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Nokia 2310

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By Frank Lewis, CNET.co.uk
Nov 28, 2007

Confused by all the extras offered on the latest mobile phones? Then the Nokia 2310 might appeal. It's a bare bones handset that offers little in the way of frills and is available at an affordable price.

Editors' note:

This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.co.uk. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some other products or telcos in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia.

Strengths

The 2310 is part of a wave of phones that aim to strip out what many see as the unnecessary features that have attached themselves to mobiles over the years. In the case of the 2310, what you're left with is a mobile that's got call and text features, with little else to get in the way.

The handset has a pretty standard candybar design, which will help it appeal to traditionalists, and the large buttons are ideal for texting.

The phone's reception is also very good, even in areas where other handsets struggle, and the call quality was up to Nokia's usual high standards. Even the speakerphone is very usable. Battery life is better than the norm, so you can expect to get around five hours of talk time or up to 400 hours when it's on standby.

Perhaps the only added frill is the built-in FM tuner, which can be used once you connect the supplied headphones to the mini jack at the bottom of the phone. The tuner's reception is strong and you can save your favorite stations as presets complete with names to make them easily identifiable.

As the phone uses a smaller than usual screen, the menu system is slightly different to that found on most Nokia phones. Instead of scrolling through the menu options vertically, the menu appears as a sort of horizontal carousel. Aesthetically it's not as pleasing as the normal Nokia menu layout, but it's not too difficult to get used to.

Weaknesses

The list of what you don't get on the 2310 is a good deal longer than the list of what's actually included. What's immediately obvious is that there's no camera at all, so forget about being able to take snaps of mates down the pub or the kids when they pull cute faces.

You won't find any data features here either. There's no support for GPRS and no built-in WAP or Web browser. As you would expect when GPRS is off the menu, the phone has no mail features. Also, connectivity is severely limited. Wireless communication technologies like Bluetooth and infrared are out the window and as the handset is dual band only, you won't be able to use it if you venture abroad on any transatlantic trips.

There are also a number of quirks with the features that are included. The FM radio is mono only even though the phone is supplied with stereo headphones. The screen also uses older CSTN technology rather than the modern TFT displays found on most of the latest mobiles. The result is that the colors look very washed out, which is disappointing as the screen is already tiny and has a blocky 96 x 68-pixel resolution. The small screen size also means you have lots of scrolling to do when you need to read longer text messages.

Conclusion

Despite its low price, we don't think the 2310 is a particularly good budget buy. Sure, it has decent battery life and good call quality, but it's built using very dated technology and the small screen means it's sometimes tricky to use.