low light conditions.
All in all though, the 3110 is a very solid, very user freindly mobile with enough extras to elevate it from being a 'basic' model and a good mp3 player. It might not be perfect for those looking for extreme style or over the top functions but it will everything you ask of it and has a battery life to rival most.
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