Nokia X2-02 Advantages And Disadvantages

Nokia X2-02, another dual-SIM phone by Nokia which has some real nice treats for all of you who like surprises.

It's been nothing short of an invasion. Nokia's dual-SIMs cover every step of the entry-level segment. You can learn the ropes on the most basic S30 phones, before moving on to Touch and Type. Dual-SIM has a prominent place in the fresh Asha series too.

It's a respectable lineup, in which the X2-02 stands out. It's not about being the best-equipped phone of the bunch. With 3G completely out of the question and cameras never crossing the 2MP mark, there's a tight limit on how much extra luggage dual-SIM phones can carry. The X2-02 gets around it by focusing on a single skill and really going the distance with it.

Nokia X2-02 Specifications:

• Dual-SIM, dual-standby phone
• SIM manager with dedicated settings for up to five SIM cards
• Dual-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• 2.2" 256K-color TFT QVGA display
• S40 6th edition
• 2 megapixel fixed-focus camera
• QCIF video recording at 15fps
• Stereo FM radio with RDS, Built-in antenna, radio recording
• FM transmitter
• Facebook and Twitter apps
• Bluetooth v2.1 (with A2DP)
• Standard microUSB port
• microSD card slot (32 GB supported)
• 3.5mm audio jack

Nokia X2-02 Fails in these department:

• No 3G
• Basic still camera and video
• Doesn't charge off USB
• No screen brightness control
• No smart dialing
• No flashlight We don’t know how many of you need a flash light… a flashlight is all the extra functionality one can hope on a basic model phone.A 2MP fixed focus camera and blurry choppy videos are the closest to luxury you can get at this price. Dual-SIM telephony is the main course on Nokia X2-02.

Build In Antenna With FM Transmitter On Nokia X2-02:

The Nokia X2-02 takes music playback to a whole new level. The built-in FM antenna lets you blast the tune playing on the radio through the powerful loudspeaker without having to plug the headphones first. The side-mounted microSD card slot is always ready to take a huge music collection, which the FM transmitter will broadcast to every radio around you. You can configure the music player to broadcast on a pre-defined frequency and get your music playing in your car cable-free.

The music key will turn the radio on too if that's what you've listened to last. Since the phone has a built-in antenna, the music will instantly start playing on the loudspeaker. The FM transmitter lets you stream the music on your phone to any standard FM radio receiver in the vicinity at a frequency of your choice.

Remember, there's no microSD card in the package, but anything less than 4GB would've been of little use anyway in a phone, which claims to be a powerful music player.

The Nokia X2-02 is quite compact, although obviously not the thinnest of phones.  The handset is pretty much the same size as the X1-01, at 112.2 x 47.3 x 15 mm, but surprisingly is a lot lighter - just 71 grams.

It looks very much like its cheaper sibling - the X1-01, but brings a few design touches and hardware upgrades to vastly improve the user experience.

The 2.2" QVGA display is of an unusually high quality for the low price tag of the device. Viewing angles are commendable and so is sunlight legibility.

The Nokia X2-02 is powered by a 1020mAh Li-Ion battery (BL-5), quoted at more than 18 days of stand-by and up to 10 hours of talk-time..

The Nokia X2-02 comes with a typical S40 phonebook, which means plenty of storage for contacts (1000 on the phone plus as many as you can fit on both SIMs) and you can choose how contacts are displayed (with contact photo, by first or last name).

Unfortunately, that also means no smart dial but you do get search in the phone book. The phonebook can be set up to automatically store new contacts in a chosen location (phone, SIM1, SIM2) or to always ask.

Hot Swappable Secondary SIM-Card On Nokia X2-02:

The secondary SIM slot on the side of the phone is hot-swappable, allowing users to quickly change SIM cards on the go, while keeping their main SIM card in the phone itself. Keep in mind that the external hot-swap SIM slot won't operate unless there's a SIM card in the master slot under the battery. So if you intend on using the handset in single SIM mode, you should use the internal slot only.

To make a call, you need to select which SIM the phone should use. You can set a default SIM, which will always be used for calls. Or you can have the phone prompt you to choose manually every time.

