Nokia C5-03

Available now
14th October 2010

The Nokia C5-03 is a low cost touchscreen phone, offering 3.5G support, WiFi and GPS in a package that should retail for about €170 before tax and subsidy.

Similar in specification to the C6-01 (and not to be confused with other "C5" Nokia phones) the C5-03 makes some compromises along the way to keep the price down.

Perhaps the most important difference between the C5-03 and C6-01 is the display. Both handsets have a 3.2" 360 x 640 pixel panel, but the C5-03 uses a cheaper resistive touchscreen rather than the capacitive one in the C6-01. Resistive panels are much less responsive than capacitive ones, something that you are more likely to notice if you use a cheap touchscreen after being used to a high-end device. You can use the C5-03 with an optional stylus though, which might suit some users.

The operating system is the older Symbian^1 platform (the familiar S60 5th Edition used in several past Nokia touchscreens). On the back is a 5 megapixel camera with fairly basic video capture capabilities that max out at 640 x 352 pixels at 15 fps. The C5-03's camera doesn't come with a flash function either.

Internal memory is just 40MB, but Nokia do include a 2GB microSD card in the standard sales package, and the C5-03 can support cards of up to 16GB. The Nokia C5-03 is a 3.5G phone with HSDPA download speeds of up to 10.2Mbps and uploads of up to 2Mbps, plus WiFi connectivity.

The C5-03 also comes with GPS and is supplied with Ovi Maps Navigation, so it should make a pretty good personal navigation device. There's also a good quality media player, FM radio and 3.5mm audio connector.

Software includes the usual set of Symbian S60 applications plus social networking and web mail support, and the integrated web browser should work well with the high-resolution display.

The C5-03 is a lot lighter than its more upmarket sibling, coming in at just 93 grams rather than the C6-01's 131 grams. Physically, both units are roughly the same size with the C5-03 coming in at 106 x 51 x 14mm. The C5-03's 1000 mAh battery is quoted as giving up to 4.5 hours talktime and 24 days standby time on 3G.

Compared to the C6-01, the best thing about the C5-03 is the price. Nokia are pitching the C5-03 at just €170 before sales tax and carrier subsidy, compared to €260 for the C6-01. But in our view, the C6-01 is a much better handset and is definitely worth the extra cost over the rather more basic C5-03.

Nokia say that the C5-03 should be available at the end of the year in Graphite Black, Lime Green, Petrol Blue and Aluminium Grey colour schemes. 

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