The black body and chrome edging are a stylish touch, and the bright, 2.4-inch screen slide smoothly over a polished keypad.
User Friendliness Summary
We’ve got used to Nokia’s simplicity and user friendliness, and the Nokia 7230 is no different. The interface is familiar and bright.
Feature Set Summary
Ovi Maps offers great navigation functionality, there’s a 3.5mm audio port for your headphones, and 3G internet to boot.
Performance Summary
It’s pretty efficient but can feel underpowered – some programs take an age to load up.
Battery Power Summary
The 220-minute talktime is pretty decent.
Full Review and Specification for the Nokia 7230
Nokia’s position at the top of the mobile market is consolidated by phones like the Nokia 7230: fairly basic phones for a reasonable price that may not have the high-end features but do the job reliably and stylishly.
Style and handling on the Nokia 7230
Despite being a lower-end phone, the 7230 is well built and good looking, with a black plastic body and chrome edging. A smooth slide of the 2.4-inch screen reveals a nice-looking keypad with smooth tablet-style keys, which is tactile and comfortable to type on despite their bouncy feel.
We like the concentric fingerprint-like ridges on the back cover, although it is somewhat flimsy, as well as the 3.5mm audio port and the 3.2-megapixel camera.
The user interface is the familiar and user-friendly Nokia grid with the addition of some fancy new wallpapers, and the screen looks bright and clear, with clean-edged icons and nice large fonts. You can customise the interface to a limited extent: the left key brings up a shortcuts list that you can reorder to your own preferences, and the direction keys can be set to take you to your favourite programs.
Some applications can be slow to load, even fairly basic ones like the camera, but we are keen on the scroll function, which scrolls through your apps more quickly the longer you press the down key.
Navigation on the Nokia 7230
There’s is no GPS on the Nokia 7230 but navigation is nevertheless one of the phone’s best features. Ovi Maps is a great bit of software, packed with features and real bonus at this price. You can get a specific address for any map point and save your locations for later reference. You can also call, text and see your inbox directly from the program. The maps themselves look good on the screen: clear and bright.
Internet and email on the Nokia 7230
Another surprising addition is 3G internet, which provides pretty fast internet access if your network supports it. The preloaded browser is Opera Mini, which is the best browser available for Java phones and renders webpages clearly despite being very slow to load. You only get to view mobile-optimised web pages, as the phone doesn’t have the memory to render full websites.
As far as email is concerned, you get Ovi Mail (someone out there must use it) as well as the most popular webmail, although you don’t get push notifications. You can also use Ovi Messaging, if you know anyone else who uses it.
The 3.2-megapixel camera isn’t the best – daylight shots are somewhat sharp and no flash means grainy lowlight shots – but you can share your photos via text or Bluetooth, or upload them to Nokia’s sync and backup service, Ovi.
Ovi on the Nokia 7230
Ovi is generally only found on smartphones, so it’s nice to see that you can back up your media and contacts on the Nokia 7230. This means that should you lose your phone or upgrade to another Nokia handset, you can still get hold of and transfer all your essential information and saved media files. All you need to do is set up an Ovi account and you will get regular, wire-free synchronisation.
Nokia’s application and themes store, Ovi Store, is less inspiring, with a limited selection of downloads, especially for Java phones.
The verdict on the Nokia 7230
There is always a market for basic-yet-stylish handsets, and the Nokia 7230 fits the bill perfectly. 3G web speeds and Ovi Maps are bonus features at this price point, making for a capable handset all round
