TechGazing

After seemingly having stood and stared while the likes of the Samsung Star and Corby and the LG Cookie series grabbed the lower mid-segment share of the Indian cellphone market, Nokia now finally seems to be hitting back with some terrific devices in the high volume sub-Rs 10k segment. We were very impressed with the 5233 and now we have the C5, which packs in a whole stack of features at a price that seems way too good to be true.

If that sounds like an exaggeration, just check out these specs - it runs the Symbian Series 60 (3rd edition, feature pack 2) operating system that is seen in the latest E series devices, has GPS with free Ovi Maps and turn-by-turn navigation, free push mail, a 3.2 MP camera, a lovely 2.2 inch display with 16.7 million colours (hint: that IS bright) and support for a number of social networking applications. All of this in a very sleek package that seems reminiscent of the pretty-as-a-picture 6300, although with much better battery life. In fact, the only thing we could not find on the device was Wi-Fi connectivity, but that is just us complaining.

The best part, of course, is the price - the C5 comes for a measly Rs 7,999, which honestly is a staggering value for money proposition in our books. No, we have not used the handset as yet, but just seeing the specs and build have given us the feeling that Nokia has gone back to basics with a vengeance and thrown in some decent design too.