Nokia 7230, Pictures: Phone Guide Germany

According to the manufacturer, the Nokia 7230 is made for the use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Flickr – but at first glance it doesn’t show. This mobile doesn’t have a physical QWERTZ keyboard for faster texting, it does neither support HSPA for faster uploads nor WiFi for free internet access on the way, and its integrated camera seems to be below par. But let’s not get carried away: We should keep in mind that the Nokia 7230, which is running on the S40 platform, is just a regular mobile phone in a stylish design that offers quite a few ways to stay in contact with friends and to share pictures with them, as this review shows. And because of that it is less expensive than a high-end smartphone: Currently, the Nokia 7230 is available at German web stores for purchase prices beginning at EUR 125.00.

At first, except for the Ovi Store, icon all short-cuts to social media services such as Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, Share on Ovi and My Nokia are hidden in the depths of the menu. However, the user of the device can activate a task bar with up to four social media short-cuts on the main page. Basic settings for email services such as Google Mail, Yahoo Mail, Windows Live Mail and Ovi Mail are already stored in the system, instant messengers such as Google Talk oder Windows Live Messenger run on the Nokia 7230 as well. Unfortunately, text, MMS, email and chat messages do not go into one single inbox. And logging in to social media services takes its time because the Nokia 7230 does not sport a full keypad, but just a slide-out numeric keypad. For browsing the web the user can choose between the webkit browser and the Opera Mini 2.4 browser.

The quality of the pictures taken with the integrated 3.2-megapixel camera are just good enough to publish on web portals such as Flickr, Share on Ovi oder Facebook or to share via Bluetooth with other mobile phone users. All this can be done with the Nokia 7230 with just one click when the picture is displayed on the phone’s sharp and bright screen. The user can make minor improvements with the help of the photo editor or send the picture to a compatible printer. But as soon as you take a look at pictures shot with the mobile’s camera on a big PC screen you will notice picture noise and a lack of color fidelity as well as of sharpness. You’ll see at once that the camera lacks autofocus.

For photo uploads with up to 384 kbps the Nokia 7230 features EDGE and UMTS connectivity – this should be sufficient, too. The camera of the Nokia 7230 captures videos with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels at 15 frames per second and allows video sharing.

The media player supports all popular audio files and playlists and features an equalizer function. The sound quality is not really good, even when regular earphones are connected to the 3.5-millimeter headset jack. Calls sound clean and clear, the phone’s battery usually lasts up to four days.

Overall: The Nokia 7230 offers several ways to share content and communicate with friends on the way. A bigger screen and a full keypad would be nice, but then the mobile phone wouldn’t be as affordable as it is.

Product Summary of the Nokia 7230:
Operating System: S40
GSM Networks: 850, 900, 1,800, 1,900 MHz
Data Transfer: GPRS, EDGE, UMTS
Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB
Screen: 2.4-inch screen with 240 x 320 pixels resolution and 262,144 colors
Keypad: slide-out numeric
Camera: 3.2 megapixels with video capture (320 x 240 pixels, 15 f/s)
Other: Media Player with 3.5-mm AV headset jack
Storage: 45 MB + 16 GB microSD
Size: 98 x 48 x 14,8 mm
Weight: 100 g
Speaking Time: 5.5 hrs (GSM) or 3.5 hrs (UMTS)

Read more about the Nokia 7230 at www.teltarif.de (in German).