Nokia X2-01 review, Price, pictures, Details, model specifications
Good build, QWERTY keyboard and one-touch access to music: the Nokia X2-01 has the right ingredients to serve and entertain. And if you’re looking to buy cheap, it’s an offer that’s hard to beat.
Nokia has long made the low-end their fortress and X2-01 must be following a strategy that’s proven to work. The Nokia X2-01 is a music phone for the young with emphasis on Facebook and messaging.
With its combination of features and form factor versus price, the Nokia X2-01 has a market segment of its own. It’s another foot soldier in Nokia’s offensive in becoming the world’s number one QWERTY phone manufacturer.
Key features
- Entry level QWERTY messenger bar
- Quad-band GSM/EDGE connectivity
- 2.4″ 256K-color QVGA TFT display with great sunlight legibility
- VGA camera with QVGA video recording at 24fps
- Series 40 UI, 6th edition
- Stereo FM radio with RDS
- Bluetooth 2.1 (with EDR)
- Standard microUSB port
- microSD card slot (8GB supported, 2GB included)
- 3.5mm audio jack
- Good audio quality
Main disadvantages
- No 3G
- Piss poor camera
- No smart dialing
- No USB charging
We are ready to turn a blind eye to some of the disadvantages. 3G is not essential in this price range and so is a decent camera. The S40 is not the best-looking feature phone interface but it would’ve been a lot easier to live with if it had smart dial, some document viewer capabilities or basic multitasking.
Cost-cutting is key for the X2-01. Nokia obviously presumes the target audience doesn’t really need those things. The X2-01 is all about simplicity and ease of use plus some great build quality. This entry-level messenger will not be bothered by comparisons.
Unboxing, design and construction
The Nokia X2-01 comes in a plain cardboard box. Other than the phone itself, you’ll get the typical basic accessories: a charger and the good old one-piece handsfree that ends on a 3.5mm audio jack. There is no USB cable or microSD card enclosed in an attempt to keep the price down.
S40 UI and telephony
The X2-01 runs on the same Nokia’s Series 40 user interface as the Nokia C3, which we reviewed earlier. It’s been styled to look a lot like Symbian S60 3rd – which is to say it’s trying to look above its pay grade.
The Nokia S40 UI is simple and easy, fast and responsive. The useful Active standby mode (the live shortcuts on the homescreen mode) is an asset but there is no multi-tasking and you have very limited choice of third party apps. Another thing to consider is the lack of smart dialing – some of the competing feature phones have had this feature for a long time.
The X2-01’s phonebook brings no surprises. It stores up to 2000 contacts, each one with up to 5 phone numbers – basically this should be enough for most users.
We made a few calls on the X2-01 and had no problems. The in-call quality is good as in most S40 phones, despite the lack of the Nokia proprietary Voice Clarity feature.
You can record a running call if you like.
The results from our loudspeaker test are at your disposal – Nokia X2-01 turned out to be an average performer. Check out the table showing how it stacks up beside some of the handsets we’ve put to the same test.
Multimedia
The multimedia department has never been in the limelight on S40. The recently added new gallery app – Photos – is preinstalled on the X2-01, so managing your image files is hassle-free. You can still find the old Gallery app hidden in the Application menu, which also doubles as a file manager.
Good audio quality
All the readings of the Nokia X2-01 are great if you use it as an audio source for an external amplifier (a car or home stereo). When you plug in the headphones, the intermodulation distortion and stereo crosstalk suffer, but the overall result still remains good.
Web browsing and organizing skills
The Nokia X2-01 can do the job although it will definitely not be your first-choice device for web browsing. Speed is limited to EDGE and the small low-res screen doesn’t help much either. But, hey nobody expected exceptional skills here. But even if someone did – nobody is being charged.
The default browser on the Nokia X2-01 is the Opera Mini 4.2. It’s long been standard issue web browser on S40 phones. The Opera Mini browser supports multiple tabs and the compression notably improves loading time and saves on data charges.
Final words
Alright, we have to be fair. The Nokia X2-01 made it all so easy for us – it was a quick in and out. Now, obviously there’s a lot of things missing but it would be wrong to say it’s all for the sake of being cheap.
Features were left out entirely on purpose – the ones left were picked so carefully that the X2-01 ended up without any direct competitors. Adding even the most basic of features will turn the X2-01 into a completely different phone.
Add a 2-megapixel camera for an LG GW300, or WLAN for a Nokia C3, pick dual SIM for a Samsung Ch@t, or 3G for a Nokia E5. You can go all the way up from the Nokia X2-01 but never down. This doesn’t quite pass as a compliment but one thing you can’t take from the X2-01 – it’s unique.
On top of that, the Nokia X2-01 will only be available on select markets via authorized Nokia stores or carriers. But it’s a phone you can easily snatch off the Internet.
If you do, you’ll be getting an entry-level messenger which is probably worth every penny you paid. A decent screen and an awesome keyboard, social skills and messaging and a music package complete with a 3.5mm audio jack and a microSD card slot. For the right user, the Nokia X2-01 is the perfect package at the perfect price – about 75 euro.
The Nokia X2-01 is bottom of the food chain and proud of it. The right attitude will pay off.
