Nokia 3230 with the 1GB RS-MMC memory card - A Customers experience

webmaster — Sat, 11 Jun 2005 00:57:38 GMT

Review of Nokia 3230 with a 1GB RS-MMC (biggest RSMMC available):

(My 1GB RSMMC card was bought from those nice guys at MobyMemory.com)

Problems of Incompatibility:
My first concern was whether Nokia 3230 could accept a 1GB RS MMC (reduced size multimediacard), the issues of dual voltage arose also. After much research into the problems I decided to try MobyMemory for advice and I was advised that the phone would accept the card so I went ahead and bought one. This was against the advice of Club Nokia, they said they did not recommend the use of third party hardware (but they are going to say that aren’t they, they want you to buy their products and unfortunately they only offer a 128Mb RS DV MMC).

	The RS MMC The RS MMC as it is delivered (handy little case that comes with it, useful for putting your old 32MB card in) it also has a MMC adapter card,
	Removal of the Standard DV RS MMC supplied by Nokia To remove the original RS MMC on the Nokia 3230 you have to remove the back cover (which can be a job in itself when the phone is new, my advice is to dampen your finger slightly and push it down wards. When you remove the cover the phone senses this as there is a button on the back of the phone (see picture below) if the phone does not notice you taking the cover off then push the little black button to tell the phone you are going to remove the card.
	Then you need to flip open the card holder, best to use a finger nail to do this
	Then slide the old card out. You also get this screen come up when removing the card, press ok to confirm.
	Installation of the New RSMMC Card Slide the new card in the Nokia 3230 in a reverse of the above steps. When I installed the card, the phone told me that the ‘Memory Card Corrupt’ (see below for screen shot) whilst reading MobyMemory Forums I was already been aware of this problem as another member also experienced this.
	Formatting of the RS MMC card using the Phone I then tried to format the card using the phone, but had already heard stories that this was not possible as the phone could not handle formatting such a large capacity card. The phone kept on locking up and it was not formatted.
	USB2 23-in-1 Card Reader Luckily enough I also purchased a 23 in 1 card reader from MobyMemory (see left).
	Very handy to have the 23in1 card reader (for all your future card requirements) and it takes the RS MMC card without the need for the fiddly adapters also (see left).
	Investigation I thought I would investigate a bit further. I inserted the card into the reader and saw that it was formatted in FAT32. [Editor: We do our best to catch all non-FAT16 cards and re-format to FAT16 before shipping, but they do sometimes slip through the net. Another reason why one of our compatible card readers is indispensable for your mobile memory. Please please! purchase one with big memory cards. Makes our life, and yours, easier!]
	So I changed this to FAT (in the drop down box where it says file system) and re formatted the card. I inserted the newly formatted card back into the Nokia 3230 and hey presto the phone now recognises the card.
	The memory card can then be re-named.
	Check the memory details now to confirm the capacity. There is 980MB of spare storage on the 1GB card.
	MobyMemory USB Bluetooth Adapter: Personally I would also recommend a USB bluetooth adapter for data transfer of smaller files between your phone and your PC. No wires necessary. (NB. You will need to install Nokia PC Suite first, of course.) Bluetooth is an alternative handy little plug and play device for file transfers, and works best for smaller files, and regular stuff like synchronizing your desktop calendar etc with your mobile.

Now I have the capacity to store hundreds of music tracks, photos, files and even movies. That is after all why I bought such a big storage card in the first place.

So afterall, I have proved that the Nokia 3230 is compatible with 1GB RS-MMC memory (from MobyMemory at least), despite what Nokia said.

I now have bags of room for my music, games and vids, which I can load up quickly and easily with my card reader, and my bluetooth for quick transfers of the odd file here and there.

Visit this page for the range of RS-MMC cards that are compatible with the Nokia 3230:

Compatible RS-MMC Reduced Size Multimediacard Memory Cards for the Nokia 3230

I went for the 1GB RS-MMC card monster for my 3230, but if you don't need that much space, or you want to save some pennies, then they go from 512MB, 256MB down to 128MB.

SimonF

[Editor: thanks again to Simon for taking the time to share his experiences with other forum members, and for the trailblazing work with his new Nokia 3230. Excellent photo work too!

We will be sending through some nice freebies complimentary of MobyMemory.com ]

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Nokia 3230 with the 1GB RS-MMC memory card - A Customers experience