The Nokia X3-02 was announced earlier this week, bringing with it a new style of hybrid touch & type interface. The Nokia X3-00 and Nokia X3-02 have very similar names, but seem to be quite different phones. So, how do they match up? Here is our rundown of how the two handsets compare.

Build

The most obvious difference is that the original X3-00 is a slider. Its keypad tucks away neatly behind the screen when not in use, giving a nice compact shape that is easily stashed away. The X3-02 by contrast has gone for a more standard candybar shape. The design of the candy bar is very well thought out though - this is a great looking phone, despite its old-school form factor.

Input

Here is where things get really interesting. The X3-00 is just a standard Nokia smartphone  with a solid, but unremarkable keypad. The X3-02 has keys too, but they are complemented with a resistive touchscreen. This may not be a multi touch job like the iPhone or Nokia N8, but it still adds a whole new, simple way of interacting with the Symbian menus and apps.

OS and software

Both phones run Symbian S40 6th Edition at their core, but the X3-02 has feature pack 1 - presumably to add the touch functions. Both are capable mid-range operating systems that can run a range of apps from the Ovi Store. The X3-02 supports Flash Lite development, which does open up a few more apps, however.

Camera and multimedia

The X3-00 has a 3.2 megapixel camera, which the X3-02 bumps up to a nice round 5 megapixels. Other than that, it is hard to tell the two apart and both phones have good support for the main audio and video formats.

In the end, it is a case of horses for courses. The X3-02 has a great new interface, but loses out to the X3-00 in the compactness stakes. Both are great phones, however, and are worth a moment of your time if you are choosing a mid-range phone.