Noknok

The Nokia C5 has been in our hands for a few days, long enough for us to get to grips with the finer points of this entry-level smartphone. The question is whether this candybar phone truly has to chops to be a fully-fledged smartphone. Find out all about it with our Nokia C5 review.

The Nokia C5 is a candybar phone that is built around a bright 2.2-inch non-touchscreen display with a 240 x 320-pixel resolution. It also comes with a fairly standard five-direction  D-pad and four function buttons that sit between the screen and the three column/four row keypad. The keys are individually mounted and have a slight rise to the centre, making typing nice and easy.

Check out our Nokia C5 Unboxing

However, what we like the most about the Nokia C5 keyboard is the size of the keys, as they are nice and big, no there is little or no chance of you slipping when messaging. Find out how the Nokia C5 works for email with our Nokia C5 (Software) review.

On the top of the phone you’ll find a standard 3.5-inch audio jack, along with a USB port for syncing with your PC or laptop – a cable is supplied in the box. On the right-hand side of the Nokia C5 you’ll find the standard dual-button arrangement that hands volume controls for the music player, as well a doubling up as zoom buttons for the built-in camera.

Also on the right-hand side, you’ll find a slot for the microSD card, of which a 2GB card is supplied in the box and the slot itself can handle cards up to 16GB in size. You may well need this as the Nokia C5 itself only comes with 50MB of internal memory, so storage is something of a premium.

The build quality of the Nokia C5 is something special. Made from stainless steel with a brushed-effect, it may look a slim and slight phone, but we’ve found it to be solid and sturdy and capable of being treated a little rough and still being able to bounce back. What’s more, with an overall weight of 83g, it’s light enough to slip into a jeans pocket and not be a burden.

So far, the Nokia C5 looks very much like any other mainstream candybar phone but there is no important difference, it’s running a fully-fledged smartphone OS in Symbian S60 3rd Edition. This means you’ll be able to take full advantage of all the apps on the Ovi Store, something a standard feature phone simply isn’t capable of handling.

The camera on the Nokia C5 is a fairly standard 3.2-Megapixel CCD but it does some with a single LED Flash. We’ll be testing the camera out in a separate device but from our initial testing, photos are easy to take and results are more than respectable. The camera also supports video capture at 640 x 480 pixels at up to 15fps (frames per second).

The only real thing missing from the Nokia C5 is Wi-Fi, which seems to have been kept out in order to keep the cost of the C5 down to a minimum. This shouldn’t prove a problem, as the 3G connection is quick and you’ll also find Bluetooth installing for syncing with other devices.

The Nokia C Series is based around ‘voice-centric’ devices, so we thought we’d best check out the call quality of the Nokia C5. We’re happy to report that in-call chat sounded clear. When it comes to battery life, Nokia is claiming an average talk time of around 12 hours, with up to 26 days in standby mode. We’ve been using the Nokia C5 for the last few days and still haven’t found a need to recharge the device yet, which bodes well for those who place battery life as a necessity.

So, is the Nokia C5 a great smartphone? Nokia hasn’t taken any real chances with the hardware, as the styling feels like a refined version of the Nokia 6700 classic. However, it is a cracking little phone but with a solid build quality and sufficient features to appeal to anyone looking for an affordable and dependable smartphone.

Check out our Nokia C5 (Hardware) Review photo gallery: