This phone is classed as a smart phone, but it is ageing now against some stiff competition. Having said that prices are holding their own against the modern competition as can be seen on E-Bay. And that is possibly because its a competent phone, it does what its suppose to do very well. Yes its not as responsive as more modern phones but the menus are uncomplicated and logical, unlike some other phones I could mention. The screen, again now showing its age, is still competent enough to look at web pages, as for downloads, well in my experience I have had good and bad, but overall nothing too frustrating. You can set up your favourite contacts on the screen in a scrolling menu, you can even have your fave apps in another scrolling menu on the screen. The reason I bought this phone off E-Bay was because I was trying to download an upgrade off the internet and made my original 5230 totally unusable, so if you contemplate any downloads from the Nokia website, software/firmware type updates be very careful or else you will end up with a dead phone, like mine. There are lots of options for ring tones, even pick your own from an mp3 file, the camera is 2 mega-pixels, and again, now being overwhelmed by modern day phones. But its an all round competent phone, the actual voice part of the phone is clear, and the warning sounds for messages, etc are equally loud, which for me is a very good indeed, as I sometimes work in a noisy environment. Is there anything I don't like, not really, all though I do worry slightly that Nokia have thrown their weight behind the new Windows 7 phone, nothing wrong with that but where does that leave the Symbian software which powers this phone? Apps is another thing, not particularly bothersome to me but in the wider scheme of things very important. Ovi, the phones app store, have some catching up to do here, but will it now bother, you have to wonder. Like any phone, it gets scratched, even in your pocket but it seems a rugged phone for normal use. I have a 2 gig memory card which holds most of my music and pictures so that I am not using the phones internal memory. I am pleased with the phone, it suits my needs which is everyday use, occasional web browsing, taking pictures when I don't have my camera with me, and viewing those pictures on a reasonable screen. There are other more fancy phones than this one, but the 5230 just seems to work without any fuss, unless you mess up big time like I did with downloads. If you want an up to date phone, that gets somewhere near the all conquering I Phone then forget it, this model is a fading Queen, even within the Nokia family of phones. But its a good performer for all that and one that I wanted to replace when I could have bought a newer, fancier model. But I had got use to my 5230 and thanks to E-Bay I can continue that relationship, as I have been using an elderly Samsung and its menus alone were doing my head in. But now I'm back to something more civilised, and yes I would recommend this phone, even today, if what you want is a no nonsense phone that sits on the edge of the smart phone fraternity, whilst not being a full member, its still worth your consideration.
