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We are back with the new Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type review. The entry-level Nokia C3-01 is an unique device, which comes with a touchscreen display as well as a physical T9 keypad. This handset was announced last year and it was finally launched in India during the Q1 of 2011. At the first look, this handset seems a pretty ordinary device, but the slim stainless steel body give it a premium look and feel. The touchscreen display is quite smooth and it helps us to save a lot of time while performing various tasks. Nokia C3-01 runs the Series 40 6th edition software and it comes with a 2.4 inch resistive touchscreen display, 3G Connectivity, Wi-Fi, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, 32 GB expandable memory and more. Is this handset worth buying? Check out our exclusive review to learn more.

Box Contents:

Nokia C3-01Nokia Battery BL-5CTNokia Compact Charger AC-8Nokia Stereo Headset WH-102Nokia 2 GB microSD card MU-37Nokia Connectivity Cable CA-101DUser guide

Design:

Nokia C3-01 is an unique candybar phone, which comes with a 2.4 inch resistive touchscreen display as well as a physical T9 keypad. This handset definitely looks great, thanks to its sleek curved design. Nokia C3-01 is made out of stainless steel, with a high-shine plastic on the front, metal bezel around the screen and a metallic back plate.

On the front side, you will find a 2.4 inch resistive touchscreen display with up to 262K colors and 240 x 320 pixels resolution. The touchscreen display is quite responsive, but sometimes you will have to apply some pressure, to use it properly. This handset has a sharper display under normal lighting conditions and the display is clearly visible even under the direct sunlight.

Above the display, you will find an ambient light sensor and the earpiece, while a 12-key alphanumeric keypad is placed below the display. The 12-key alphanumeric keypad is made up of plastic and it has a standard layout of four rows with three buttons each. There are no buttons on the left side, but you will find a much needed volume rocker, lock and a dedicated camera button on the right side. The volume rocker and camera button were easy to use, but we faced some problems while using the lock button.

The top of this handset features a 3.5 mm headset jack, microUSB port and the charger plug-in, while there is nothing on the bottom of this handset. On the back, you will find a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash along with the metallic back plate.

User Interface, OS and more:
Most of the entry-level handset from Nokia runs on the Symbian S60v3 Operating System, but the Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type runs on the Symbian S40 OS. If you are familiar with the Symbian S60 OS, then you won’t have to face much problems, since it has the same icons to avoid confusion. Even if you are new to this OS, it won’t take more than a day to get the things right.

The homescreen can be customised easily. You can add your favourite contacts, clock, notifications, shortcut bar, timer, web search etc. on the homescreen. If you wish to have a simple homescreen with no widgets or shortcuts, then you can easily turn off the homescreen customization from the display options under settings. It also has 2 different customizable menu – List and Grid with labels.

On the homescreen, you will find a names option, where you can easily add new contact or find someone from your existing contact list. When you select a contact from the list, you will find 3 options – call, send message and view conversation. The last option is useful for checking out the whole conversation between your number and the selected contact.

The messaging option is quite easily to use. You can easily create message or type a mail with the help of T9 keypad. Sadly, there is no on-screen keypad, thanks to the smaller display. This handset also allows you to add symbols and smiley’s to the text messages. If your inbox is cluttered, then you can archive or delete your messages. Archived messaged will be visible under the “Archive” folder and the deleted messages can be found in the “”Delete Messages” folder.

Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type is not a great device for social networking. This handset comes with a Communities app, which allows you to add your Twitter and Facebook account to the device. You can use both the social networking service at the same time, with the help of this app. Updating the status on Facebook and tweeting from this device was a real pain. Even the Facebook touch site does not work properly on this handset. Sadly, there is no official Facebook or Twitter app for the Symbian S40 OS.

The default browser is quite okay, but not up to the mark. We had to face some problem while opening heavy sites. Mobile site are displayed perfectly on this device. If you don’t like the default browser, then you can go ahead and install alternate browser from the Ovi Store. We would recommend you to download and install the Opera mini browser on this handset. Nokia C3-01 also allows you to download many free as well as paid applications from the OVI Store.

This handset comes with a decent music player. You can easily browse the complete list of songs within seconds. The video player allows you to watch videos on this handset. You can even watch videos in full-screen mode. The music playback on this device is pretty good, but the bundled headphones are not up to the mark. Nokia C3-01 comes with a 3.5 mm headset jack, which means that, you can connect your favorite pair of headphones and enjoy the music on the go.

Nokia C3-01 comes with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n connectivity. It also has HSPA support, with a maximum download speed of 10.2 Mbps and upload speed of 2 Mbps. The battery of this device was excellent. On a full charge, it managed to stay alive for more than 5 days with few calls, browsing, playing music, games and chatting. This handset comes with a 30 MB of internal memory and 32 GB of expandable memory. You will also get a 2 GB MicroSD card bundled with this device. Nokia C3-01 fits perfectly in your pockets, thanks to its slim design.

Camera:

Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type features a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash. It also has a dedicated camera button on the right side. The maximum resolution for an image is 2592 x 1944 pixels. It comes with 3 different effects – Sepia, Greyscale and Normal. The self-timer allows you to automatically click a picture after an interval of 2, 10 or 20 seconds. This handset also allows you to edit your pictures, add effects, rotate, add text, change brightness and contract or auto enhance your images.

The camera of this handset is not up to the mark. We clearly saw the difference in the image quality, when we compared this device with other phones having a 5 megapixel camera. Most of the images were noisy, while some of the images were hazy. Most of the time, we had to turn off the flash, to get the picture perfect. If you are looking for a handset with good camera, then you should stay miles away from the Nokia C3-01. Check out the camera samples, after the break.

Conclusion:

Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type is an unique phone with touchscreen display and physical T9 keypad. This handset definitely looks great and it has a great build quality, but it lack certain features. The metal bezel around the screen and a metallic back plate gives it a give it a premium look and feel. The camera and headphones are not up to the mark, but the battery life is worth mentioning. Even though, Nokia C3-01 has a 3G connectivity, but it lacks a front-facing camera for video calls. This handset comes with a price tag of Rs.9,389 in India. Nokia C3-01 is definitely not a value-for-money device. Other handsets available in this price range offers better features and services. If you are a Nokia fan, then you can go ahead and buy this device. But, we will not recommend this device to those, who are looking for an amazing device with great features, good quality camera and great sound.

Pros:

Slim stainless steel bodyEasy to useExcellent connectivity optionsExcellent battery lifeExcellent call quality

Cons:

Small touchscreen displayCamera not up to the mark ,No front-facing cameraNo multitaskingPoor headphonesNo GPSDisplay not clearly visible under sun-light

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