The Nokia Touch and Type Birth

Nokia said hundreds of times that S40 Touch will appear soon and these models were planned as an answer to Korean manufacturers, which dominate the touchscreen phones market. The development took a long time, but finally the first model of the series Nokia X3-02 was announced. I have already mentioned that it would be based on S40 6th Edition as from the outset all controls and fonts were large enough to be used for touch movements. I hoped that S40 would be a separate outlet of S40, when we will have models with touchscreens and without them. So far everything points to the defeat for models without touchscreens. Nokia labeled S40 6th Edition as the Feature Pack 1. It looks that all S40 models will have sensor support, even without the touchscreen option. This makes development cheaper, but can the end product offer high quality interface? Large fonts and controls make touchscreen models different from their more traditional counterparts.

The second one is a total commitment to the markets of Asia and Africa. Its design is not European and X3-02 looks like a gadget from China. Tastes differ, of course. In terms of ergonomics Nokia designers made one weird decision and moved traditional fourth row buttons to the right. It is highly original, but not very convenient for those who already had a mobile phone. Do they aim at complete neophytes?

The downside of this solution is the absence of traditional joystick or navigation key. Now you have to select links on the screen, which is logical, but some people will scroll up and down this way after failing to find the equivalent (which is available) on the keypad. This is a new user experience and it is a bit controversial.

The absence of the virtual keypad is explained by a relatively small screen, but some buyers will treat it as a downside. It is quite logical to have such a keypad on a touchscreen model. In other words Touch and Type series is a middle of the road hybrid of traditional candybars and touchscreen models.

X3-02 will cost around €125 at the end of September on selected markets, including Russia. The model has not featured in Nokia price lists, and the end of September is too early for our market (it can still go on sale during this period for an exclusive partner or in company retail as was the case with Nokia N8). I do not think the model will enjoy popularity in Russia and overtake ordinary touchscreen phones, even Nokia ones.