Catching Up With The Competition: A Nokia C7 Review - Nokia has long been one of the forerunners of the mobile telecomm revolution, releasing models year after year without losing steam or quality. The recent upsurge in the smartphone market though may have finally slowed Nokia's progress somewhat, as discriminating (and tech-crazy) people's gadget demands have shifted from reliable mobile cellular devices to convergence devices. The Nokia C7 may just be one of Nokia's champions in the smartphone market, but will it be enough to help Nokia push themselves back into the race? Many Nokia C7 reviews seem to be lukewarm with their reception of the C7, but it always pays to judge for yourself.
The Nokia C7 is a touchscreen smartphone running the Symbian OS 3. It is encased in a beautifully attractive shiny steel case that has a real sturdy feel to it. The battery life is as long as what the package says (9 hours), making the C7 the ideal phone for when you need to make long calls while you travel.
The touchscreen is capacitive rather than resistive which some Nokia phones seem to be-a wise move as smartphone platforms run especially well with capacitive screens. Resistive screens rely on pressure, and would almost always require you apply undue pressure or use a stylus. Making and receiving calls is always a pleasure, and a second mic to help cut off ambient noise when you make and receive calls.
Turning the phone on its back will reveal the elegant back panel as well as the 8 megapixel camera. Quality of the camera shots are quite good and many Nokia C7 reviews unanimously agree that, should there be no decent digital camera around, the C7 would be the next best thing-possibly even better!
Music and video files can be dragged and dropped with ease and speed thanks to the C7's computer interface via its USB connector. A microSD slot gives it the capacity to carry files and media up to 32 gigs, which is plenty much for most people.
The on-screen keyboard is where the C7 might have faltered a bit. Portrait mode only gives you the standard 12 key alphanumeric configuration. And while its good that even the fattest fingers will have a breeze zipping through the numbers and letters, a Qwerty option would have also been great.
As previously been mentioned, the Nokia C7 uses the Symbian OS-something of a hit and miss for most people. The main advantage being is that people not used to having smarphones will find the Symbian easy and familiar to use. However, the more discriminating techie will note that the Symbian seems to lag behind its platform counterparts: Android, iOS and even WebOS. Nokia's OVI store is also being compared to a lot against the Android Market and Apple App Store, as currently OVI does not have the immense library of apps that Android and iOS have. It's goo though that a lot of the apps that are available are free, but most people wouldn't mind coughing up a few dollars for a truly good app.
Nokia C7 reviews tend to be camps of "good ol' phone functions" vs "up to date tech" and sadly, Nokia's reliance on the Symbian platform seems more of a hindrance now than a boon. Developments are on the way though since Nokia have partnered with tech giant Microsoft, and time can only tell if the partnership works out for the best for Nokia's mobile devices.