Nokia C32 review: Cheap as Chips

Value When Reviewed

Unavailable within the US

Nokia’s new finances telephone undoubtedly lives as much as the title, although the Scandinavian handset pioneer with the immediately recognisable ringtone does have cheaper fashions on the market. The C32 is a 6.5in handset with an IPS show, an octa-core chipset, and a 50Mp predominant digicam that appears prefer it could possibly be a bit dearer than it truly is.

Issues change whenever you change it on, nonetheless. Startup occasions might be lengthy, and the telephone itself feels sluggish. It’s typically positive, and I’m ready to forgive lots for one thing at this cut price value, however this can be a telephone for many who don’t wish to do way more than make calls and examine emails.

Design & Construct

• Feels stable
• Good fingerprint reader
• Numerous plastic

Nokia hasn’t deviated from the fundamental Android telephone plan, a black rectangle with rounded corners and a few switches on one aspect. And why ought to it? There’s little or no to say in regards to the design of the C32 as a result of it’s so generic, although I recognize the best way the fingerprint reader is constructed into the ability button – this at all times looks like a greater resolution than placing it underneath the display – and it activated each time I touched it.

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My evaluate mannequin has a inexperienced again (pink and gray are additionally accessible) with a compact gray digicam bulge, and Nokia has chosen to retain the much-missed headphone socket on the prime of the telephone.

The again is toughened glass (as is the entrance, no Gorilla glass right here) and the perimeters are plastic, which at the least means it’s rather less slippery than some fashions, and because of its development is gentle within the hand and straightforward to carry.

Display screen & Audio system

• 720p IPS show
• Shiny sufficient
• Mono speaker and headphone jack

We’ve been used to telephones with 1080p resolutions or higher for a very long time now, so the 720×1600 decision of the C32’s display appears like a step again. The equally named Realme C35 isn’t way more costly and will get you Ful HD.

It’s according to the finances nature of the gadget, though you’ll find greater resolutions if you need. You’re not going to be complaining about low-resolution icons on the house display prefer it was a first-generation iPhone, however neither are you going to get the best possible out of any 1080p video you stream.

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The IPS tech behind the show is old school too. Although it’s nonetheless widespread sufficient in desktop pc screens, IPS has been overtaken by OLED or AMOLED in the most effective telephones, which may present a brighter, extra vibrant image.

Once more, the C32’s display is usually positive – it’s solely within the brightest sunshine that you just’re going to have any issue making out what’s on the display, although I additionally discovered that it was its reflectivity somewhat than lack of brightness that gave the best bother.

There’s a single speaker grille on the backside of the telephone, and it continues the positive custom of telephone audio system by being satisfactory for telephone calls however actually not sounding nice for the rest. A pair of the most effective wi-fi headphones (or perhaps a wired pair, due to the headphone port) are a should should you intend to make use of this as a music participant.

Specs & Efficiency

• Unisoc octa-core processor
• 4/64GB reminiscence and storage
• microSD card slot
• No 5G or NFC

The octa-core chipset on the coronary heart of the C32 is the Unisoc SC9863A1 with 4GB of RAM, and a digital RAM function that lets it squeeze three extra GB bt stealing a little bit of the telephone’s 65GB storage.

The CPU consists of eight Arm Cortex A55 cores, 4 of them clocked at 1.6GHz, and 4 at 1.2GHz. The A55 is the type of core used as an ‘effectivity’ core in flagship telephones, permitting quicker, extra highly effective cores to tackle the heavy lifting. As such, whereas it’s completely able to working the Android 13 working system the telephone ships with in fundamental phrases, efficiency just isn’t precisely up there with the most effective.

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In case you’re used to a contemporary top-end telephone reminiscent of a Samsung Galaxy S23 or Google Pixel 7 launched within the final couple of years, you’ll recognize the best way they spring into motion and don’t depart you ready about. Apps on the C32 are noticeably sluggish to open. The keyboard doesn’t seem when you choose a textual content enter or search field such because the one within the Play Retailer till your thumb has been hovering over the place you anticipate it to be for a second. 

It additionally took ages to arrange the Google Photographs library, and even made me wait whereas the telephone began up. Urgent the Edit button on a picture in Photographs noticed the C32 do nothing for a second earlier than the swirling ‘busy’ circle appeared and the edit interface loaded. Really enhancing the picture appeared responsive, nonetheless, with adjustments to brightness and white level being mirrored immediately within the preview.

Efficiency in GFXbench is worse than the Samsung Galaxy S7 from 2016, and it’s unimaginable to advocate the telephone for gaming on, until you wish to play probably the most fundamental of 2D video games. 

Elsewhere, there’s a microSD card slot to enrich the interior storage, which is sweet to see and one thing I miss from telephones of the previous, although it solely helps playing cards of as much as 256GB. The FM radio can be a pleasant shock, although streaming companies have taken over from such options, which was once widespread, it provides the telephone an additional layer of performance that I recognize. A station scan with the telephone sitting on a desk by a window discovered solely two accessible programmes, nonetheless.

The shortage of a 5G wi-fi knowledge connection goes to be an issue for some potential patrons too. One factor the telephone is nice at is streaming, and having the additional velocity of 5G to iron out blips and buffering, even with a 720p stream, would have been good.

