14 DAY TRIAL // Nokia C5 is like one of those restaurants with “all you can eat” offers at very low prices. It has top-notch features, but costs less than you would expect from such a phone. Its stylish and solid design will surely make it stand out from the crowd.
Even though its price tag recommends it as a mid-budget device, Nokia C5 is fully featured and offers Symbian fans all the requirements of a high-end smartphone. The only two major exceptions are the very small display and the slim design, which doesn't really cut it for a business phone.
Announced in March 2010, Nokia C5 was launched on the market in April 2010 and can be bought for about $180 USD, depending on your location. There are two colors available for users to choose from: White and Warm Grey.
style="color: rgb(170,51,51)">Design
If you're looking for a shiny, but solid smartphone, and you don't want to spend a fortune, then Nokia C5 is one of the best choices on the market. For only 130 Euro you get a wide range of high-end features embedded onto a sleek and stylish smartphone. C5 strongly resembles another good looking Nokia handset, the 6300 smartphone launched in 2007, which was one the company's best sellers at that time. The handset features a candybar form factor, it measures 112 x 46 x 12.3 mm and weighs only 89.3g (including battery). The gadget is very well built and breaths solidity from the first touch. Even if the metallic plates are covering only a few parts of the phone, the overall aspect of Nokia C5 is that of a robust and reliable gimmick.
The front part of the handset features a small-sized 2.2-inch display and a standard keypad. Just above the screen there's a secondary video-call camera, while below there's the usual set of keys specific to Symbian phones. Two soft keys, the Accept/End calls keys, as well as Menu and C (Delete) keys are the only buttons you need to browse the phone's menus. The big D-pad in the middle is very well sized and pretty responsive. The C5's keypad is one of the best I ever used on a Nokia phone. The buttons are large enough for all finger sizes and they are extremely responsive. Even the last row of keys is very easy to use, even though the two buttons in the corners are a little bit smaller. Overall the front part aspect of the phone doesn't let anyone think that this is in fact a cheap phone, on the contrary. The device is surrounded on the edges by a metallic stripe, which protects the phone against possible drops. The left side of the slim handset only features the lanyard eyelet, while the right side include a dual volume key and a microSD slot for memory card. Unfortunately, the plastic cap that cover the memory card slot is one of the worse. It's difficult to pull out the cap, and even harder to get the memory card. On top of the phone there's the usual charger port, the microUSB port and an 3.5mm audio jack. The 3.2-megapixel camera on the backside of the phone also features a very small flash, next to its left. Two small loudspeaker seem to have been placed right near the locking mechanism of the battery cover. The use of metallic material stops at the back hood of the battery, which doesn't cover the backside of the phone entirely. You can open the back cover relatively easy, by sliding the small knob down, which will pull out the metallic cover automatically.Overall, Nokia C is a very well built handset, with only a few lacking features, such as a dedicated camera button. Well balanced and robust, the candybar is one of the few classy mid-entry smartphones on the market.
style="color: rgb(255,102,0)">Display and Camera
Nokia C5 features a 2.2-inch TFT display that supports 16 Million colors and a 240 x 320-pixel resolution. The screen has a scratch-resistant surface, which protects it when the device is kept in a pocket together with other metallic objects. Sunlight eligibility is excellent as usual, which means you won't have any troubles distinguishing anything on the screen when it's exposed to strong light. The only thing I have to disapprove is the small size of the screen. Add to that the high resolution and you will be close to not be able to read any text on the display.
The 3.2-megapixel camera embedded in the Nokia C5 features LED flash and fixed focus, but lacks the autofocus capability. In terms of picture quality, the camera performs pretty decent for a 3 megapixel camera, especially if you're using the light conditions to your advantage. The bar handset also lacks a dedicated camera button, but the big D-pad on the keypad can be a very good shutter. The camera interface is standard with the usual features: Effects, White balance, Landscape, Self-timer. The maximum resolution that can be used for pictures is of 2,048x1,536 pixels, while clips can be recorded with a maximum resolution of 320x240 pixels (@15fps) and can be saved in .MP4 format. Overall, the performance of the camera is more than satisfactory, and those that are getting the phone for its camera too, will be quite pleased.style="color: rgb(153,204,0)">Menu and Software
Nokia C5 bar phone runs Symbian 9.3 operating system, with S60 3rd Edition and Feature Pack 2 interface. Besides the usual improvements added by FP1, you'll now be able to add your favorite contacts on the new Contacts bar that appears on top of the screen. Each contact is represented by a small avatar (thumbnail) chosen from the Gallery or by taking a picture with the camera. Clicking on any of the contacts added will bring up a list with various options that will enable you to edit the contact, send a message, call or add feed.
