The Nokia C5-03 is a 3.2-inch touchscreen smartphone running the Symbian S60 5th Edition operating system. This budget smartphone is aimed at the entry-level end of the market, so could well make a great upgrade for the Nokia 5230 or Nokia 5800. How well does it stack up? Find out with our Nokia C5-03 review.

The Nokia C5-03 has a great look to it and if very much in keeping with market trends. The slim design, it’s just 14mm thick and weighs in at 93g, means it feels great in the hand and will slip into a jeans pocket without too much fuss. We also like the curved shape to the back of this device, as it just sits in the hand neatly.

Check out our Nokia C5-03 unboxing

The front of the Nokia C5-03 has also come in for a re-design from previous smartphones, such as the Nokia 5230 or Nokia 5800. Gone is the fat lip around the edge; in place comes a sleek and open screen. It’s a 3.2-inch resistive display with a 360 x 640-pixel resolution and we were impressed with how bright the screen is in daily use.

It’s curious that Nokia hasn't moved the OS up to Symbian^3 but then it readily allows you to tap into the thousands of apps developed for the Symbian S60 platform. The display on the Nokia C5-03 isn't as responsive as you'll find on more expensive Nokia devices. What's more, you need to give the screen quite a firm push when typing out email or text messaging. Being a resistive display we were hoping for a stylus but sadly one is tucked away in the device.

Nokia C5-03 Homescreen and Features

The Homescreen is the same as we’ve seen on previous devices, so you can add up to 20 top contacts across the top of the screen and scroll through them, while there is space for your four favourite apps running along the bottom. You can add other features in a list down the middle. True, in this age of multiple homescreens just having the one can seem a little basic but it works well and getting access to your apps is simply a case of pressing the Menu button.

We found apps loaded reasonably quickly on the Nokia C5-03 and with access to all the latest apps, such as Ovi Chat, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube (there are also links to MySpace, Friendster and hi5 installed), you’re never too far away from the latest gossip.

The Nokia C5-03 comes with all the features we’ve come to expect from an everyday smartphone. So, you’ll find Wi-Fi and Bluetooth built-in, along with Accelerometer Sensor and A-GPS. In terms of audio, we found the Nokia C5-03 to have rather loud speakers, so booming out music isn’t a problem. Call quality proved also more than acceptable, with incoming calls being clear and loud.

When it comes to storage, you’ll find 40MB of internal memory on offer and then there is a 2GB microSD card supplied as standard. The Nokia C5-03 has support for cards up to 16GB, so you’ll easily be able to cram it with all your music, apps and whatever else you wish to carry around on it.

The Nokia C5-03 does a great job of being an entry-level smartphone. With an asking price of £189 (inc. VAT) SIM free, the Nokia C5-03 is a good all-round smartphone that will ideally suit anyone upgrading from the Nokia 5230 or Nokia 5800 and like the OS they are currently using.

Chekc out our Nokia C5-03 Review photo gallery: