The Nokia C10 is here as part of HMD’s new brand positioning that comes with great promises to users. The promises that the company have made are around durability, long battery life and security of handsets. Quite a set of features to cement reassurance of Nokia as the go to smartphones which come in a range of models to meet different price points.
The C10 is entry level. It has a friendly price of Ksh8,900/- and even though it is not feature packed, it is a quality, durable, and secure phone for someone with a low budget and who may not necessarily need high specs.
Design
The phone has a minimalistic design, with operating buttons and ports well positioned as to not get in the way of simplicity. The back of the phone for example has only the camera at the top, subtle branding in the middle, and the speaker. The right side carries the power button and one more button to combine volume up and volume down. At the bottom of the phone you find the charging port and a barely noticeable mic. Since the phone has a removable battery, there is no SIM tray, SIM ejector tool or MicroSD tray. You simply open the back cover and find two SIM slots on the right and a MicroSD slot on the left.
Battery
The phone has a 3000mAh removable battery that I’ve used for over a week and still not drained. To be clear though, I’m not using this as my primary phone so battery life will depend on use. You are guaranteed a minimum of 3 days though.
Camera
This phone has a 5MP front and 5MP back camera. The photos are fairly clear and where they may fall short, it is important to consider that this is an entry level phone and it would be unfair to expect too much from the pricing.
Storage
The Nokia C10 has 16GM internal memory and 1GB RAM. As mentioned earlier, it is an entry level phone and is not one to be jammed with too many memory hogging files. A simple trick I use so as not to not have unnecessary files is to clear out the unnecessary ones every evening.
The phone which is on 3G network operates on Android 11 Go Edition.
What I love about it
It has a custom made and pre-fitted screen protector, and additionally, a free silicone back cover in the box. It is also a lightweight phone weighing 191g, so it is this much easier to carry around. I also love the fact that it has a matte back finish which is not a fingerprint magnet.
For the longest time I’ve complained about Nokia’s earplugs in entry level phones. In the past they were too big and hard plastic, so that just half an hour of use you would start feeling ear fatigue. Not anymore. This phone and even the c20 which I reviewed earlier have nice ergonomic earplugs.
Conclusion
For Kshs 8,900/- for a phone that comes with an assurance of quality, durability and security, this is a good phone if one can work with 3G.
