Nokia C3 Touch and Type (C3-01)

The Nokia C3 Touch and Type is the more businesslike sibling of the X3 Touch and Type, bringing a small touchscreen display to a standard "candy bar" phone. It's a conventional looking handset with classic Nokia design details, and a much more normal keypad layout than the X3, and that will certainly appeal to many existing Nokia customers.

Nokia have caused some confusion again with their names - the C3 Touch and Type is actually the Nokia C3-01.. the original Nokia C3 (or Nokia C3-00) is a cheap QWERTY messaging phone. The two handsets are very different and will probably be sold alongside each other, which might be confusing.

This is a Series 40 device, rather than being a Symbian smartphone. There's nothing seriously wrong with Series 40 for most users, but it does seem like a wasted effort when Nokia's long term intentions are to push Symbian into all but the simplest phones.

The 2.4" touchscreen is a basic resistive panel with 240 x 320 pixels resolution, and it is basically used for choosing menu options and similar functions. Nokia expect text input be done with the numeric keypad, which seems sensible.

Nokia C3 Touch and Type In specification terms, this is pretty close to the Nokia C5 and Nokia 6700 handsets. It's a 3.5G device with maximum download speeds of 10Mbps on HSPA, and it has support for WiFi, including Wireless "N" networks.

On the back is a 5 megapixel camera with flash and VGA video capture at 15 frames per second. Inside is a microSD slot and a 1050 mAh battery that can provide up to 4 hours talktime on 3G and 18 days standby time.

Software includes some social networking applications, a web browser and music player. The C3 Touch and Type also has a 3.5mm audio socket and an FM radio, so it is quite capable in this respect.

One key thing that the C3 Touch and Type lacks is GPS, but this is actually quite a low-end phone which is priced at around €145 before tax and subsidy, so it is hardly a surprise.

Nokia may have hit on the "next big thing" with these Touch and Type phones.. or they may just be a soon-to-be-forgotten oddity. Really nobody has done this before, and Nokia are in uncharted waters.

The Nokia C3 Touch and Type should be available during Q4 2010 in Silver, Warm Grey and Golden Khaki colours.

Nokia C3-01 at a glance
Available	:	Q4 2010
Network	:	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 +
		UMTS 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
Data	:	GPRS + EDGE + UMTS (3G) + HSPA + WiFi
Screen	:	2.4" 240 x 320 pixels, 262k colours
Camera	:	5 megapixels
Size	:	Standard monoblock
		111 x 48 x 11mm / 100 grams
Bluetooth	:	Yes
Memory card	:	MicroSD
Infra-red	:	No
Polyphonic	:	Yes
Java	:	Yes
GPS	:	No
OS	:	Series 40
Battery life	:	4 hours talk / 18 days standby (3G)