The latter means that you'll be able to add feeds instead of contacts, so you can quick access it from the Homescreen. The screen is also populated with a bar that usually shows your emails, as soon as you set up your mail account. The last row of shortcuts contains by default: Camera, Message, Maps, Chat and Ovi. These shortcuts are fully customizable, as more others can be added instead of the default ones. Another new feature that has been introduced by FP2 is the availability of animation when browsing the menus. Furthermore, you have quick access to the task manager, as the function appears now at the top of every pop-up menu. The phone also supports the latest version of Adobe's Flash Lite 1.5, the interoperable platform that enables the accelerated development and delivery of rich graphical mobile content, and includes audio file playback and streaming capabilities that provide audio and music enhancements to both mobile gaming and multimedia experience. Nokia C5 also offers the social networking package, as it includes applications like, Facebook, Fiendster, YouTube client, HI5, MySpace, and Nokia Chat. Those traveling a lot will be happy to find that the smartphone includes a free lifetime voice-guided navigation license for OviMaps. The handset also includes some useful applications, such as Search, Alarm clock, Calendar, To-do list, Notes, Calculator, Countdown timer, World Clock, and Stopwatch. The menu is fully customizable and you can designate any MP3, MIDI or AAC file as ringtone. Moreover, Nokia's integrated browser has not changed, but it offers a great Web navigation experience. The phonebook can store an unlimited number of contacts, as long as you have enough storage memory left. The fonts can be customized, though only those displayed when opening Contacts, Web browser and messaging sections. If you are looking for games, Nokia C5 only features Brain Challenge and Bounce Tales. The phone is compatible with Java MIDP 2.0 applications, but also with any Symbian S60 3rd Edition software.style="color: rgb(153,51,102)">Communication
Nokia C5 is a quad-band GSM (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) handset, HSDPA (10.2 Mbps), HSUPA (2Mbps) compatible, which features GPRS/EDGE 32 class. Though it lacks Wi-Fi, the smartphone can still be considered as good featured. Tested on the EDGE and 3G networks, the handset performed a little bit above average, as you can also see in the screenshots.
When connecting the USB cable, you'll be able to choose among five modes: PC Suite, Mass storage, Media transfer, Image transfer and Connect PC to web. All five of them are intuitive and easy to use, so there's nothing more to add here. The process of synching is very fast, browsing and transfers are made very quickly between phone and PC. Other connectivity tools include Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP and EDR support, and microUSB 2.0 for PC synchronization (charging included). The built-in GPS receiver supports A-GPS function and works flawlessly together with the newly renamed Ovi Maps 3.0. Also, the phone comes with free lifetime voice-guided navigation license for Maps. In terms of messaging, the phone offers standard SMS and MMS messaging solutions, accepting all available message types. The device also includes an audio message editor and e-mail support. The message client works with POP3, SMTP, and IMAP4 protocols, and supports more than one e-mail account. Additionally, it can download headers and supports attachments. The phone comes with a new application pre-insatalled, called Ovi Contacts. The application works very well with the default Contact list. The Contacts are synced with the Ovi cloud. You will be able to check your Ovi Contacts or G-Talk users at the same time. Further, you will also be able to chat in real time with your Ovi and Google Talk contacts. The quadband (GSM 850 / 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900) network-compatible bar handset has a very good GSM signal reception. The sound is also great at both ends and pretty loud. The vibration alert is more than decent, which means you won't miss too many phone calls if you keep it on the Silent profile.style="color: rgb(170,51,51)">Processor and Memory
The handset is powered by an ARM11 family processor running at speeds of up to 600 MHz. The device works pretty smooth, but I have noticed some lags when using other applications while the browser is open. Even though it seemed pretty snappy for me, users might experience freezes from time to time, as it's all about luck when we're talking about Symbian devices.
The handset embeds a 50MB user-free internal memory, and 128MB of SDRAM memory. The storage space can be expanded up to another 16GB through the hot-swappable microSD card slot. The sales package also includes a 2GB microSD memory card to get your started.style="color: rgb(255,102,0)">Multimedia
Nokia C5 surprises users expecting to get less from the multimedia features, as it comes with a XpressMusic specific music player. The interface looks exactly like in previous XpressMusic series music players and supports an impressive number of file types (including MP3, WMA and eAAC+). In terms of sound quality Nokia C5 surpasses all expectations and performs excellent. Add to that the high-battery autonomy (34 hours) and you got yourself an excellent music phone. The MP3 player also features an Equalizer that includes a Bass-booster setting, Stereo widening, Loudness and Balance.
The FM radio has a standard interface, and can automatically scan and save the available stations. It features RDS support and Visual radio. The Visual radio application can download all the local stations and save them to the handset with their names. Both functions, radio and music player, respectively, can be run in the background with no problems. Nokia C5 also includes Real Player for playing video clips, but also a dedicated YouTube client. The video player can be displayed in both normal and fullscreen modes. Unfortunately, the small-sized screen makes the whole experience rather frustrating.style="color: rgb(153,204,0)">Battery
The 1050 mAh Li-Ion (BL-5CT) battery has an officially stated life expectancy of 630 hours in standby (670 hours for 3G) and of about 12 hours in talk time mode (5 hours for 3G). Also, Nokia states a music autonomy of more than 1 day (34 hours). I was pretty amazed by the battery's life autonomy, as I managed to get about 6 days with medium use. The phone includes an excellent battery, much better than any other smartphone in its class.
style="color: rgb(153,51,102)">Impressions
After using the device for about two weeks, I think that Nokia did a great job in this case. Nokia C5 is way over the mid-budget line in terms of features, even though its price is so low. C5 is a good-looking phone that will definitely rock your world.
The Good
The Bad
style="color: rgb(170,51,51)">Sales Package
Nokia C5-00 handset Nokia 2 GB microSD Card MU-37 Nokia Connectivity Cable C101D Nokia Stereo Headset WH-102 Nokia High Efficiency Charger AC-8 Nokia Battery BL-5CT User guide
