The 3500 Classic comes in a classic bar design casing which is available in grey, pink, mandarin & blue coloured casing. The user can select the colour of their handset to suit their taste & personal choice. The handset is compact which only measures 107mm in height, 45mm in width & 13.1mm in depth. The Nokia 3500 Classic is a compact & slim handset which weighs 81 grams which is ideal for carrying purposes. The phone comes with a 1.8 Inch TFT colour screen which has a 128 x 160 pixel screen resolution.

In terms of multimedia support, the 3500 Classic comes equipped with goodies like a 2 megapixel camera and an FM radio receiver. Its built-in music player supports a wide variety of music formats like AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, and WMA. The 3500 Classic's Bluetooth 2.0 system supports a wide variety Bluetooth profiles as well, including the A2DP profile for use with stereo Bluetooth headphones. It comes with instant messaging and space for 2,000 phone contacts. It offers up to 3 hours of talk time and up to 12 days of standby time.

The phone comes with a built in Internet browser which allows the user to enjoy a XHTML Internet experience. The user can communicate with others using one or more of the messaging services available on the phone. It comes with a built in organiser feature which comes complete with a calendar. The 3500 Classic is a simplistic & user friendly handset which will surprise its user with all the useful & fun built in features.