Review: Nokia 3500 Classic

Nokia 3500 Classic Review

Phone rating:

In a nutshell: A fairly basic phone with classic good looks. The 3500 Classic has a 2 megapixel camera, a music player and a stereo FM radio. It supports Bluetooth wireless connectivity and microSD memory cards. An excellent phone if you're on a budget.

Review: February 2008. Updated June 2008.

The Nokia 3500 Classic is a lovely-looking phone. Classically styled, it looks great thanks to coloured highlights (available in a choice of pink, blue, red and black) and a glossy black smoked screen. A solid metal rim around the edge adds a touch of class and is designed to protect the screen from scratches. The screen itself is a reasonable size at 1.8 inches, but lacks the resolution of other phones in this price bracket. The keypad is a good size, and works well enough.

Multimedia features are included: a 2 megapixel camera, a music player and an FM radio. These are all quite basic: there's no camera flash for instance. The memory available for storing images and music is very limited at 8.5 Mbytes. To store more than a couple of songs you'll need to buy a microSD memory card, and the 3500 Classic can take cards up to 2 Gbytes - that's sufficient to hold around 500 songs.

The phone is well connected, with both USB and Bluetooth connectivity. It isn't 3G, but triband. For data transfer it offers EDGE. Battery life is better than average.

On the face of it the Nokia 3500 Classic is very similar to the 3110 Classic. The 3500 looks a bit snazzier and has a 2 megapixel camera instead of 1.3 megapixels. Both are excellent value for money phones, and now that the price of the 3500 Classic has dropped significantly, we'd probably choose the 3500.

Features of the Nokia 3500 Classic include:

• 2 megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom
• Video recorder
• Display: TFT, 262,000 colours, 128 x 160 pixels (1.8 inches)
• Stereo MP3 player (MP3, MP4, AAC, AAC+, enhanced AAC+ formats, DRM 2.0)
• FM stereo radio
• MP3 ringtones / 64-voice polyphonic ringtones
• Integrated handsfree speaker
• Voice features: Voice recording, voice commands, speaker independent name dialing
• Messaging: SMS, MMS, and email with attachments, Instant Messaging, Audio messaging
• Java games
• Wallpaper, animated screensavers, themes
• Organizer with calendar, to-do list, and notes
• Internet: XHTML browser, HSCSD, GPRS Class 10, EDGE
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB, 2.5mm Nokia AV connector
• Memory: 8.5 Mbytes plus microSD memory card slot (up to 2 GB)
• Tri-band
• Size: 107 x 45 x 13 mm
• Weight: 81g
• Talktime: 4 hours
• Battery standby: 300 hours

Nokia 3500 Classic Consumer Reviews

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Average rating from 57 reviews:

