Earlier this year and many had seen it as a slightly underpowered version of the N8. While it sports the same 3.5 inch AMOLED touchscreen that was seen on the N8 and has the same processor, operating system, interface, and USB on the go feature, it also has an 8MP camera with no autofocus or xenon flash, only 8GB onboard memory and lacks the HDMI port seen on the N8. To top it all, it cost a lot lesser too – Rs 19,500 against Rs 26,000 – hence the “underpowered N8” label.
And an unkind label it is too, because on its own, the C7 is a formidable device. It might not match the N8 in specs, but in terms of appearance, definitely looks a whole lot sleeker with rounded smooth edges.
The screen is bright and although at 640 x 360, it is of a lower resolution than those seen on high end Android handsets and the iPhone 4, it is quite brilliant at handling video. Unlike the N8, there are three real buttons beneath the display – for menu, call receive & call end.
Symbian ^3, which while not being in the league of iOS and Android, is still the most-touch-friendly thing we have seen on a Nokia handset. There are three customisable homescreens to which you can add shortcuts and widgets.
In terms of apps, there is Nokia’s Ovi Mail service for push mail lovers, access to social networks through Ovi’s Social service, and the highly underrated but very useful Ovi Maps.
All of them work very well indeed, and in best Nokia tradition, multi-tasking is a cinch – you can surf the Net, keep push mail and your social networks running, listen to a song (sound quality – whether calling or listening to music – is excellent), and even play a game at the same time without any sign of the phone slowing down.
Top that off with a battery life that comfortably lasted a day and a half of push mail, calling and Internet browsing; and the C7 seems destined for greatness.
However, Symbian ^3 is not in the iOS or Android class yet. The absence of autofocus on the 8.0-megapixel camera is puzzling, and stops the C7 from being a cameraphone in the truest sense, even though it does HD video reasonably (but not exceptionally) well.
The USB on the go option is excellent but there is no adaptor to connect the phone to a USB device in the box – we used the adaptor we got with the N8. Where the C7 does score, and score heavily, is in terms of value for money.
We cannot see any other smartphone with its specs and performance coming for less than Rs 20,000. It is also less burdened by expectation than the N8, which made us forgive its oddities. Those looking for a good-looking, high-end multimedia phone will be attracted to it, with good reason. The C7 may not be a great phone, but it certainly is a very good one.