Nokia X3-02, C3-01 and X3 Compared

The Nokia X3 Touch and Type has a sleek, brushed aluminium finish and will be available in five colours (white silver, dark metal, lilac and pink). It is also one of the thinnest Nokia phones ever at just 9.6mm. It weighs a mere 78 grams.

Comparing to the older X3, the Nokia X3 Touch and Type has a bigger 2.4-inchscreen  against the 2.2-inch non-touchscreen on the X3. However, it is of the same size and type of screen seen on the C3 Touch and Type. Both sports the same QVGA ( 320 x 240 pixels) resolution and are 2.4-inch resistive touchscreen. With its entry-level positioning, we are sceptical as to how responsive the 2.4in resistive touchscreen will be

The Finnish company is targeting rapid texters who are used to using a traditional keyboard. According to Nokia, "Our research tells us consumers who have invested years in becoming fast one-handed, one-thumb texters want to maintain their speedy edge for SMS, chat and instant messaging — yet enjoy the benefits of touch as well."

The X3 Touch and Type has a different design to the Nokia N900 phone which has a touchscreen and QWERTY keyboard, and Nokia's upcoming flagship smartphone, the N8, which is a full touchscreen device with no physical keypad. Though the X3 is a slider phone, the X3 Touch and Type and C3 Touch and Type are candy-bar phone which makes it simpler and more straightforward to use.

All the three phones X3, X3 Touch and Type and C3 Touch and Type are of S40 devices whose main drawback is the lack of multitasking support. However, the interface is functional and fairly easy to use. Despite its price, which is expected to be low, the Nokia X3 Touch and Type has plenty of features. Running the Symbian 40 Series operating system, the X3 includes 3G and HSPA support, 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1.  All these connectivity options are also presented on both the X3 and C3 Touch and Type except for 3G which is missingin X3. And unfortunately not all of them are equipped with GPS chip inside.

On the entertainment side, the X3 Touch and Type has a 5-megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom which is a big leap from the 3.2MP on the X3 but the same as the C3 Touch and Type. Video recording is also improved, it can record VGA video at 18fps while the X3 records only QCIF videos but the C3 Touch and Type also records VGA video.LED flash is present only on the C3 Touch and Type while the X-series are devoid of this feature. All of them play MP3, and they all have FM radio capability. Only 50 MB of internal memory is present, but the X3 Touch and Type has a microSD card slot that can be expanded with cards up to 16GB in size. According to Nokia, battery life is rated at five hours 20 minutes while X3 has rated battery life of 7 hours 30 minutes. And C3 Touch and Type has just 5 hours and 40 mins.

The X3 Touch and Type will have access to Nokia's Ovi Store for third-party applications, and will also feature Nokia Messaging — a client that offers push access to consumer e-mail and chat accounts.

The X3 Touch and Type is an intriguing hybrid phone, but it remains to be seen if the concept will take off. With its entry-level positioning, we are sceptical as to how responsive the 2.4in resistive touchscreen will be — it looks promising in Nokia's preview videos below, but we'll be keen to put it to the test when it launches in India.

Against the C3 Touch and Type, the X3 Touch and Type pretty much has everything the C3 Touch and Type has sans the LED flash  for the camera. The physical form factor looks a bit similar but X3 Touch and Type has dedicated music keys.

From the older X3, the Nokia X3 Touch and Type is a big upgrade in terms of screen size and camera pixel count. However, the form factor changes from slider to candy bar design.