Nokia 3120 classic review: Mid-range fighter

Gallery and file manager are combined, we are not impressed

No significant changes in the gallery were made with Nokia 3120 classic. Pity, as we aren't really in love with the looks of the S40 gallery. The fact that it is an inherent part of the file manager is probably the main cause of disappointment.

There are three different views for the gallery: list with details, list and grid. Once you pick a picture you can zoom on it to see more detail. Zooming itself is not the fastest (especially for larger pictures) and the most capable around, so it is practically of little use.

There are three view modes available in the gallery

Pictures can also be viewed fullscreen and can be edited with the built-in picture editor. The latter offers a very limited number of options, so Nokia 3120 classic users are highly unlikely to take up photo editing on the handset.

Looking at a single picture in normal and landscape mode • Zooming isn't doing a really great job

The final extras of the gallery include the available Slideshow and Search option, which is quite convenient for finding a specific file in overfed folders.

As a whole we aren't really pleased with the S40 gallery and we do hope that it will be one of the first things to improve in the future versions of the UI.

2 megapixel camera

Speaking of multimedia capabilities, the camera is one of the key things to mention. Nokia 3120 classic is armed with a 2 megapixel camera with image resolution of up to 1600 x 1200 pixels. Typical Series 40, the camera settings are rather limited but - after all - reasonable given the low-end shooter. The available settings include white balance, three quality levels going form basic to high, and various effects. Sequence shots and shooting in both portrait and landscape mode are also among the available options.

The camera user interface in portrait and landscape mode

The camera itself is a downright middling 2 megapixel unit. Its fixed focus is sure to doom any attempts at macro photography but the LED flash gives some hope of producing a usable picture in the dark now and then. The flash is still rather weak, usable with close range objects only.

The lack of a dedicated camera button is the real downer when it comes to operating the camera. Using the confirm button of the D-pad, especially when shooting in landscape mode, is definitely not our preferred handling.

Image quality is about average; in favorable weather decent images can be produced, sharp enough, with fairly good color rendering. Noise levels still remain high in areas with no detail like the sky for example. Given the absence of autofocus, you'd rather not take a picture of a closely situated object or text, as they will surely be blurred. Text is only legible if captured from a distance.

Nokia 3120 classic sample camera photos

Finally, we feel a warning is due about camera speed. This one is surely among the slowest we have tried recently. It will take ages to save a picture at the highest (read: 2MP) resolution setting and that stretches the shot-to-shot time beyond bearable.

As far as video recording is concerned, Nokia 3120 classic manages CIF resolution. This is a decent achievement, albeit nothing impressive. Still on some occasions the video clips produced by the classic might turn out usable. The videos are recorded in 3GP format and their length is only limited by the memory available.

Video recorder interface

As a whole, the imaging capabilities of Nokia 3120 classic are passable for the price range, but far from impressive in general.