SIM Manager On Nokia X2-02:

Pressing and holding the * key brings up the SIM manager. Selecting a default SIM for messages works the same way so you can have one SIM for calling and the other for texting - or one for calling and texting, another for data-intensive tasks. You can also toggle the standby mode - dual SIM, or the inner SIM only. Each SIM can have its own ringtone.

The Nokia X2-02 can store settings for up to 5 SIMs - each with its own name and icon. This gives you easy at-a-glance info about which SIMs are currently in use, no need to pop open the back cover or the side-mounted slot.

In-call sound was loud and clear and the reception was solid.

The only downside of the X2-02 is that both its GSM radios are dual-band only - the 900/1800 bands are pretty wide spread, but they don't give you world-wide coverage.

Important: If you're in a call on one SIM card, incoming calls to the second SIM will get a message that your phone is outside network, rather than getting a "busy" message.

The loudspeaker posted an Excellent result with very consistent readings for both voice and music audio - just as the Nokia ads promised.

The Nokia X2-02 is a S40 6th edition device. The Active standby is the trademark home screen layout. If you've ever used a Nokia phone, you should be familiar with it by now.

Also, as a Series 40 device, the Nokia X2-02 will run Java apps so you can extend the inbuilt functionality. The Java version of Facebook's app is a good place to start.

The Nokia X2-02 handles messaging without a problem, though with no fanfare either. The supported formats are SMS, MMS, flash and audio messages and the phone handles email too. The keyboard of the X2-02 will give you reasonable typing speed. It's a good package in terms of software support too, with Nokia Messaging and Nokia Chat enabled.

The email client works with POP3, SMTP, and IMAP4 and multiple email accounts are supported. There's support for SSL too, which enables it to handle a Gmail account for example.

The music player of the Nokia X2-02 has a solid set of features including a fair number of supported formats. The player handles MP3, WMA, WAV and eAAC+. Tracks can be filtered by artist, album and genre. Naturally, the A2DP profile is supported, allowing Bluetooth streaming of stereo sound. There're five equalizer presets and two slots available for custom user settings.

An RDS-enabled FM radio is available on the Nokia X2-02 as well and it can play through the powerful loudspeaker. Thanks to the built-on FM antenna, you can start the app almost instantly with just one key stroke (the media control on the left side of the phone). The FM radio starts playing immediately.

For the record, the Nokia X2-02 supports MP4, H.264, H.263 and 3GP. Let's face it, watching a movie on this small low-res display is not exactly pleasurable but will work. Playing the occasional clip someone sent you via MMS is as much use as this player might be getting.

Videos can be played in fullscreen mode, and you get pause and skip buttons.

One excellent new feature is the autosuggestions as you type in the URL - it lists recently visited sites and filters the list as you type. It even offers to save you a few clicks by guessing the ".com" at the end.

The Nokia X2-02 comes with a fixed-focus 2MP camera that takes photos at maximum resolution of 1600x1200. There are options for white balance, several effects and a self-timer.

The video camera is limited to QCIF@10fps, which makes them usable for MMS only and practically nothing else.

 

End Note:

Whatever the case, the Nokia X2-02 is a good, cheap phone, that handles two SIM cards and is a great music player, is more likely to be popular with different groups of people rather than fail to find its target.

S40 phones do well - they don't usually offer big surprises, but that keeps the disappointments to a minimum too. They don't charge a fortune either. The X2-02 is a great example. It's cheap because it offers a very basic set of features. But it's cheap too because it didn't cost much to design and build.

There's plenty of choice in Nokia's own backyard too. The Asha 200 is one that we quite liked. That's where it gets really hard to choose though: a dual-SIM QWERTY messenger or a dual-SIM music player. We guess both will enjoy robust demand.

Anyway, they both show that Nokia's dual SIMs are well beyond the most basic calling and texting, with multiple phonebooks to accommodate phone sharing within the family. The X2-02 is not that kind of phone. Unless it's your music you want to share.

Overall, the build quality is great. We like the matte back, but we are not fond of the glossy front. In the end, there's no risk of users feeling they're getting less than what they paid for. Perhaps the only missing feature is the flashlight we've come to know from low end Nokia phones. If you want to buy this phone, I would recommend this. Nice Buy!