Nokia Astound / C7-00
Phone Scoop Review
Mar 29, 2011 by Eric M. Zeman
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? read review ›
User Reviews
One of the better smartphones around
Its got great build quality as you expect from Nokia. Ovi maps which is good. Call quality is clear. Also has good apps like 3DPhotoFree for taking 3D photos with the 8 Mpixel cam.
The screen is a fingerprint magnet, but I guess that can't be avoided.
Overall a good buy at the price point.
AWESOME hardware, but SW can be touchy sometimes
Picked this phone up a week ago - been looking forward to a "smart" phone that's NOT a $500 iphone or droid/htc/motorola/etc monster.
The hardware: Absolutely awesome, one of the best phones I have ever had the pleasure to hold. Feels comfortable in the hand, and is "just right" size wise. It's not a near-tablet like many current android phones, yet it's SOLID. The metal case has a nice look and feel. The "Gorilla glass" is a huge bonus, I expect my screen to be in great shape for a long time. The camera is phenomenal and takes excellent photos and video, far better than any other phone I've seen.
Software: pros:
Microsoft exchange support works perfectly, which is no small feat. Far too many other phones wrestle with this. Also syncs up with gmail easily. OS responsiveness is quite snappy.
Software: cons:
The software on the other hand is a BIT buggy. I've had the phone lock up a few times, and I have also had the camera crash (doesn't work until I reboot the phone). "Voice tags" that are supposed to be automatically generated for every contact doesn't always work- some of my contacts do not have a "voice tag" and there's no manual way to create one. I am still fiddling with this.
Misc:
UMA calling works well (T-Mobile) which is cool. I also successfully paired this phone with my mac laptop for tethering via bluetooth- very easy and works great. This phone is SUPPOSED to do hotspot sharing too, but the only app that's out there for this (Joiku) is blocked from working. WTF? Symbian^3 home-screen customization is a bit limited.
Gripe:
My biggest gripe about this phone is the Wifi. Despite how it's set, the wifi seems to have a mind of its own, and keeps disconnecting for no reason, and sometimes makes connections for no reason too. I hope to heck this gets fixed, that would turn this review into a 4.5 or 5.
Advice:
Turn home-screen widgets to "offline" mode to conserve battery. Otherwise phone checks in ALL THE TIME.
