Nokia C1 Review: You Can't Really Ask Much More From Such Affordable Smartphone

After being silent for a while, HMD Global has brought the C series back and the latest offering is called Nokia C1. And we also have this product on hand and would like to give you our first impressions of the phone. 

Here is the Nokia C1 review, let's get started right away.

Design

Anyway, let's take a quick look at the Nokia C1 box. There is still the familiar image of two hands holding each other on the front of the box and the large Nokia branding right in the middle.

The only accessory inside is the user manual, a charger, and a micro-USB cable.

When I opened the box and received the Nokia C1, I immediately noticed that the appearance is quite similar to the Nokia 1 Plus but there is still a slight difference that the speaker is located on the left instead of the right spine.

Actually, when holding the Nokia C1, I felt very light and fit, anyone can hold it easily. The device is finished with a rough plastic material with a good grip, and it is not as prone to sweat and fingerprints as glossy plastic. Although 100% made of plastic, the back still feels quite solid and it is removable so you can easily replace a new battery on your own.

The back of this device is also quite simple with a single camera along with an LED flash stacked vertically in a module. In the middle, there is the familiar Nokia logo.

The left side is the button that activates the Google Assistant.

The right side is the power button and the volume rocker.

At the bottom of the device are a micro-USB port and a microphone.

On the top of the device is a 3.5mm headphone jack.

As for the front, the bezel is relatively thick but looks well balanced. There are still many people prefer the old 16:9 screen ratio and do not like punch-hole or water-drop notch.

Hardware specifications are not so great

Nokia C1 is only equipped with a 5.45 screen and there is nothing special about the display. It supports HD resolution.

With a price of around Rs. 4,300, you shouldn’t expect a strong performance on the phone. The device is only equipped with low-cost Spreadtrum SC7731 processor which is usually present on low-end devices, combined with 1 GB RAM + 16 GB storage (supports storage expansion up to 64GB). It is best to use this phone for basic tasks like watching videos, listening to music, and surfing websites.

The product is preinstalled with Android 9 Pie (Go Edition), which is optimized for low-end devices and so are the apps. The camera interface of the handset. it does not run very smoothly.

Front and rear camera systems of Nokia C1 have a resolution of 5 MP with HDR mode.

In addition, the product supports 2 SIM, however, it only supports 3G network, not 4G and the battery I find has a low capacity of only 2,500 mAh, which can help the phone last for around one day with basic tasks.

Verdict

Nokia C1 is a suitable smartphone for parents or students to use for basic needs. Products with the famous Nokia brand are durable and I think Nokia C1 is no exception, not sure if this product will be updated to Android 10 or not. For now, the handset hasn't made its way to India yet. 

Nokia C1 price: around Rs. 4,200

Nokia C1 price in India: Unavailable

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