GSMArena’s Nokia 3250 review
GSM Arena has just published their Nokia 3250 review. Check it out! I think the review was pretty good and fairly accurate. However, I would like to make some comments and minor corrections about the built-in applications.
GSM Arena says:
That is why Nokia has developed an application called Instructions, which should get started directly from the right context button (we cannot confirm this information as the device we tested had been used by somebody else before it got to our office) and explain the basic work steps with Nokia 3250.
I think they mean our Tutorial application. As far as I know, we didn’t put it as default in Nokia 3250 right soft key.
GSM Arena says:
Regrettably, Nokia 3250 shares one annoying feature with Nokia N70, that is, a single press on the red receiver button closes running applications instead of taking the user back to the main display. Such a function is extremely unpleasant as you may find yourself with a closed ICQ client in the middle of an important conversation, for example.
Really? Not in my Nokia 3250. Pressing the red button takes me to the main display, leaving the current application running in the background.
GSM Arena says:
Nokia 3250 works with standard Mass Storage and thus appears as a new drive once connected to a PC. The phone provides direct access to the memory card structure. I was wondering where to save music files without using PC Suite. …
Didn’t you notice that you can synchronize the music easily with Windows Media Player? If so, I guess we should promote this functionality more… (see Allaboutsymbian review about synching music)
GSM Arena says:
Try to guess where in the phone the memory card slot - microSD (TransFlash), the tiniest memory card in the world - is hidden. When we obtained Nokia 3250 pack and took out the handset, our entire team put heads together plenty of times looking for the memory card, but we would not manage to find it. Eventually, embarrassed, we had to open phone’s manual.
I couldn’t figure it out either… Eventually, embarrassed, I had to ask my colleagues.
GSM Arena says:
All contacts from the phonebook can be dialed by voice. You do not need to make a record of your own voice tag as Nokia 3250 recognizes any voice. This application is spectacular, indeed. (read more for details)
Thank you - I just forwarded this feedback to the team behind this functionality 
GSM Arena says:
The problem I see in Nokia’s new smartphone is the incompatibility of its programs with current Symbian applications.
We are painfully aware of the incompatibility problem, but hey, it had to be done. I hope there will be more 3rd party applications available within the next few months.
Does the red button work like the N70 and close Java apps?
Yes. Seems inconsistent to me..
The thing about them missing the Media Player integration is very disappointing - this is effectively the whole FOCUS of the device, which is why I emphasised it in my AllAboutSymbian review, http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/reviews/item/Nokia_32501.php
Steve Litchfield
The red “end call” button force-quits applications on my N90 as well. It was quite inconvenient at first (since using that button to send apps to the background has been a habit of mine for several years), but I’ve gotten used to it. I suppose that “ending” the application with the “end call” key might help some folks avoid running out of memory, and it probably helps battery life to shutdown unneeded apps as well. Also, one of the reasons I used to keep apps running continuously is that application start-up times were too slow. Since the N90 is more powerful then my older phone, speed is less of an issue. (Of course, running out of memory is also less likely.)
Closing the application with End call button really seems to be the case in some occassion. It was embarrassing first, as I was used to the behavior from earlier S60 versions, that End call always brings me to idle screen, no matter what dialog or menu is active.
Without knowing the application logic behind, I’ve started to pay attention that some applications indeed introduce Hide-button in the rightside selection key. In these cases the End call button is not closing the application but just brings it background.
Alas, this is not fully consistent over all apps (for instance, try pressing End call in Calculator and in Services in S60 3.0 device), but is a good rule of thumb…
With 3250, I’m especially impressed with the speaker! It is really loud, and sounds much better than any phone I have heard. And that’s including the N91.