Nokia Nuron

A stylish and affordable 3G-enabled touchscreen phone, the Nokia Nuron 5230 for T-Mobile is packed with applications, maps with turn-by-turn directions, access to downloadable music and games, and more...

Features

• Fun, stylish, and affordable 3G-enabled touchscreen with 3.2-inch display; download apps, games and music from Nokia's Ovi Store
• Runs on T-Mobile's fast 3G network; GPS with free Ovi Maps navigation application for turn-by-turn directions
• 2-megapixel camera/camcorder; Bluetooth stereo music; microSD memory expansion to 16 GB; access to personal/work e-mail and instant messaging services
• Up to 4.5 hours of 3G talk time (7 hours on non-3G), up to 438 hours (18.25 days) of standby time
• What's in the Box: handset, rechargeable battery, charger, 4 GB microSD card, quick start guide, user manual

Reviews

For those who value savings

by K. Frank from Indianapolis, IN, USA on 2010-05-12
Ask yourself, are you a person who would brag about how great their phone is, or how cheap their plan is? The Nuron is designed and marketed solely for the latter set. It does not have the features of state of the art smartphone like the iPhone or an Android phone, but it costs a whole lot less to operate. This is because T-Mobile classifies the Nuron as a phone-first device rather than a smartphone. Phone-first devices get 3G data service for $10 (the web2go plan, formerly T-zones), while smartphone users must pay $25 per month. That's a huge savings over the life of a two-year contract. Being the type of person who brags about how much they save, I cut costs further by using google voice for my texting, eliminating the need for a text plan. A second argument for this phone: even if you don't buy a data plan at all, you can still use the Ovi maps feature. This gives you free worldwide maps with turn-by-turn navigation even when "offline." You just need to connect the phone to your computer to download and save maps. No data service required. There is no device, phone or gps, that offers a worldwide gps service that good for the price.

A Capable Touch Screen Starter Phone

by J. Martin from on 2010-04-29
After buying and checking out the Nokia Nuron 5230, I feel it was a worthy purchase. One must judge the Nuron by it's own merits and it's not to be compared with an advanced, "android" cell phone like the iPhone or the HTC HD phone. The Nuron is more in the category of "quick messaging phone" like the Samsung Impression (AT&T) or the Samsung Highlight (TMobile). But the Nuron is much better than other basic touch screen phones: The Nuron is a great buy due to the FREE preloaded GPS maps capability that other quick messaging phones do NOT have (at least at the time that I wrote this review). One must buy the GPS app on those other quick messaging phones for an extra fee but it is free on the Nuron and again, pre-loaded! Another positive is that you can download lots of apps from Nokia's app store called, Ovi. With many of the other quick messaging phones, you just have a few pre-loaded ones to choose from usually. Also, the Nuron's display has very brilliant, crisp colors and the call quality is very good. Still another BIG plus: TMobile offers a wonderful CHEAP data plan at only $10 per month of unlimited web browsing for the Nuron, & a very low-cost messaging plan option: 300 min's @ $4.99 month! There are only a few negatives: As others have stated there is a lag between the two visual display modes (either vertical or horizontal). A second negative is that one must single tap on some icons but double tap on others - they should all be opened the same way! A third is the lack of a "capacitative" touch screen that would make it easy to get into an app by a quick touch of ones finger. Instead, one must FIRMLY hit the icon with either one's finger nail or with the "pick" that Nokia provides with the phone. Another slight annoyance is that the encasement is slippery to hold; but getting a rubber gel skin and placing it over the Nuron case will alleviate that problem. Other than that, the Nuron is everything I was looking for in a reasonably priced touch screen/app friendly/web browsing/& messaging cell phone! I love it!

It's perfect to what i paid for

by B. Diep from CA on 2010-05-07
$10/month for 3G Data plan, decent internet speed, GPS, this phone rocks! You can simple install the PCSuite that can be downloaded from Nokia site and use it as modem. I use this to hook up to my laptop for unlimited data download and upload. It work extremely well with my cisco VPN client to remote desktop my work computer at the office. I don't have to paid $10/24hr to the hotel in Vegas anymore!

