Nokia C3-00 Vintage Mobile Phone

The Nokia C3-00, not to be confused with C3-01 or the more modern C3 version was introduced in 2010 as a 2G phone with QWERTY keypad whist still offering a low cost entry point.

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The Nokia C3-00 was a vintage mobile phone with a QWERTY keypad making it look similar to the Blackberry phones, whilst still providing a low cost phone for general phone use and easier messaging.

It is worth being aware that there is a vintage Nokia C3-00 that has a QWERTY keyboard and there is a C3-01 also launched in 2010 that is very different. Just to completely confuse matters, there is a modern smartphone from Nokia launched in 2020 that is also designated a C3 - all very confusing.

Front view of Nokia C3-00 vintage classic mobile phone Rear view of Nokia C3-00 vintage classic mobile phone Side view of Nokia C3-00 vintage classic mobile phone

The C3-00 featured a full 4-line QWERTY keyboard, making it far easier to type messages when compared to many other phones of the time that only had the traditional number keypad requiring several presses of a key to reach the required letter.

The Nokia C3-00 was aimed at being an entry-level messaging and social networking phone, which was able to retail at the low end of the market. The typical cost was around only 90 euros before taxes.

The camera was not up to the same level of many competing phones, but at the cost of the phone, it was not bad. Sadly it was only fixed focus, but images were generally suitable for social media of the time.

Nokia C3 Specification Summary
 
Parameter Details
Launch 13 April 2010
Dimensions 115.5 x 58.1 x 13.6 mm
Weight 114 g (4 oz)
Technology Quad band EGSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
Packet data CSD, GPRS class A, multislot class 32, maximum speed 85.6/64.2 kbit/s (DL/UL), EGPRS MSC32
SIM card Mini-SIM
Battery BL-5J 1320 mAh Li-Ion
Display LCD: 262,000 colours Landscape Resolution: 320 x 240 pixels
Memory 55 MB internal memory and MicroSD memory card slot for up to 16 GB.
Bluetooth Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
Wi-Fi 802.11 B - G
USB High speed USB 2.0 with micro-USB connector
Radio Stereo FM with RDS enabled
Music player Yes: supports MP3, WMA, AAC, eAAC, eAAC+
Video player Supported formats: H.263, H.264, MPEG4-SP
Camera 2-megapixel with 4× digital zoom
Video recording Video capture in MPEG-4, QCIF max. resolution 320 x 240, Video file format: H.263, H.264, AVI, MPEG-4 (stored as .mpg or .3gp files), .WMV
Audio jack 3.5 mm TRRS headphone jack on the top
Talk time 7 hours
Standby time 800 hours
Music playback time 30 hours

The Nokia C3, was a popular phone of the time. It was surpassed by the Asha 302. One of its main features was the QWERTY keyboard that gave it a sort of Blackberry look, althought he capabilities were far less than those of a Blackberry.

Overall the phone was reasonably well received in view of its cost, although it certainly was not able to provide the performance of many other phones of the time.

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