Sunday, November 21, 2010

Nokia C3 ; Review, First Impressions & Pics !





SPECS :

Dimensions - 115.5 x 58.1 x 13.6 mm, 63.2 cc
Weight - 114 g
Display - TFT, 256K colors
Size - 320 x 240 pixels, 2.4 inches
Camera - 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels, No Flash
Video - QCIF@15fps
Memory  - Internal  : 55 MB
Card slot : microSD, up to 8GB
Connectivity :
GPRS/EDGE  - Class 32
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP
USB - v2.0 microUSB
Battery - Standard battery, Li-Ion 1320 mAh
Others : Full QWERTY keyboard, 3.5 mm audio jack, NO 3G, NO Camera Flash

Why Nokia C3 ?






My budget was really less [around 6k INR] & I wanted a good phone at its price which can fulfill all my needs & necessities. I also had a look on Samsung Champ, fuck that looked like a cheap chinese  touch screen phone, as build quality & touch was too poor. Another option was from Nokia, Nokia X2, which was offering 5MP cam & 3G. 3G in India ? Come on, I am not kidding. Considering present status & prices, I was totally uninterested in 3G. [Please don't shit me that its just beginning of 3G, prices will reduce etc] The main reason for me to go for C3 was it's Full QWERTY & WiFi support. There were other options to which I didn't even bothered to look upon viz. models from Micromax, Motorola, Videocon etc

Build Quality & Box :



Nokia C3 comes with a plain blue colored rectangular box containing handset & other accessories well placed.



The box contains :



  • Nokia C3, de mobile

  • Nokia Battery BL-5J

  • Nokia Compact Charger AC-3

  • Nokia Stereo Headset WH-102

  • User guide

  • Thank you for using Nokia pamphlet

  • Free GPRS Data plan sticker


Build Quality :



Considering it's price point, the build quality is good & satisfiable. The full QWERTY keys are well placed & screen is also good considering it's 2.4" size & resolution. It comes with D-pad & customizable soft keys. 3.5" audio jack is worth mentioning here. The top body houses the 2mm charger plug as well as the 3.5mm standard audio jack, the bottom is completely bare.



The body is mostly made up of plastic, but it doesn't look cheap. The build quality is strong. micro SD slot is at side and at back easy-to-open back cover to remove battery.



Its not that thick to carry in your pocket, though it is a full QWERTY mobile. Obviously you shouldn't compare it with E series phone, in terms of weight & size. The top housed audio jack is really nice & comes in handy for one who has very much habit of listening songs, keeping phone in pocket.



I felt it's finger print magnet. There were marks of my fingers & dust after few minutes of usage.

At all, the build quality is really good, with simple & neat design with well placed keys & audio jack.

UI, Menu, Standby Screen :

Nokia C3 comes with Symbian S40 but the UI isn't like one you saw in old Nokia models. It's fully redesigned, elegant & simple to use.

Standby Screen :






You can fully customize stand by screen. One can add favorite contacts on the main screen. The Nokia Community software is added by defualt on screen, Twitter/ Facebook apps can be added.



Menu :






Really well organized & simple menu. All icons are well placed & easy to navigate among them. Lots of improvements compared to earlier s40 OS. No more comments.

Music/Video Player & Camera :






The music player menu is well laid out, supports album arts too. Sorting the songs, customizing play lists is easy. It has customizable & preset equalizer settings. The lack of Volume keys can result too much inconvenience for one. The performance of Music is really good & I am greatly impressed. But the bundled ear phones suck big time.

The Video Player is pretty decent & can play 3GP & MP4 smoothly.

Camera : Not at all good ! Bloody hell, the pics look like shot with simple 1.3MP camera. It's fixed focused camera, No zoom. And to add more disappointment no camera flash.

Connectivity Options  :






The important reason for me to chose C3 over X2 was, it's connectivity features. The C3 has Wifi 802.11 b/g which is really bliss for a person like me, if router is at home or WiFi at college campus. Though C3 lacks 3G, but thinking current condition & prices of 3G, I think I made a good decision buying C3 over X2.

Bundled Apps :






Nokia c3 comes with Opera mini browser, Nokia Community Software, Few games. & Yeah, it has push mail too. It is IM & Social Networking ready mobile, you can start tweeting right after turning it on !  Setting up Community & Push mail is too easy, just like clicking next.



The chat app can be hidden, i.e.  can be minimized to background and whenever a chat comes, a notification pops up on the screen, isn't it really nice ?



Performance :

Overall performance of C3 is good, apps open up quickly [no multitasking]. The performance of Music/Video player, bundled apps are good too, but camera is a big sucker. The WLAN is simple to set up & has no connecting issues with router.

Conclusion :

Pros :

  • Full QWERTY

  • WiFi Support [802.11b/g]

  • 2.4" display with fabulous visibility under sunlight

  • Fully customizable screen

  • 3.5mm audio jack & great audio quality.

  • Out of Box IM & Social Networking.

  • Push mail

  • Free 6 month GPRS plan*, worth 600 INR

  • Great price tag !


Cons :

  • Sucking camera

  • No 3G

  • Lack of Physical Volume control keys

  • No Multitasking

  • No bundled microSD

  • No USB cable

  • No USB on-the-go charging


Verdict :

Considering it's price tag, 5800 INR, its a great bang for buck. It has really good VFM as its coming with full QWERTY, fabulous music quality & WiFi. It's sleek design & build, gives a classy look to hold in hands. I recommend this phone highly if your budget is within 5.5k to 6.5k. Though if you need touch screen or 3G, can consider other phones.

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