Nokia C3-00 > Reviews (20)

I am really not that interested in owning the latest fancy mobile phone. For me a phone just needs to be functional and work well when I need it! However I had owned my Motorola flip phone for several years and it was beginning to really show its age! I have a contract with Vodafone (not something I would recommend!) and was due for an update. I phoned and renegotiated my contract and was offered a choice of several phones one of which was the Nokia C3. I knew I wanted a QWERTY keyboard as I had found using a friends Blackberry keyboard much easier for texting than my phone. A bit of quick research soon helped me decide to go for the Nokia C3, as it had lots of good features, looked good and had positive reviews. It was also available in hot pink! I have now owned my new phone for a few months so feel able to review it!

I placed the order for my new phone and received it the next day. The Nokia C3 is also available in black and grey as far as I can see. Inside the box is a phone, battery and hands free earphones. There is also an instruction booklet in several languages. The phone was really easy to set up.

I love the look of this phone! It looks and feels like a Blackberry, although is a lot cheaper! The phone feels well made and had an aluminium back plate in pink and black. The keyboard has cushioned, well spaced out keys making texting comfortable and easy. The 2.4 inch plastic coated screen is well lit and easy to see even in bright light.

This phone is very slim although quite large my modern standards. I really like the feel of this phone in my hand and enjoy using it! The QWERTY keyboard makes texting a lot quicker for me and I make a lot less mistakes than I used to! The keyboard has a generously sized space bar, something else I really appreciate with this phone.

The Nokia C3 is advertised as having a 1 click function connecting you to facebook and twitter simply log in once and you will be connected to all your social networks. . These are functions I have no use for, but if this is your thing then there is a long silver key at the top of the keyboard that will give you instant connection .There is another silver bar to the right of the keyboard that gives quick access to your emails. I have found the phone very slow at connecting to the internet, but as I don’t use the phone much for this purpose it’s not really a problem for me. This phone supports wi-fi and can be used in wi-fi hotspots without charge. I have also set the phone up to use my BT home hub. I did find it useful to read my emails and check my bank balance when I was recently in an airport. On the downside this phone doesn’t support 3G.

There is a large centre key the takes you to the well laid out menu. The silver surround of the key acts as the navigation control.

There is a calendar that gives you the option of viewing either a week or month. There is a very useful to do list that I use often. You can also add birthdays to your list and the phone will remind you of important dates.

It is possible to key in the persons full date of birth so that their correct age will be displayed. This is great when buying cards for children as I will never again get their age wrong!

The phone can as an mp3 player and has plenty of storage space for your music. I haven’t used this function so can’t comment. There is also a radio and I have used this and find it fairly basic. The phone will search for an available station for you and I have found it often struggles to find anything at all!

The phone has a 2 mega pixel camera with zoom. However there is no flash and to be honest I was really disappointed with the quality of the pictures taken using the camera.

The phone has several preloaded ringtones, although personally I was disappointed with the choice available. The phone will vibrate when you have mail.

There are several other really useful features activated via the apps key. I use the alarm clock on a regular basis. There is also a calculator, voice recorder stopwatch and timer to name a few.

My children appreciate the preloaded games that come with this phone although I have no idea how they are played!

The phone supports Bluetooth and has a USB port for connection to a computer. There is the facility to divert calls to another number, a very useful feature!

I have to confess I have never read the instruction leaflet that came with this phone as I prefer to learn by trail and error! I am sure I will discover many more functions this phone is capable of but for now I am very happy with it! If you want to read more technical detail then I suggest you take a look on the Nokia web site.

My opinion.
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As I have already alluded to; I am really not technically minded! I had thought my old basic phone was adequate, but have to admit that I have really appreciated the extra functions of my new Nokia! I love the look and feel of the phone and find texting using the QWERTY keyboard much quicker and easier. The keyboard is well spaced out and the keys feel comfortable to press.

I really love the large bright screen. The alarm clock and calendar are really useful. I now have no excuse for forgetting to do an important task!

The battery life of my old phone was really poor and it needed charging on a daily basis. This phone has an amazing battery life lasting for about 5 days of regular use before I need to charge. Nokia say that this phone has a 5 hour talk time and 360 hour standby time before you need to recharge.

Any negatives ?
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The camera is really disappointing, producing v very poor images. It has no flash and the zoom is woefully inadequate.

The plastic screen is prone to scratch and I already have a few marks despite keeping the phone in its own pocket in my bag.

If you are looking for a phone to connect regular to the internet then this may not be the best model for you. Connection is slow to say the least! The phone doesn’t support 3G.

The earphones supplied with this phone are very basic and the sound quality poor.

Overall I am very happy with my new phone! It is really easy to use and has lots of useful functions as outlined.

It is widely available for around £70 on a pay as you go basis. I have a contract with Vodafone, although I am currently in dispute with the, but that’s another review! I see that most phone providers are offering this model with contacts so it’s worth shopping around for the best deal.