The Wi-Fi is caught on the older 802.11n, or Wi-Fi 4, which means that whereas your connectivity will most likely be okay, you gained’t be hitting the best switch speeds or connecting to 5GHz networks. There’s additionally no NFC onboard, so that you gained’t be utilizing it for funds both.

It’s secure to say the Nokia C32 is proscribed. 

Cameras

• 50Mp predominant digicam
• 8Mp entrance digicam
• 2Mp macro digicam

What the Nokia C32 lacks in connectivity, it makes up considerably within the digicam division.

The primary 50Mp digicam on the again is joined by a 2Mp macro digicam as a substitute of one thing helpful like an ultrawide lens, however the 12.5Mp information produced by the wide-angle snapper are literally fairly good.

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There’s a pleasant degree of element in its pictures, capturing the hairs on the stems of the poppy crops I examined it on, although there’s some clipping within the white petals of daisies brought on by the intense daylight. Even taking pictures straight into the solar gave a good picture. This exhibits the digicam at its greatest, however there’s worse to return. 

Nokia is pleased with its low-light capabilities, however I discovered the night time mode to be so sluggish it produced blurred photographs from both digicam or topic motion, and pictures in regular mode have been washed out in low gentle. It additionally calls it an ‘AI digicam’, going as far as to write down this on the telephone’s rear bulge, however I noticed no proof of intelligence past face recognition and auto HDR mode. 

There’s a 2x digital zoom on the rear digicam, and the power to modify between 720p and 1080p video recording. That’s the extent of the video choices, there are not any alternate framerates. 

Across the entrance you’ll discover an 8Mp selfie digicam, and the app has the neat trick of switching the in any other case darkish digicam interface to white on this mode if it detects a darkish topic, so it may possibly inject slightly bit extra gentle into the picture.

Pictures from the entrance digicam are positive for a video name, however the full-res stills it produces, regardless of being nicely detailed in good gentle, are by no means going to match the vibrancy of these from the principle unit on the again. Video from the entrance digicam is 720p solely, and it’s equally poor when the sunshine begins to fade. 

Battery Life & Charging

• All-day battery and extra
• Solely 10W charging
• No wi-fi charging

The Nokia C32 packs a 5000mAh battery, and the corporate claims a battery lifetime of three complete days. That is perhaps potential should you simply depart it on standby, however truly utilizing the telephone goes to carry it down. 

It doesn’t drop too quick, nonetheless. The CPU and GPU benchmarking assessments I ran on the telephone solely triggered the battery degree to drop by about 25%, and you will get a day and a half of life out of it should you’re utilizing it for streaming, social media, images and texting. Our battery take a look at retains the display on and simulates fixed utilization, and the telephone managed ten hours, which means it would final for much longer when used intermittently. 

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Filling it up isn’t as quick as on different telephones, because the C32 solely helps 10W wired charging which will get you a paltry 16% in half an hour. There’s no wi-fi charging functionality both, so that you’ll be wedded to connecting the USB-C port to a wall socket.

Software program & Apps

• Android 13
• Not a lot bloatware
• Efficiency is sluggish

Fortunately, because the telephone solely has 64GB of inner storage, Nokia has chosen to not overload it with bloatware apps you’ll by no means use. There’s Netflix, LinkedIn and a few others which might be simply eliminated, however in any other case the OS is left largely alone. 

This was most likely a good suggestion, as a heavyweight pores and skin excessive of Android would have slowed the telephone even additional. As it’s, the interface is simply responsive sufficient, with a couple of noticeable waits whenever you open apps, however leaving issues like opening the app drawer or mentioning the switcher working at a good velocity.

Value & Availability

The Nokia C32 is actually low cost and I’ve already seen it going for as little as £109 on some websites. That’s a pleasant chunk decrease than the £129 RRP.

You get a stunning quantity on your cash, although with solely two years of safety updates on supply, its longevity is unsure. 

On the time of writing the telephone is broadly accessible, with huge retailers reminiscent of Amazon, Argos and Very stocking it alongside the official retailer – the ability of the Nokia identify displaying itself. It’s not accessible within the US on the time of writing.

Check out our chart of the most effective finances telephones to see extra choices.

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Verdict

I can forgive numerous the Nokia C32’s shortcomings due to its value.

While you consider who this telephone is aimed toward – a primary telephone, maybe, or one for individuals who aren’t glued to their handset all day (they’re on the market) and need one which’s going to be accessible for calls, images and messaging – it begins to make numerous sense. No level shopping for an iPhone 14 Professional Max or Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely if that’s all it’s going for use for.

So whereas the C32 is perhaps sluggish, underpowered, don’t have any NFC, 5G or the newest Wi-Fi functionality, and has a low display decision, this stuff most likely don’t matter to the people who find themselves going to purchase it.

I wouldn’t be stunned if, at £129, it shifts a couple of items. In any case, it’s properly made, and fulfills many of the capabilities of a contemporary smartphone.

Specs

• OS: Android 13
• Display screen: 6.52in IPS, 720×1600 pixels
• Chipset: Unisoc SC9863A1
• RAM: 4GB
• Storage: 64GB (plus microSD)
• Connectivity: 4G, USB-C (USB 2.0), Wi-Fi 4, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS, FM radio
• Cameras: 50Mp predominant, 8Mp entrance, 2Mp macro
• Battery: 5000mAh
• Charging: 10W
• Dimensions: 164.6mm x 75.9mm x 8.55mm
• Weight: 199.4g