Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type

Editor's Review of the C3-01 Touch and Type

With all the fuss surrounding the Nokia C7 and E7, the adorable C3-01 Touch and Type has gone somewhat unnoticed. As Nokia's second handset to feature a touchscreen alongside a physical keypad, they have stepped things up a notch since the X3 Touch and Type, and it's time for this handset to take centre stage.

Design & Build

We've been completely won over by the cute design of the Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type, which is reminiscent of the manufacturer's older handsets. It's a slim, lightweight device, measuring in at just 111 x 47.5 x 11 with a weight of 100g. The casing is crafted from stainless steel, and it feels extremely comfortable to hold.

Within its chassis is a 2.4 inch resisitve touchscreen, complete with 240 x 320 pixel resolution. The display is leagues ahead of all the other resistive touchscreens we've had telhe displeasure of using, and is implemented well into the overall user experience.

OS & Interface

The Nokia C3 Touch and Type comes equipped with Symbian S40 6th Edition, which although not terrible, seems like a bit of a wasted effort. With Nokia hoping to push Symbian^3 into even the most basic of handsets, this would have been the perfect time to do it.

The UI is pretty standard, and is unlikely to cite fear into HTC or Apple. We like its clean cut simplicity however, and it has that reliable Nokia feel that fans of the company will be glad to see. If also offers social networking integration, in the form of built-in Facebook, Twitter and email widgets.

Multimedia & Storage

Although it's a tiny, faily basic looking phone, the Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type packs a pretty impressive 5 megapixel camera, complete with LED flash and VGA video camera. The snapper produces great quality photos in even the poorest of lighting, but they sadly can't be appreciated on the handset's tiny 2.4 inch screen. Once transferred to your PC however, that's a different matter.

The onboard storage is a measely 30MB, but we're happy to see a microSD slot onboard. This allows you to boost the handset's memory to 32GB, which should be enough for anybody.

Everything Else

For such a reasonably priced phone, we were very impressed that Nokia have equipped with with HSDPA and WiFi connectivity. Although their proprietary Internet browser isn't much to look at, pages load quickly and render well on the small screen. However, due to the resistive touchscreen, multi-touch isn't supported.

Although Nokia are famous for their "free GPS for life", the C3 Touch and Type is lacking this handy feature. It may not be surprising when looking at the handset's price tag, but we can't help but feel a little disappointed.

The 1050mAh battery isn't much to shout home about, only offering 4 hours talk time.

Conclusion

With the C3-01, Nokia have finally proved why "touch and type" is a big deal. It may not be the most feature packed handset on the market, but you're certainly getting a lot for your money.