Review Series #2 – Products The Nokia C5-00

Review Series #2 – Products

The Nokia C5-00

In this new review series, I shall be reviewing some of the gadgets and other things that I use as I chug along the line of life. To begin with, I’ll be reviewing my latest acquisition, a mobile phone, the Nokia C5-00.

The C5 is part of Nokia’s new C series of cellphones targeted at the price conscious consumer. Here, I am assuming that the C stands for cheap, or crummy, or cheesy or another such word that starts with the third letter of the English alphabet. The phone is pretty basic in appearance, it’s a candy-bar design, with no million megapixel camera to boot. Nokia were obviously working hard on the price when they were designing this phone. The camera itself is pretty basic, at 3.2 MP with no autofocus, a simple LED flash and basic image capture capabilities, it will suffice for daily use. The cameras location is also not prominent though clearly visible. The overall finish of the phone itself is very classy and both colour options available exude quality with the metal rim running along the edge looking very nice indeed. The phone feels very good in the hand, and though its bulk is substantial, its dimensions make up for that. It actually feels like an expensive paperweight. The screen is large though it won’t be giving the 60’ LG plasma screen a run for its money any time soon. It’s readable and gets the job done on the whole though visibility in sunlight is a bit of a problem. The keys are nice and big and comfortable to use, specially for people who tend to be sloppy in their key presses. A relief, compared to some other phones that I was looking at. Note that the microphone is embedded in the keypad and the person you are calling may not hear you if you are a Sumo wrestler or have very fleshy cheeks. A front facing camera is also provided, so you can comb your hair when you’re stuck in a place away from civilization.

What it’s like to live with:

Surprisingly good, due in large part to the dimensions and weight but the features also go a long way in helping to make your life easier. The call quality is excellent, even in some of the worst network conditions available to the average human, it hardly dropped a call. It feels very nice in your pocket, when you can feel it, that is. As far as the applications go, the integration with the social networking world is great. Once you connect to Facebook or Friendster or MySpace (the default apps), display images of your contacts are integrated with the phonebook on your phone. Would you believe that? As far as the internet applications go, the browser works great, though there are minor page issues with loading and rendering. Flash, Acrobat and MobileOffice are pre-installed, so you’re good to go with most attachments. The Gmail app also works great, loading messages in a jiffy. There’s even a feed reader! On the whole, it seems that there’s pretty much nothing left out with little more that the average person would need for daily use.

The included GPS receiver is what really made my buy this phone, having chanced upon it while using the features filter on the Nokia site. It is simply brilliant with a lifetime subscription for turn by turn navigation and preloaded maps of all major cities of India. If you get lost now, you’ve either left your phone at home, happen to be on another planet or are a pillock.

The phone is very useable and not something that’ll frustrate the hell out of you. One of the main reasons that I picked this phone was the price. At 8000/-, you couldn’t ask for much more. It is miles ahead of the bricks that Nokia pass off as cell phones, and way classier too. I had a long, hard look at some of the other touch screen phone in the market like the Nokia 5235 and some other XpressMusic phones but the sheer frustration of having to live with something that you have to continually bang to make work put me off. As someone once said, ‘Once you’ve used the iPod Touch’s interface, you expect everything to be like that’. Nokia’s touchscreen phones are irritating and are much too thick and large to be called phones. And in the 8K price band, all you’d get would be the screen of the iPhone. That was definitely not on my radar. Samsung and LG do have some cheap touch screen phones but really, they’d be more like the kind of things that you’d give to a kid who hadn’t ever used a phone. Literally, resistive touch technology sucks che. Note here, that the only phones I’ve ever used have been Nokia models. I cannot use anything else.

The Verdict:

If you’re on a budget, don’t have a rich uncle who’ll buy you an iPhone, don’t like touchable tackiness and want the reliability of a Nokia, buy it.

It’s worth every rupee.