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Review: Nokia C7 Astound

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Is It Your Type? Body The Three S's Touch

Mar 29, 2011, 3:17 PM by Eric M. Zeman
updated Apr 12, 2011, 10:03 PM

T-Mobile lands its first official Symbian^3 handset in the Nokia C7 Astound. Phone Scoop gives it the full review treatment. Can Nokia hold its own against the onslaught of Android and other smartphones with this touch device?

The Nokia Astound (a.k.a., the C7-00) is the first Symbian^3 device to be officially supported and distributed by a major U.S. network operator. The Astound is another beautiful piece of hardware from Nokia, but Symbian^3 remains problematic as an operating system. Unless you're a die-hard Nokia fan, the Astound is astoundingly frustrating.

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About the author, Eric M. Zeman:

Eric has been covering the mobile telecommunications industry for 17 years at various print and online publications. He studied at Rutgers Newark and University of Kentucky, and has a degree in writing. He likes playing guitar, attending concerts, listening to music, and driving sports cars.

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The Astound is a C7-00, make no mistake about it. It even says C7 on the front.

Nokia Brings C7 To T-Mobile As Astound

Mar 21, 2011
Nokia today announced the Astound for T-Mobile, a new name for the C7-00. The phone is largely identical to the C7-00 for the rest of the world, and will even say C7 on the phone itself, but will come with a slightly updated version of Symbian^3 that's faster, and has some pre-loaded software including Slacker radio and Swype predictive text entry, which works in both portrait and landscape modes.

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Nokia's Sleeping Screen Is an Informative Wallpaper

Apr 7, 2011
Nokia Beta Labs has released a new bit of software for Symbian^3 devices that transforms the display into an entertaining yet informative landscape. With the software enabled, users can see missed calls, unread text messages, and calendar notifications.

Nokia Astound / C7-00

3.5" display 360 x 640 pixels
ARM 11 processor
1,200 mAh battery
Memory Card Slot, Headphone Jack (3.5mm), NFC

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Comments

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futuresealsniper

Mar 29, 2011, 4:22 PM

Somewhat of a fair review

Honestly, I'm more impressed with this review than your usual reviews of Symbian products (which tend to be harsher.)
I don't see how you say the homescreen is chaotic with different size widgets when that is what defines Android. Symbian had 6 same-size widgets at first and were castrated first, and then switch to different sizes for different apps and somehow it's bad?
That said, I urge you to find a decent Android phone for $70 either. Most are close to the same specs as offered by this without the power efficiency of Symbian. This phone may freeze (and that is terrible and should be mentioned) but lower end Android phones have their own problems as well.

Overall though, not a bad review.

ReschDMD

To be totally honest, I am sort of found of the chaotic, different sized widgets..there is something about the asymmetry that catches my eye.
I dislike how iOS is just a bunch of tiles and really hate how webOS and BlackBerry waste so much screen spa...
(continues)

...

kingstu

Mar 29, 2011, 9:46 PM

Biased Review

It seems that a super-functional phone at a low price is still not getting a fair shake from the reviewers. The Nexus S review has a large section dedicated to the inactive NFC but the Astound also has NFC and it is not mentioned. The Bluetooth 3.0 feature isn't mentioned and neither is the FM transmitter or the USB OTG. It also has WIFI calling.

The complaint about the microSD under the battery isn't really as much of an issue because it also has flash storage as well as the OTG.

The misnomer about AT&T roaming is not correct. The device doesn't roam on AT&T networks because there is no roaming agreement between T-Mobile and AT&T. If there were or when AT&T merge and makes it's 3G towers available, it will be able to roam on them wit...
(continues)

Rich Brome

I certainly disagree that it's biased. Even though we try to write very in-depth reviews, we can't possibly cover every last feature, especially ones that very few people use. (Have you actually used USB-OTG?)

I will address NFC, specifically, thou...
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muchdrama

Mar 29, 2011, 5:57 PM

Android is more accessible--

--yeah, yeah...we all understand that. But Symbian is an extremely solid OS. And at $70, I could live with it for a couple of years.

ReschDMD

I was really impressed by Symbian and after not touching a Nokia since 2004 I was really used to Symbian after a day or so.
Maybe it is just how my brain works, but I found it very intuitive.
I would definitely give it another shot when it gets the...
(continues)

ReschDMD

Mar 29, 2011, 5:37 PM

Sounds familiar

While I realize that the Astound is also running Symbian^3 and Mr Zeman reviewed both the N8 and the Astound, I really get the impression that he cut and pasted a lot of the N8s review into this one.
Sure they deserve similar write-ups but come on- rephrase things a little bit more:

The only way I was able to sync my vast contact database with the N8 was to set up an Ovi account and use Nokia's account sync tools. They are clumsy, and not as simple as those offered by others.

The only way I was able to sync my vast contact database with the Astound was to set up an Ovi account and use Nokia's account sync tools. They are clumsy, and not as simple as those offered by others.

For the record Mail for Exchange will sync with Google c...
(continues)

h_aguilar84

Mar 29, 2011, 3:45 PM

Pentaband 3G?

The Astound is a penta-band 3G phone, but since it is locked to T-Mobile's network, it can't roam onto AT&T's 850/1900MHz 3G network.

Does this mean that if you unlock the phone and insert an AT&T SIM card, you can use their 3G network?

futuresealsniper

Yes. Unlock and ATT 3G will work.

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