Reviewed by Mary from Engald on 26th Feb 2010
absously rubbish DO NOT BUY!
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Reviewed by chakradhar from india on 26th Nov 2009
very good phone
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Reviewed by sweet from bangladesh on 11th Aug 2009
in like nokia 3500 classic phone.it is very fashonable and luxurious
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Reviewed by ATM from india on 18th May 2009
the rim just came off.... thts bad!!!
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Reviewed by Natalie from England on 22nd Apr 2009
I have had this phone for just under 2 years now.i got it on contract with T-Mobile and i was quite impressed with it. I unfortunently got my phone water-damaged. Your probably thinking haha it broke but not my old boy i have had it for over a year with water damage and hes still going strong. I was informed that i could upgrade my phone yesterday and i am chopping him in for an lg arena. I'm gonna miss you my old boy!
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Reviewed by waqar ahmed from pakistan on 6th Mar 2009
cooooooool!!!!!
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Reviewed by dinesh from chennai on 3rd Mar 2009
this phone suck its geting hanged after i load .5kb also
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Reviewed by Rahul from India on 1st Feb 2009
Ther's a problm which'll arise in due course of use. The rubber finish ll starts peeling off (myne- aftr 4 months f use) which looks like skin cancer. U can compromise with all othr aspects in a sense this's a budget ph.
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Reviewed by rardha from india on 31st Jan 2009
my mobile camera is automatically going in standby mode when i press capture [NOkia 3500]
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Reviewed by Shashank S. Sherkar from India on 24th Sep 2008
The phone is very nice, easy to handle, has a good battery life - up to 3 days with nominal use. I used it for almost a year untill I had to switch to E51!
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Reviewed by Rabinder Nath Batra from Karachi, Pakistan on 10th Sep 2008
I'll keep it simple and just discuss the pros and cons of this phone. So here it goes: Pros: 1. Excellent value for money. You wont get so many features for such a price. 2. Really intuitive new user interface alongwith a standby mode which allows you put shortcuts of your favorite apps / items from phone. 3. Elegant looks. 4. Sound Quality of music player is reasonably good. 5. Ability to customize overall look and feel with customized themes; these are available on the net (Even the icons and animations change as well!). 6. Support for flash lite 1.1. That means you can use screensavers and wallpapers as well as games made with flash techcology. 7. Excellent connectivity options; EDGE, USB 2.0 and Bluetooth. 8. Support for memory card upto 2gb. And now for the problems with this phone: 1. Unsatisfactory battery life. It hardly lasts for 2 days with average use. And if you listen to songs, it can even last only for one day. 2. Bad build quality; the phone creaks if you press it too hard and cannot cope with harsh usage (Mine's steel rim which you see in the photo came off!). 3. Really bad keypad ergonomics. It reduced my typing speed (compared to my sony ericsson j300i) by almost 30-40%. Because the keys are kind of sticky. 4. Software crashes; the phone sometimes hangs and restarts itself almost randomly and for no apparent reason. (Nokia might sort that out with a update). 5. A very cheap camera. Even worse than the camera in Sony Ericsson k700i. It cannot produce good shots indoors, cuz there is so much grain. Maybe due to saturation problems. Also the overall speed of the camera interface is very slow. 6. Memory card access is very slow. Overall Score 5.5 / 10 Experience: Mostly Unsatisfactory Suggestion: Go instead for Nokia 3110 which is better in every department (and cheaper as well) except that its looks are bit boring and it has 1.3 megapixel camera.
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Reviewed by Waqas from Pakistan on 10th Sep 2008
DUDE! it is a nice and good looking phone with 2 megapixel camera. but the screen size is so small
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Reviewed by sourav from india on 22nd Aug 2008
Nokia 35000 is ousting mobile phone.
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Reviewed by ashley from ireland on 18th Aug 2008
i had that phone but dropped it in the water! lol its the best eva!!
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Reviewed by Kay from Canada on 16th Aug 2008
I can't use my own MP3's for ringtones, this really sucks!
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Reviewed by Kevin pearson from Uk - manchester on 15th Aug 2008
The phone looks quite nice and feels strong. Camera is ok nothing special but clear. The phone is best for someone looking for good decent no frills
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Reviewed by corcor from nija on 14th Aug 2008
i regret buyin this phone it automatically got locked and has been asking me for a phone code ever since.. my own phone code dont work any more... does any one know how to unlock this phone.
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Reviewed by Asad Zulfiqar from Pakistan on 1st Aug 2008
i got it very good, however camera result is not good. battery timing is also not good.
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Reviewed by blueberry from israel on 31st Jul 2008
i love my new mobile !!! it's great !!!!!!!
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Reviewed by selin from mexico on 28th Jul 2008
I love it, it's easy to use and it has good looks...mine is pink!
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Reviewed by sreyash from india on 25th Jul 2008
it is acheap quality phone with all features it generates lot of heat battery is worse it is simply a waste of money to buy 3500,better try another mobile
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Reviewed by steff from england on 24th Jul 2008
i never normally write on these pages, just generally read them. i got my phone 2 weeks ago and when i got it the camera was green and blury. i sent it back and when i recieved it, it was a little bit better but still rubbish. its not a very simple phone to use either. if u wanna buy it go into a shop and look at it first. i got the pink one and its definatly not as nice as it looks on here. the battery is soooo bad!! mine lasts for about a day. my advice before buying is actually go into a shop and have a little play with it first.
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Reviewed by abhishek maluja from india on 12th Jul 2008
all over its a really nice fone but its screen is nt up to the mark rest is very good
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Reviewed by Ruby from Israel on 9th Jul 2008
great mobile ! The best i ever had !
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Reviewed by The Boss from UK on 30th Jun 2008
The Up and down button popped of within a fortnight of me having it. and it is difficult for me to find a new face anywhere.
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Reviewed by zack from nigeria on 27th Jun 2008
so lovely a phone.
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Reviewed by jason lee from india on 26th Jun 2008
i brought this mobile about a year ago for 21000 rs.. after six months i got allegeric to the moblie, so i gave the mobile to my Cousin , however iam going get samsung u600 on my 24th birthday which is coming soon about two weeks so basically i wouldn't recommend this mobile to anyone but i recommend sony erisson w380 which is a great mobile further more it has great features,,, and more.
