Nokia C2-03

Full Review

Introduction

Nokia's foray into dual-SIM phones and the touch-and-type range of phones has been received with enthusiasm among customers.

The Nokia C2-03 – a phone that falls into both the categories, created quite a buzz when it was announced. I was excited too.

Lets see if the phone lives up to my expectations and maybe even yours.

Features & Specs

The Nokia C2-03 is a dual-SIM touch-and-type phone that features a 2.6-inch screen with a resolution of 240x320 and displays 256 colours. The phone runs a tweaked Symbian Series 40 OS, which complements the touchscreen of the phone.

With the bottom of the phone made with metal and the rest of the body with matt plastic, the C2-03 makes quite a statement.

The phone has a paltry 10MB of internal storage but you can increase storage space by inserting microSD cards up to 32GB. Nokia also bundles a 2GB memory card with the box.

With regards to connectivity you do not have too many options. You have to make do with GPRS/EDGE connectivity for your browsing needs. No Wi-Fi. No 3G. Basically, you ain't getting no connectivity love.

Design & Usability

The Nokia C2-03 is a looker. No denying that. Though, I got the Chrome black one for review, the Golden White looks good too.

With the bottom of the phone made with metal and the rest of the body with matte plastic, the C2-03 makes quite a statement. The build quality is sturdy as is the case with most Nokia phones and the sliding mechanism is also extremely smooth.

This is my second tryst with a touch-and-type phone. The amalgamation of two input methods mean that I am going to crib again about the reduced accuracy and speed with which I could type messages. Adding to the woes is an average alphanumeric keyboard. However, it is much better than the one on the X3-02.

The touchscreen experience is laggy and most of the times I ended up hitting the wrong areas. Though not bad, the haptic feedback on this phone is not as good as the implemented by Nokia on the X3-02.

The OS is easy to use, not much learning curve and is of course fun. It is apt for a sub-5K phone.

The Nokia C2-03 has a hot-swappable second SIM card slot, which is very handy, and the fact that the phone can remember up to five SIM profiles is also great. However, please note that the second SIM won’t without the primary SIM. Both the SIM cards work simultaneously as you can receive/make calls and text messages from both the cards. What hampers the experience is that sending a text is now a lengthier process with the dual-SIM setup. You can also choose what function you want each SIM to perform for example: I used my Tata Docomo SIM card for primarily surfing the web. I give two thumbs up to the dual-SIM experience on this phone. The call-quality is also very good.

Browsing and Multimedia

Browser on the Nokia C2-03 is downright terrible. Making matters worse is being stuck to GPRS speeds for your browsing needs.

The 2MP camera takes good images in daylight. No auto-focus means that you cannot capture images in close-up. Also missing is flash. No point discussing the quality of the captured video because it is not worth using. Overall, the camera is  a mixed-bag (not that I expected anything else).

The Nokia C2-03 excels in the music department. You have to hand it to Nokia for making budget phones that have great music output. Using a good pair of earphones just enhanced the experience multifold. The radio managed to get all the stations in range within seconds and once again the sound quality and reception was top-notch. The video player is not capable of handling even the basic MP4 and WMV videos.

Bottom Line

At Rs. 4,675 the C2-03 is priced right but loses out on a lot of features like no Wi-Fi or 3G. Also, laggy touchscreen experience adds to the woes. The phone is definitely not a must-buy but then again you do not have too many options in this price range. Buy this if you want a good dual-SIM phone that doubles up as a great music player.