Touch. Type. Nokia. All at Rs.3400.
My Ratings: 3/5
I needed a phone to gift to my younger sister. Her requirements were very basic- messaging, calling and listening music/ videos. As she is not internet savvy, I have to choose a very basic and user friendly phone for her that comes cheap but doesn’t look that cheap. There were many phones in market but I zeroed upon Nokia C2-02 touch and type having slider form factor.
Basic specifications
1. Screen: 2.6" 65K-color resistive touchscreen
2. Operating System: Symbian series 40
3. Camera: 2 MP fixed focus, 15fps video recording
4. Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1, GPRS, EDGE, microUSB
5. Storage: 10MB internal, 32GB external support
6. Others: Stereo FM radio with in-built recorder, Alphanumeric keypad
Features and functions
The phone is very well built and looks quite attractive with matte finish battery cover. It doesn’t look cheap like many other mobile phones in this segment. There are only two physical keys provided for volume control and screen locking. The slider works quite smooth but with time it may not work so smooth. The USP of the designing is golden chrome plating at bottom of this phone.
It is 17 mm thick with height and width of 103 mm and 51.4mm respectively. The form factor is slider bar. It has resolution of 320×240 pixels and weighs 115g. The screen resolution is nothing to boast upon .
The touchscreen is 2.6” and doesn’t seem small. Important point to remember is that it is resistive touch and not so smooth like the mostly used capacitive touchscreens. It will take some time to get used to it. It was horrible experience for me when I tried to use this phone after using iPhone and N8 (the comparison is totally invalid, considering less than 1/10th pricing).
There is no touch keypad provided in this phone so you have to use physical alphanumeric keypad on sliding the slider. The keys are like a flat pad and no gap is been provided between them but still it is quite comfortable typing on it.
The phonebook and messaging feature are very basic like any other Nokia phone.
The camera provided is fixed focus 2megapixels without any flash . It solves the basic purpose of photography. I very much missed the physical camera key.
The photos are neatly arranged as per the timeline and albums. There is editing tool provided that can perform all the necessary editing. The photos can be transferred via message, mail, Bluetooth or direct upload to web.
Nokia is still using the old age Symbian ; the OS of this phone is Symbian 40 6th edition. The only advantage of this OS is that it is very user friendly and helps in better battery backup. It is like any other Nokia phone experience you have ever used in your life- the same icons and the same style. The biggest drawback is inability to perform multitasking and you have to close one app to work on other.
The speaker is provided near the camera and is very loud for music playback . It can playback mostly all the major audio formats. The music folder is categorized as per albums, artists, playlists and genres. There is n o provision for changing the audio track, playing or pausing, when not in the now playing interface .
The call quality and reception is great as expected from a Nokia phone. There is 3.5mm jack provided for headphone and can be used with any standard headphone in market.
Video player of this phone can only play MP4 and 3GP formats and it will not play high-res videos. There are basic video control functions provided- play/pause & previous/ forward.
The phone supports GPRS and EDGE . The Nokia has recently improved its web browser on the track of Opera and compresses the webpages on loading. The speed is ok considering the pricing, RAM and OS and is just ok for web browsing- better for basic surfing. The browser provides flash based content surfing using flash lite feature but it doesn’t provide tabbed browsing. For better experience it is better to download Opera. Pushmail feature is also provided that is really great for this budget segment. Chat app is also there that supports Google Talk, Ovi Chat, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Chat.
There is social networking app ‘Communities’ provided inbuilt with the phone that give access to Facebook, Twitter & Flickr. Nokia store can be accessed to download more apps. All the basic applications are provided such as calculator, voice recorder, to-do list, notes, timer, stopwatch etc.
It is provided with Bluetooth feature and microUSB port for data transfer . The shocking part was that charging feature is not supported via microUSB that is standardly used in almost all the mobile phones nowadays.
The battery provided is 1020mAh and easily works for 2 days with normal usage. Anyhow, Nokia is master in battery backups.
Pros
- Stylish design with golden finish at the bottom.
- 32GB memory support .
- 2MP camera with 4X digital zoom.
- EDGE and GPRS enabled.
- Push mail feature
- Touch and type feature .
- Easy user interface.
- Resistive touchscreen that will require a pointed object (pen, nail etc.) for functioning.
- Only 10MB of internal storage .
- No dedicated keys for camera or music playback.
- No navigation key or D-pad .
- Unable to perform multitasking.
- Delicate SIM and memory card tray.
- Limited connectivity options .
- No Wi-Fi and 3G.
This phone is the only phone in this price range from a reputed manufacturer that has touch and type feature . It performs all the basic functions required by a normal user. It cannot be misunderstood as smartphone and is a big NO for heavy internet users .
It is important to note that it should not be confused with Nokia C2-03, which is dual-SIM mobile phone with same looks and form factor.
It is available at Rs.3365 at flipkart.com and can be bargained for Rs.3300 at any store near you.
It is recommended depending on the following conditions
- Best suited for young girls who need phone for basic purpose and basic internet usage.
- Those who want a pocket friendly stylish phone.
- Those who hate QWERTY keypad.
- Those who want touch feature in a budget phone without compromising on brand.
- It can be preferred if anyone is planning to own an extra phone aside a smartphone.
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