Controls

As mentioned above, the Nokia 3300 comes with a full QWERTY keypad. Unlike the 6800, the 3300's keypad is not foldable. That makes its size slightly larger than most phones on the market.

The 3300 has a total of 40 keys, and a 4 directional keypad in the middle. The first 3 columns of the left side can be used as numeric keys for quick dialing.

Nokia has made the phone very comfortable to use. The keys are slightly raised and phone is shaped for comfortable typing with your thumbs.

Overall, Nokia has done a good job designing the 3300 for optimal messaging speeds. The only problem we had with it was that there was no backlit for the letters. Typing in the dark is nearly impossible. Strange how only the directional keys are lit though.

Battery

A lithium-polymer 780 mAh battery is used with the 3300. Nokia claims the battery will work for 2.5 hours of talk time, 228 hours of standby, and 9.5 hours of digital music, however those numbers are maximum times. Realistically the times are much lower.

Minimum Rated Standby Time: 155 hours
Minimum Rated Talk Time: 120 minutes
Minimum Rated Digital Music Time: 360 minutes

When handset manufacturers and mobile phone carriers list talk-time  and standby-time ratings, they usually include disclaimers about variable performance and often refer to the times they publish as maximum times.

Storage

The 3300's internal memory contains approximately 4.5 MB. However the phone has an expandable Multimedia Card (MMC) slot. The phone comes with a 64 MB card, but more cam be purchased to store music, ring tones, etc. Unfortunately the 3300 cannot accept SD cards.

The internal memory lets you store up to 500 phone book entries, 150 text messages or 50 picture/concatenated messages, 250 calendar notes, and up to 30 To-do list entries.

Since the memory is dynamic, you can share memory between your ring tones, pictures, and games.

Connections

The 3300 comes with a DKU-2 data cable. On the top is the outlet for charging your phone, and a system connector, Pop-port.

Pop-port can automatically identify accessories attached to the 3300. It also offers stereo sound with the use of headphones. Lastly, its also where you can charge your accessories with a single USB cable without the use of separate power sources. Pop-port transmits up to 230 kb/s.

Unfortunately the 3300 uses a Nokia proprietary headset jack, so you have to use the headphones supplied or other Nokia headset products. That means if you're an audiophile, you'll have to leave your expensive headphones at home.

Software

Nokia Audio Manager comes with the 3300 to convert MP3s and transfer between a PC and the phone through the data cable. The program allows you to rip directly from CDs into MP3 or AAC formats and assign playlists.

At the time of writing this review, there has been no software compatible with the 3300 to transfer pictures and ring tones to the phone. Programs such as PC Suite aren't compatible with the 3300. This makes customizing the 3300 a big headache.

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