Nokia C1-00 review

The growing popularity of dual SIM phone market, mostly dominated by the local players, has now initiated the big global brands to launch their devices in India as well. After Micromax, Spice, Zen, Lava and other desi mobile phone makers, now Nokia, Motorola, Samsung are also releasing new dual SIM phones to tap the rural market in India.

Nokia is still the most preferred brand in India, having a strong foothold since long with dedicated followers. Nokia announced its arrival in the dual SIM market with the launch of Nokia C1-00 couple of months back. The device is now available in India at a very budget price tag to compete with the likes of Micromax and Spice Mobiles. 

Now first thing first. If you keep your expectations as low as the price, then Nokia C1 will not disappoint you much. Barring few high-end devices released recently by Nokia, most of the budget devices of Nokia are similar products in different packaging, other than some minor changes in design, OS, features and pricing.

The Nokia C1 too has nothing great to offer, the dual SIM (that too without dual standby mode) being the only selling point of this device at a very budget price. In a dimension of 107 x 45 x 15mm, the device weighs 72.9 g with battery. It is offered in red and blue colours.

It supports large keypad, dual-band GSM support, shortcut key for SIM rotation and S30 platform. Displaying 1.8 inch colour screen, the Nokia C1-00 offers FM radio, games, flashlight, integrated hands-free speakers and as usual a very good talk time and standby time with its 1020mAh battery.

On the flip side, Nokia's entry-level dual SIM phone does not offer memory card slot, camera or basic connectivity of GPRS, Bluetooth or EDGE. The handset comes with regular accessories such as a charger, 3.5mm audio jack and a manual.

When you first unbox the device, you may not be very appealed by its looks or design though. It's lightweight, having matt fingerprint-proof plastic coating on both the front and the back panels. It's front panel showcases the usual features as you may have come across other Nokia devices.

Beneath its 1.8 inch colour screen, you can see the navigation deck built around the D-pad. The D-pad, other than providing the navigation, also controls the inbuilt flashlight attached at the front of the device. To switch on the flashlight, you need to scroll up twice. To switch off, scroll up once.

Now back to the basic dual SIM feature of this device. The device comes with dual SIM cards slot, but sadly, only one card can be active at a time. However, you have the option to switch from one number to the other without switching off your phone. You can also use the active SIM card to view, call or send messages to the contacts saved on the inactive SIM.

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