I am sure you could come up with reasons as to why you would want a phone with minimum features. As long as it is still a phone. Well if this is in your thoughts then you might want to consider the Nokia 2320 which could be the ideal phone for you. Only one way to find out.
This candy bar phone was released in 2009 and made available in the US through the carrier, AT&T. The Nokia 2320 is a compact candy bar phone and is closely related to the Nokia 2323 and the Nokia 2330.
This is a well designed phone from Nokia. It looks clean and sleek. The Nokia 2320 is a phone that carries a lot of personality. It feels good to the touch, it is extremely light and comfortable to handle. A phone so simple you do not need to be tech savvy to make the most out of it.
Design (3 out of 5)
As we look at the design I can’t help but notice that the Nokia 2320 is only available in black. It is unlike Nokia to release a phone in only one color. This Nokia phone weighs in at only 2.68 ounces (76 grams) and measures a mere 4.21 x 1.81 x 0.54 inches (107 x 46 x 13.8 millimeters).
The front of the Nokia 2320 has a display that measures 1.8 inches and sits between the ear piece above it and the soft-key panel below it. All these are wrapped in an semi-ellipse grooved cover.
The soft-key panel houses five controls. The first two are the general soft-keys placed on either top corner of the soft-key panel below the left soft-key panel is the green call button while the red call button sits below the right soft-key.
In the center of the soft-key panel you’ll find the Five-way scroll keys. Below the soft-key panel there is an alphanumeric keypad.
The left side of this Nokia phone houses the volume keys for the speaker phone. The top of the Nokia 2320 is fixed with the power button while the bottom of the phone has the socket for recharging the battery.
User Interface (1 out of 5)
Control and access to the user interface can be made by pressing the right softkey which gives you access to the menu system. The menu can be navigated using the Five-way scroll keys to highlight the desired application or service you want to launch. The actual launching of an application can be done by pressing the center button on the Five-way scroll key.
To enter text input into services such as text messages, you can use the alphanumeric keypad in either predictive text input mode or normal text input mode.
All calls can be made using the green call button while rejecting or ending a voice call can be done using the red call end button.
The Symbian software onboard is very limited and awkward to navigate compared to more modern platforms.
Features (1 out of 5)
The Nokia 2320 comes with 32 MB internal memory with no options for external memory. This allows for a capacity of 1,000 entries in the address book. The display on this Nokia phone is TFT with support for 65 K colors at a maximum resolution of 128 x 160 pixels.
As far as data connectivity goes, the Nokia 2320 offers no more than GPRS. For device to device connectivity, Bluetooth is available on this phone. Despite the lack of connectivity options, the Nokia 2320 offers Internet surfing using Opera Mini .
As part of the messaging options email, which includes push email, is offered on this Nokia phone. Also included is a basic organizer and utility applications such as a stopwatch, a calculator, an expense manager and a converter, among others.
Performance (3 out of 5)
The Nokia 2320 does not have much to offer in terms of features that hog resources from its memory. The few applications it has run pretty well in spite of the low hardware specifications. Applications launch quite fast and the phone doesn’t take much time to boot up. The user interface is quite fast and very responsive. There are no fancy transitions that hinder the performance.
Voice call quality on the phone is quite good and so is the signal reception in most places, even those with high buildings. The speaker phone, on the other hand, is not very good, especially when the volume is pushed up.
Talk time on the Nokia 2320 is pegged at four hours. This is below average. On standby, this phone can get you up to 528 hours of battery life.
When it comes to Internet browsing, this phone is rather slow. This is obvious as this Nokia phone lacks the faster connectivity protocols. The situation is compounded when accessing heavy websites. So be careful.
Verdict (2 out of 5)
The Nokia 2320 comes in as a phone that is okay as long as you want to restrict yourself to just making and receiving calls, as well as sending and receiving plain text messages. If you just want a phone that’s a phone then that is precisely what the Nokia 2320 was designed for. For the fun active young people, this may not be the phone for you.
For the elderly or the not so tech savvy, I would recommend that you give this phone a try. It is easy to use, cheap and reliable.
References
- Source: Author’s own experience.
Nokia USA, https://nds1.nokia.com/files/support/nam/phones/guides/Nokia_2320_UG_en-US_es-LAM.pdf - Image Credits: Nokia Press, press.nokia.com
