The Nokia C22 is a budget-centric smartphone launched in the market. It boasts excellent build quality and a long-lasting battery, making it ideal for those always on the go. With an affordable price tag, the Nokia C22 targets those seeking a budget smartphone to meet their daily needs. In this review, we will look closer at the features and performance of the Nokia C22 and see how it stacks up against the competition.
Nokia C22 Review
The Nokia C22 starts at Rs 7,999 for the 2GB RAM + 64GB storage option, and the 4GB RAM + 64GB storage variant comes for Rs. 8,499. There are three color options to choose from, i.e., Charcoal, Purple, and Sand.
Nokia C22: Unboxing
Before diving into the Nokie C22 review, let’s look at the box contents of the Nokia C22. The package is pretty basic, with the Nokia branding and the phone’s front and back printed on the box, consisting of the following:
- Nokia C22 smartphone
- Clear Silicon Case
- Type-C USB cable
- 10 Watt Charging Adapter
- Quick Start guide
Nokia C22: Design and Build Quality
The Nokia C22 looks sleek and modern with a plastic unibody design. The device has a 6.5-inch HD+ display with a waterdrop notch that houses the front-facing camera. The back of the phone has a protruding camera module that houses the dual-camera setup and an LED flash. The fingerprint sensor is also located on the back of the device, making it easy to unlock the phone with one hand.
The Nokia C22 comes in Sand, Purple, and Charcoal colors. All three colors look great, and it’s a matter of preference which one you choose. The back of the phone has a textured design that looks great and adds to the grip. The sides of the phones are smooth and hold all the needed ports and buttons.
Ports and Connectivity
The right side of the Nokia C22 has a volume rocker and power button, painted in a different color than the phone’s body. This adds a nice touch to the design and makes it easier to locate the buttons. These buttons are clicky, making it easy to adjust the volume or turn the phone on and off.
A loudspeaker, a primary microphone, and a USB Type C port for charging are at the bottom. The SIM card tray slot is on the left side and can simultaneously hold two SIM cards and a micro SD card. A headphone jack is provided on the top side of the smartphone to connect wired headphones.
The Nokia C22 is IP52 certified, protecting it against dust and water splashes. This ensures the phone can withstand minor accidents and spills without damaging the internal components. The Nokia C22 is a durable and reliable smartphone that can handle everyday use without issues. It weighs only 190 grams and is about 8.5 mm thick, making it comfortable to hold and use.
Nokia C22: Display
Nokia C22 has a 6.5-inch HD+ LCD display with a dew drop notch design. Even though this notch makes the phone look outdated, it is good enough for old and young family members. This display is protected by toughened cover glass, adding to the smartphone’s durability.
The display on the Nokia C22 is bright enough for indoor and outdoor operations. The content stays visible in all lighting conditions and has an ultra-brightness mode. This ultra-brightness mode is enabled automatically when you use the phone in direct sunlight, increasing the brightness beyond the maximum level.
A couple of features are available in the display settings to make it more appealing to the eyes. You get Bold text and High-contrast text settings. This will make the smartphone display better for elderly people. Apart from that, it comes with Night light and white balance settings as well.
Since the phone has Widewine L3 certification, you can stream content from popular streaming services like Netflix and Prime Video. Overall, the Nokia C22 display is good enough for everyone in the family.
Nokia C22: Performance
The Nokia C22 is equipped with a Unisoc SC9863A octa-core processor with a 1.6GHz clock speed. It is paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The device runs on Android 13 (Go Edition) right out of the box, optimized for low-end hardware.
We played games like BGMI and Real Racing 2, which ran smoothly on low graphic settings. The AnTuTu benchmark awarded the Nokia C22 a total score of 145,961. This is a decent score for an entry-level smartphone and what we expected from the Nokia C22.
Nokia also added a RAM extension feature that uses the storage to increase the RAM to 6GB virtually. This will make the smartphone responsive and capable of multitasking more apps than usual. The storage is 64GB, which is enough for day-to-day usage. It can be extended to up to 256 GB using a microSD card.
Overall, the performance of the Nokia C22 is decent for day-to-day tasks like browsing the web, using social media apps, and watching videos. However, the device struggles with heavy multitasking and gaming.
Nokia C22: Loudspeaker and Microphone
Nokia C22 comes with a single microphone and loudspeaker. Both are placed at the bottom side for the best user experience. The loudspeaker creates a decent volume to enjoy all your media on this big display. The microphone is also good enough for video and audio calls, with a decent amount of noise cancellation provided. A 3.5 mm audio port is provided to attach a wired headphone for low latency, high-bitrate sound experience.
Nokia C22: Operating System
As mentioned above, this smartphone runs on Android 13 (Go Edition) out of the box. Since this is an entry-level smartphone, Nokia opted for the GO edition for better performance. Nokia C22 provides a vanilla Android experience with no theming, which looks better and runs smoother.
Nokia C22 comes with a few third-party apps preinstalled, but these apps can easily be uninstalled if you don’t want them. Besides that, the operating system has no bloatware, themes, or first-party customization. Overall, the OS runs smoother most of the time and handles multitasking easily.
Nokia C22: Camera
The Nokia C22 has a dual-camera setup on the back, consisting of a 13MP primary sensor and a 2MP depth sensor. The device’s camera performance is average, and the images captured are decent in good lighting conditions. However, the camera struggles in low-light conditions, and the images captured in low light have a lot of noise.
The camera has all the features like portrait mode in both rear and front-facing cameras. It also has a macro mode that lets you capture to capture smaller subjects, but it needs a lot of light to capture a good image. The camera can record 1080p FHD videos at 30 fps without any stabilization support.
The front-facing camera is a 5MP sensor that captures decent selfies and can be used for video calls. The selfie camera struggles to manage the exposure when taking selfies in well-lit conditions. Otherwise, the selfies are decent, and the portrait mode is good enough. Overall, the camera is one weak spot for this smartphone.
Nokia C22: Battery and Charging
The Nokia C22 has a 5,000mAh battery that can easily last for days with moderate usage. Nokia claims a 3-day battery backup from this phone, which is excellent for anyone who wants to use the Nokia C22 as a secondary phone. In my testing, I got about two days of battery backup out of this device, which is impressive.
The device supports 10W charging, which is slow for a big battery, and takes around 2.5 hours to fully charge the battery from less than 10 percent to 90+ percent. The best part is that it uses a Type C port for charging, which is still good for entry-level smartphones.
Nokia C22: Pros and Cons
After spending my time with the Nokia C22, here’s a summary of Pros and Cons to summarise my review:
Pros
- Great build
- Large display
- Solid 2 days battery life
- Stock Android 13 OS
Cons
- Mediocre camera quality
- Average performer
Nokia C22 Review: Final Verdict
The Nokia C22 is a budget smartphone with great build quality and a long-lasting battery. The device is ideal for those looking for a smartphone for day-to-day tasks like browsing the web, using social media apps, and watching videos. However, the device struggles with heavy multitasking and gaming. The Nokia C22 is a good budget smartphone offering value for money.
Check out our other reviews:
- Nokia C31 Review: Big Phone for a Small Price
- Nokia C21 Plus Review: The Budget Battery Performer
- Oneplus Bullets Wireless Z2 ANC Review: Same Device With a New Trick
- Amazon Echo Pop Review: Alexa in a Modern Avatar!
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