The Nokia 3120 Classic is not a super-fancy Nokia N95, but it is a much cheaper mobile phone that looks great and does the job very well. This is a ‘bare bones’ 3G handset that makes calls and texts simple and easy, yet looks thin and stylish whilst doing it. You get a large screen display and comfortable keypad, and even though there’s not a huge range of exceptional features to list, its design and cost prove to create a very popular mid-range mobile phone.

Weighing in at only 85g and at just 13.4mm thick, this Nokia slips into your pocket with ease. The 3120 Classic has a classy design that defies its price with a dark, metallic blue front, silver sides and a lighter blue colour on the rear of the handset. It’s not ultra fashion-conscious, but it is a sleek, smooth and easy-to-hold mobile that will never get in the way.

Although small in stature, the Nokia 3120 Classic is still able to house a sizable 2-inch screen that offers both bright colours and great viewing angles. You’ll be surprised how good the display is on a phone at this price. Text is clear to read and video content shows up quite well.

The Nokia 3120 has an awesome keyboard with large keys that are simple to press, as they are so well spaced. It’ll be hard for you to stuff up your typing here. The controls are much the same in that they’re basic, but very intuitive. There’s a sharp-looking chrome five-way navigation pad, answer and end call keys, and two other selection buttons. On the right side of the phone is a volume control button.
The best aspect of this mobile phone is probably its easy-to-use intuitive user interface. The Nokia 3120 Classic uses the famous Symbian Series 40 system. Well, it’s famous with people who’ve been using Nokia mobiles in recent times! It has a 3x3 grid layout for the main menu and a basic list format for nearly all of the submenus. Its operating speed is quick and you can traverse through the mobile easily via the navigation pad.

The Nokia 3120 Classic doesn’t jump leaps and bounds with exciting added features, but it’ll do everything you need to do and has a few tricks up its slim-line sleeves. You get a two-megapixel camera, which has a flash, as well as a front-mounted VGA camera that takes video calls over the 3G networks. These are basic pictures so don’t expect masterpieces. Image fuzziness and poor colour reproduction can occur often, as with other cheaper-end camera phones on the market.

Although the 3120 is cheap and small, it still comes with a few multimedia features like music and video players, an FM radio and a voice recorder. The music player has an adjustable five-band equaliser with five presets, plus repeat and shuffle play modes. One thing Nokia could have given the phone is a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. Its only got the 2.5mm option. This is then made worse by the included headset of which has only one earpiece, as the creators marketed more towards people answering phone calls as opposed to those listening to music.

The answer to this problem is solved by included A2DP Bluetooth technology, which means you can use your own compatible wireless headphones. Connections to your computer are done with a standard micro-USB port, but you’ll have to buy your own USB cable, as you don’t get one in the box. This is the same case as the microSD card slot, but the phone is so cheap you know it’s a fair trade-off.

The Nokia 3120 Classic is definitely a great phone for a budget cost. Its design is attractive, it has an intuitive user interface, and various quality features round up this extremely popular mobile phone.

Pros:

-    Stylish and thin design
-    3G-capable
-    Large screen for the size of the handset
-    Very usable keypad
-    FM Radio
-    Great battery life
-    Front-facing VGA camera for 3G video calls
-    Bluetooth
-    MicroSD expansion card slot

Cons:

-    2.5mm headphone jack
-    Headset has only one earpiece
-    Mediocre camera
-    No USB data cable
-    No microSD card included