The successor to Nokia's first Series 60 phone has arrived: Jørgen Sundgot looks at the Nokia 3650, and finds an only slightly altered recipe. That is far from a bad thing.
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While Nokia's first Series 60 smartphone, the Nokia 7650, proved to be a huge success for the Finnish manufacturer, expectations are even greater for its successor - the Nokia 3650. Sporting a snazzier, block-shaped style rather than the expanding design of the 7650, Nokia has made a few improvements to a good recipe, including better picture quality through the integrated camera, a MMC card expansion slot and a video recorder application. As one can quickly tell, changes are few - but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
 | Nokia's 3650 is more elegant than its predecessor, but also sports some odd choices in the design department
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Design
Where the Nokia 7650 was a rather clunky and square brick, the Nokia 3650 has fortunately been given a complete makeover leading to a more elegant shape. Unfortunately neither total size or weight have been reduced by more than a few percent, and it also suffers from a very blatant usability flaw as its center of gravity is positioned too high - swiftly inducing an uncomfortable strain during one-handed use beyond typing a text message.
On the positive side, the 12-bit (4,096 colours) display of a size and quality comparable to the Nokia 7650 - very good, just like that of its predecessor offers good visbility under most conditions. Lacking LEDs of any kind, however, the display - combined with vibration and audible alerts - is the 3650's only way of notifying users of new messages and missed calls. This is common for all Nokia handsets, requiring users to inconveniently have to pick up and activate the device to see whether any alerts are waiting rather than just glance at it.
The most noticeable trait of the 3650 is of course the circular keypad, which is placed centered below the display and can only be described as a blast from the past. Despite its buttons providing excellent tactile feedback, the learning curve is about as steep as Mount Everest for someone used to a more conventional keypad layout, and the blue backlight is far from as well implemented as in several other Nokia handsets.
Like the 7650, the 3650 also comes fitted with an integrated digital camera which stands out among those of competitors in all classes. The picture quality has been further improved in an area where the 7650 already excelled, and the trademark blue tint, somewhat grainy appearance and annoying barrel distortion are now for the most part things of the past. Due to the design of the 3650, however, it is very easy to inadvertently touch the camera lens. Although imprints left in this manner rarely have an impact on pictures, doing so frequently does indeed make a visual impact; an extruding rim surrounding the lens might be a good idea next time around.
Audio-wise, the Nokia 3650 delivers perfectly acceptable audio both through its loudspeaker and a headset. With 40-voice polyphonic ringtones it's sure to draw attention, while the built-in speakerphone offers a decent range and volume, and cancels out background noise well. Also, the somewhat unreliable proximity detector that was used on the Nokia 7650 to engage or disengage loudspeaker mode is now a thing of the past; instead, users control by means of a soft key which mode they want to engage.
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