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Reviewed by MASUM from Bangladesh on 23rd Jun 2008
It looks to good. But its sound system is not too good. In my mobile display is not good as I expected .When I speaks with one volume level can't increase easily.
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Reviewed by Amber from KSA on 3rd Jun 2008
I just bought Nokia 3500 Classic yesterday, And I am satisfied. I love it!
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Reviewed by swaraj kohli from india on 2nd Jun 2008
this a very best phone i have just now the same phone it is the best
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Reviewed by Maze from UAE on 2nd Jun 2008
on 29 may 2008....It Good phone....really neice...2 megapixel camera!!!wow camera is really good...great phone, nice simple and easy to use. I found the battery is really good on phone we dont need to charging it for 3 or 5 day..very good.Sound quality is good...but screen is small..memory card it can take up to 2gb not bad.all over is good phone!!!
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Reviewed by hayley reid from uk on 31st May 2008
i love this phone was bought as a spare one, has everything on it that i need camera is ok and memory card sorted out the space on the phone now it holds no end of stuff from videos to music. looks smart and battery life is good. i reccommend anyone to go and buy one and it is also very good for the money £49.95...welll done nokia
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Reviewed by chetan sharma from india on 26th May 2008
NOKIA 3500 IS a good phone one of my friend is using it i m also thinking to buy one
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Reviewed by adesh from south africa (kzn) on 19th May 2008
its 100's top phone love it but poor on board memory
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Reviewed by chicken from canada on 18th May 2008
it's a great phone
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Reviewed by jerryco from india on 8th May 2008
it gives good edge connectivity..its nice for using the net..
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Reviewed by ANUJ GARG from INDIA on 6th May 2008
am really happy i bought this pkone..................
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Reviewed by Mark from UAE on 4th May 2008
An excellent value-for-money mobile. You have a wide array of connectivity (bluetooth/USB Cable). Sound quality when playing mp3 is lovely. You also have the flexibility of increasing it's memory via micro SD up to 2GB. Plus you have a 2 megapixel camera! Awesome phone.
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Reviewed by Kid from Mauritius on 3rd May 2008
Everything is gud except the screen resolution(it's only 128x160 pixel), the sound is not so gud and the camera doesn't really look like a 2.0 mp cam.
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Reviewed by Jasvinder from India on 3rd May 2008
Good Mobile & Nice Funcation. I like it.
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Reviewed by Alex from UK on 28th Apr 2008
I think its a great phone, nice simple and easy to use. I found the battery life on this phone very good. I often go at least 5 days without charging it. It is great looking and has a very classy feel although the phone does lack in some aspects such as and 8mb internal memory, i can only hold about 7 photo's and the camera isn't all that great but otherwise money well spent.
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Reviewed by Marmaduke. from United Kingdom. on 25th Apr 2008
Nice colour pink. Good quality, fits in my purse. All my girls scream. Buy it.
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Reviewed by dj from india on 13th Apr 2008
i brought tis fone... 3500 2days ago... i found da camera clarity evn worse than a vga cam.... itz has poor battry life wich jst lasts 4 a day... n da worse.. the fone gets tooo hot if v speak 4 more than 3 mins... i found all these vry annoying... plz dont buy this fone... nokia is using all substandard parts in this fone... don buy it... i av changed my fone to nokia 6233 which is even more bettr n superior. 3500 is just waste of money.. i will not even last 3 month.
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Reviewed by swathi from india on 11th Apr 2008
its realllllly handy mobile. i gifted it to my husaband last week... he was very happy !!!
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Reviewed by Bindu from India on 9th Apr 2008
This handset 3500 is an ordinary mobile. It lacks colour quality. The battery backup is also not soo good. Only looks wise its gud
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Reviewed by Ruchi from India on 9th Apr 2008
Not happy with the battery life. It gives a very limited talktime. Sound quality isn't great either.. Everything else is good.
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Reviewed by Sumiya Yaseen from England on 8th Apr 2008
I think it's a very nice phone. It has all the features that I want in a phone and more. I like the colour of the phone.
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Reviewed by husein from India on 6th Apr 2008
this phone is best at its price range..It has most of the features for normal use..can say an allrounder.
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Reviewed by yogesh kulkarni from India on 26th Mar 2008
Phone is not that awsome ...but has has awsome value for Money.... in india the phone costs around Rs.6000 ie. around 150$ .
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Reviewed by sabuj from Bangladesh on 19th Mar 2008
screen size is too small and sound quality is not so good. I think I am looser buying this set. Unfortunate for me!!
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Reviewed by Riaz from Pakistan on 2nd Mar 2008
I suggest this mobile to buy. Lets see>>>>
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Reviewed by Nagarjuna from India on 1st Mar 2008
It is very comfortable for me.
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Reviewed by nitin from india on 25th Feb 2008
I think this phone is best for me.
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Reviewed by uzair from ksa on 23rd Feb 2008
ITS A GOOD PHONE FOR A BUSINESS MAM
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Reviewed by sohail from pakistan on 22nd Feb 2008
NOKIA 3500 IS A GOOD PHONE IF U SEE THE PRICE
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Reviewed by rockstar from india on 17th Feb 2008
Its not a good phone coz its display is too low as compared to nokia 6233.. I found nokia 6233 wonderfull with its eye catching appearence and amzinngly designed 2 dual speakers that sounds wow...this phone is actually a copy of nokia 6233 but not like it rather a downgrade quality of it becuase nokia 6233 is a way ahead to this . It is not having that much sound and its screen resolution is also too small. Overall this product seems to be of no use..
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Reviewed by smax786@hotmail.com from United Kingdom on 6th Feb 2008
I bought this mobile phone when it was like 2 months old i think when i actually held the handset i thought wow!! this phone is a beast!! (good, wicked et.) the screen make not look all that because i have a nokia 6233 aswell if you compare screen quality the 6233 is way better screen but i dont really care if the 3500 has a lower resolution screen. when txting off the phone can be okay but the keypad buttons picks lots of fingerprints which can make the phone keypad looks dirty but overall excellent phone made by nokia it weighs nothing at all even with the sim card and battery inserted
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