Nokia unveils 3250 music smartphone with 2 MP camera

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	Nokia unveils 3250 music smartphone with 2 MP camera	By Jørgen Sundgot, 26 September 2005

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The Nokia 3250 boasts dedicated music controls, a swivel-mounted 2 Megapixel camera, MP3/WMA support, a stereo FM radio, Bluetooth, USB 2.0 and up to 1 GB of memory.

Introducing its second smartphone to make use of a swivel concept - the first being the imaging-focused N90 - Nokia today unveiled the 3250, a music-oriented smartphone sporting dedicated media playback controls and a swivel-mounted 2 Megapixel camera. Unlike the delayed Nokia N91, which was to be Nokia's first music smartphone, the 3250 relies entirely on microSD cards for storage - a format first for the manufacturer, which until now has insisted on the use of varities of the MMC format.

Falling under Nokia's new XpressMusic umbrella, which is to signify handsets with dedicated music key(s), music pause/resume on incoming calls, support for 3.5 mm connectors and extended battery life, the 3250 offers support for MP3, WMA, M4A and eAAC+ formats and will allow for up to 1 GB of memory courtesy of its microSD support; internal memory is limited to 10 MB. The tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz smartphone supports both GPRS and EDGE, and also includes a stereo FM radio and Bluetooth in way of wireless connectivity, whereas USB 2.0 handles the transfer of tunes locally. Also, the FM radio client supports Nokia's Visual Radio interactive radio concept, which has yet to be deployed outside Finland.

Equipped with a 262K colour TFT display with a resolution of 176 x 220 pixels, the 3250 also integrates a 2 Megapixel digital camera in the bottom half of the handset, which swivels much like the manner in which the Nokia N90 does. Capable of still and video recording as well as burst shooting, the camera records images at up to 1600 x 1200 pixels and video at up to 176 x 144 pixels at 15 FPS.

Measuring in at 104 x 50 x 20 mm and 115 g, the Nokia 3250 also includes additional software-based music features such as a graphic equalizer, bass boost and stereo widening. Nokia's own Audio Manager software also comes bundled with the device, letting users rip CDs to their preferred formats and transfer these to the 3250, which also includes Nokia's Stereo Headset-HS-20 - allowing for the use of standard 3.5 mm jack headphones.

Also capable of sharing playlists with other users by means of Bluetooth, MMS and e-mail, the 3250 comes pre-installed with the Nokia Sensor social networking software which relies on Bluetooth to alert owners of Nokia smartphones when other Sensor users are nearby.

The Nokia 3250 is based on the Series 60 platform and Symbian OS, offering a broad set of features and messaging functionalities and enabling third-party application developers to create their own music applications. Those applications can be downloaded and installed on the Nokia 3250. Bridging smartphone capabilities with music on the go, the Nokia 3250 has a talktime of up to 3 hours.

Claiming up to 3 hours of talk time, up to 245 hours of standby time and up to 10 hours of music playback, the Nokia 3250 is expected to start shipping in the first quarter 2006 with an estimated retail price of €350 EUR before subsidies or taxes.