Excellent for what it is

by Soner Bicici from on 2010-06-16
I purchased this phone and I must say that I am extremely happy with it. I used to own a Nokia 5310 and I can tell you that this phone is SO much better than 5310. (And I'm not talking about the smartphone features.) First of all call quality is excellent. Very clear. I am very very impressed. I can't even compare it to 5310. I used to think that T-Mobile had terrible coverage where I live however after switching to this phone I have had no problems on my phone calls at all. Radio reception is very good. I like to listen to NPR while I'm at work and with my old phone it was impossible. It was very staticy and most of the time I couldn't understand a thing. However with Nuron I have very clear reception. Believe it or not battery life is much better than 5310 and I use Nuron more during the day than I used 5310. For example today I received 2 phone calls (about 15 minutes total talk time)I surfed the net a little bit, checked my emails a couple times and listened to the radio about 3 hours and I still have full bars. I really like the handwriting feature on the phone and use it a lot while texting or sending emails. 3G connection works pretty well. I enjoy the quality of the screen and the camera that this phone has. I took a few pictures and was very impressed by it. Of course it won't be as good as a 12mp camera with good lenses but for what it is, it's pretty nice. Side note: I never owned another smartphone before this one, so I can't compare it to the others. Newer and more expensive phones will be so much better; however I don't need anything better. This phone has all that I want. I am on T-Mobile's $59.99 1500 minutes family plan + $20 for internet (two lines). That comes to $79.99 - %15 corporate discount. Not too bad!

Lots of Bang for the Buck, if that's what you're looking for.

by S. Lin from on 2010-06-05
Don't buy this phone thinking it's an Iphone or Android phone. It's not, and you definitely don't pay for the cost of operating the iphone or an android phone. Plus, you don't even have to pay that much to own one. It's got most of the features of an iphone and android. Comes preloaded with OVI maps which can also be used as a GPS for your car with turn by turn directions. I was pleasantly surprised by the speed of 3g. Switching from a non 3g nokia phone, tmobile 3g network is really fast where i live. Pros: -$10 for 3g internet from Tmobile -You can tether to laptop with ovi suite! -Large beautiful screen 360x640! -Lightweight and small profile, fits easily in my pocket. -Great Nokia call quality! (all nokia phones i've owned have had fantastic call quality, -Better signal than my e63, in places that usually have poor signal. -Good enough camera @ 2mp. -With develop key (easily obtained), you can install 3rd party apps with ease. Along with the OVI store's apps. -Fantastic built in browser (Opera browser is even better) -Comes with 4gb Micro Sd Card, support for up to 16gb. Cons: - No native threaded SMS, have to download 3rd party program, can be difficult for the less savvy to do. This is one of my biggest problems with Nokia. You see threaded SMS in practically every other modern smartphone OS. They have a beta threaded sms application that doesn't work well and hasn't been updated in years. - No native push email application. Again, this is something you would expect from a modern smartphone. Nokia Email, doesn't seem to work on this model. Which leaves you with the native email program, or a 3rd party program you would have to download. I'm currently using emoze, and its okay at best. - The app store is pathetic in terms of selection... compared to the iphone or android. - Inconsistent scrolling throughout different menus. - Resistive touchscreen requires you put pressure with each press, and you can not be touching two spots at once otherwise the first key press you type will not register. It's taking some time for me to get use to the typing. Still a little slow compared to an actual qwerty keypad. Conclusion: For me, i gave the phone 5 stars mainly because of the great 3g speed i get from a $10 a month internet plan. With some tinkering, i've got myself push email and threaded SMS. Google maps is amazing on such a large screen and 3g connection. Plenty of games and apps that can be had with relative ease or money. It's great bang for the buck, especially if you know how to tinker with it.

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