HMD Global won’t have had a standout Nokia smartphone shortly, for my part, however there is no denying that the majority of its Android telephones so far have appeared actually good. As we speak, we’ll be reviewing the corporate’s most up-to-date entry-level Android providing, the Nokia C3. This finances telephone includes a easy design and fundamental specs, however hopefully, that needs to be sufficient to supply an honest Android expertise.
This telephone appears fairly reasonably priced, with a beginning value of Rs. 7,499. It is time to see if the Nokia C3 is price shopping for.
Nokia C3 design: A bit too easy
If the Nokia identify wasn’t sufficient nostalgia, the detachable battery within the Nokia C3 ought to undoubtedly carry again some recollections. Your entire again shell is a single piece of plastic which comes off so you possibly can set up the battery, SIM playing cards, and a microSD card. There are two slots for Nano-SIM playing cards, so you will not want any adapters. I’ve the Sand color, which I believe seems very good. This telephone can also be accessible in Nordic Blue. It is not too thick at Eight.69mm and weighs a cushty 184.5g.
The Nokia C3 seems elegant, due to the minimalistic again which solely has a tiny vertical digital camera module and a fingerprint sensor. The again panel does not entice fingerprints, and affords good grip. The amount and energy buttons are to the proper, whereas the devoted Google Assistant button is positioned on the left. There is a headphone jack on the highest and a Micro-USB port on the backside. There isn’t any cutout for a speaker, and that is as a result of the Nokia C3 makes use of its earpiece because the loudspeaker.
Coming to the entrance of the telephone, there’s a 5.99-inch HD+ IPS show with toughened glass. The design of the entrance additionally feels nostalgic, however actually, that is one thing that is greatest forgotten. As a substitute of a notch, the Nokia C3 has thick, old school borders on the highest and backside, and comparatively narrower ones to the edges. This is not a giant criticism for an entry-level telephone, however contemplating that its friends have additionally moved on to extra fashionable designs, I believe HDM World might have performed higher.
The field contents are fairly fundamental. You get a 5W charger, a USB cable, and a quick-start information. There isn’t any case or headset.
Nokia C3 efficiency: Purposeful at greatest
The Nokia C3 is powered by a Unisoc (previously generally known as Spreadtrum) SC9863A octa-core SoC. It consists of eight ARM Cortex-A55 CPU cores working at as much as 1.6GHz. It is constructed on a relatively outdated 28nm fabrication course of, which could not be as power-efficient as what a few of the newer SoCs from MediaTek and Qualcomm use.
I am testing the variant of the Nokia C3 with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, which is priced at Rs. Eight,999. The bottom variant with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage is priced at Rs. 7,499.
Different options embody Wi-Fi n, Bluetooth four.2 and FM radio. The latter requires a headset to be related with a purpose to work. The Nokia C3 helps 4G VoLTE and GPS. It has some fundamental sensors comparable to a proximity sensor, ambient gentle sensor and an accelerometer. There isn’t any gyroscope and compass sadly, which suggests you possibly can’t see the route you are going through in apps like Google Maps.
The Nokia C3 runs inventory Android 10 with simply the essential apps from Google preinstalled. The one third-party app known as My Cellphone from HMD World, and it is for after-sales help and system upkeep. You get some fundamental gestures within the Settings app, however that is the extent of the customisation. The Google Assistant button needs to be helpful if you’re an avid consumer of Google’s digital assistant. It could’t be remapped to launch every other app or operate although. The C3 is just not a part of Google’s Android One program, so you do not get that assure of two years of software program updates. Nonetheless, not less than it is not working Android 10 (Go Version) just like the Nokia 1 (Review).
Utilizing Android on the Nokia C3 was an honest expertise, however even with 3GB of RAM and bone-stock Android, it wasn’t the smoothest. Animations and multitasking triggered some intermittent stutter and lag. The fingerprint sensor labored effectively, however the display took just a little longer than common to get up. Face recognition was additionally gradual to kick in and carry out authentication. Gaming efficiency wasn’t nice both. Easy titles comparable to Sky Pressure Reloaded ran okay, however something heavier actually struggled to run effectively or ship good graphics.
This lack of efficiency is seen in benchmarks too. I received an honest AnTuTu rating of 1,06,338 factors, which was on par with what the MediaTek Helio G35 SoC can ship, as seen in our opinions of the Redmi 9 (Review) and Realme C12 (Review). Nonetheless, the graphics scores had been fairly a bit decrease. The Nokia C3 managed simply 26fps in GFXBench’s T-Rex check. The show will get adequately shiny and movies do not look too unhealthy on it. The earpiece speaker will get significantly loud because it faces you instantly and there is little to no likelihood of it being blocked by your palm.
Nokia C3 battery life: Fairly disappointing
The Nokia C3 does not have a really massive battery, coming in at three,040mAh in capability. It carried out very poorly in our HD video loop check, lasting for simply 7 hours and 34 minutes, which is without doubt one of the lowest instances we have recorded shortly. With medium to gentle use, I used to be in a position to get nearly a full day of battery life, however watching movies or gaming drains the battery shortly. Charging the battery is not very speedy. You solely get a 5W energy adapter within the field, and even when related to a quicker charger, I used to be solely in a position to cost the battery as much as about 43 % in an hour.
Nokia C3 cameras: Barely usable
The Nokia C3 has a single Eight-megapixel rear digital camera and a 5-megapixel selfie digital camera. Autofocus is mostly on the slower aspect and will get worse in low gentle. The app affords fundamental taking pictures modes however some frequent ones comparable to Portrait mode, are lacking. There may be an auto-HDR operate, which is sweet to see.
Sadly picture high quality is sort of underwhelming, even in daylight. I discovered the dynamic vary to be very weak, with most panorama pictures exhibiting poor particulars and exposures. Shut-ups had been a bit higher, however once more, textures usually appeared flat and smoothened-out. Low-light photographs turned out grainy with poor element.
Selfies usually had weak element too, and publicity was far and wide when taking pictures throughout the day. In low gentle, most selfies had been grainy and virtually unusable. The Nokia C3 can shoot as much as 1080p video, however I discovered the standard to be beneath common, even throughout the day. Autofocus was additionally fairly sluggish.
General, the cameras on the Nokia C3 are very disappointing, and easily not ok, even for informal pictures.
Verdict: Do you have to purchase the Nokia C3?
I believe it is fairly obvious by now that the Nokia C3 does not supply the perfect worth for cash, particularly the 3GB variant that is priced at Rs. Eight,999. I believe the Realme Narzo 10A (Review) and even the Narzo 20A, which we’re presently testing, could be a lot better options. Aside from respectable construct high quality and a clear Android expertise, the Nokia C3 does not have sufficient getting into its favour to justify this value. The efficiency is middling, battery life is weak, cameras aren’t good, and it seems a bit old school.
In case you’re on a good finances, the Realme C11 (Review) needs to be a greater choose at Rs. 7,499. You lose the fingerprint sensor and efficiency is kind of just like that of the C3, however not less than you may be getting a lot better battery life.
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