Nokia C32: Reliable Budget Smartphone for Everyday Use Under BDT 14,000

Over the last decade, Nokia has struggled to get a grip on the smartphone market. After the failure of its first few attempts, the world-renowned smartphone brand is now advancing with caution. So, its recent releases appear more balanced and thoughtful than before. The Nokia C32 was officially released in Bangladesh on 6th April 2024. Through and through a budget-friendly phone, the Nokia C32 aims to reinstall people’s trust in the brand.

Key Specs and Features of the Nokia C32

Being an entry-level phone, the Nokia C32 hardly promises to offer high-end features. However, due to its well-earned recognition for manufacturing sturdy and durable phones, Nokia is once more demonstrating its quality with its latest release. In that context, let’s find out the depth of its endeavor.

Design

The Nokia C32 confines itself within a 164.6 mm by 75.9 mm by 8.6 mm frame, having a total weight of 199.4 g.

Plastic-built, the main body frame has glass covers on the rear and front.  Against awry light, the back covering glass reflects an intangible texture, gleaming a premium look. The glass is hardy and protective against small accidental falls from hands. It can magnet dust. The back of the phone has a camera module in the upper left corner with a double lens holding capacity.

On the front, the phone lays scratch-protective glass, shielding the display and secondary lens, which sits in a water drop hole on the middle top of the display. The bezel and chin have been kept slim, without compromising the overall look.

A side-mounted power button combined with a fingerprint sensor protrudes on the right frame. Over it are the volume rockers, keeping perfect alignment with the power button. A 3.5mm headphone jack, a Type-C charging port, and a speaker are placed around the frame. The only lack users will have to accept is a noise-cancellation system.

Display

A 6.52-inch IPS LCD screen that maintains a 20:9 aspect ratio comes as the display of the Nokia C32. With a resolution of 720 by 1600, the display fails to surface crisp videos. From some angles, the graphics revealed on the display seem a tad washed out, perhaps due to its capacity of low pixel density.

The display struggles to project explicit images on the display outdoors. Even maximizing brightness does little help in glaring daylight. The touch response of the screen often degrades, however, that doesn’t cut any hole in the overall experience. A bit higher refresh rate would be more practical and welcoming.

Cameras

Two rear cameras, one with a 50MP wide lens and another with a 2MP macro lens, don’t fall short in quality, in contrast with the other phones around a similar price range. For features, Nokia has included HDR, Portrait, and Night Mode which demand not to be expected high performance. The night mode can’t save images, captured in low light, from having a little sprinkled noise.

Its 8 MP lens on the front snaps good-quality selfies. Like the main shooter, it also stumbles while capturing low-light images.

The primary camera can record videos at 30fps in 1080p resolution. Conversely, the front camera records at a lower frame-per-second rate in 720p resolution.

Performance

The Nokia C32 boasts a Unisoc SC9863A1 processor based on 22nm architecture. An IMG8322 GPU is incorporated to tackle graphical stress. 

The phone can be divided into several variants depending on the storage and RAM capacity - 64GB storage by 3GB RAM, 64GB storage by 4GB RAM, 128GB storage by 4GB RAM, and 128GB storage by 6GB RAM. It is supported by eMMC 5.1. However, the eMMC data transfer technology is outdated.

The processor and GPU used in the Nokia C32 are common in entry-level phones. However, a 22nm chipset is somewhat archaic compared to the competitors. High-end gaming will hardly be possible with the Nokia C32. Games that require low spec will run smoothly. The phone is designed only to support regular multitasking, scrolling over the internet, and basic app maneuvering smoothly.

The phone runs on stock Android 13 OS, keeping the user interface bloatware-free. It will provide a 2-year updating support for Android, which is praise-worthy for a low-budget phone.

Battery and Charger

The battery of the Nokia C32 is quite strong with a capacity of 5000 mAh. It will provide day-long support even for heavy use. Keeping the average usage rate, the phone will run for 3 days, as claimed by Nokia. The battery will support up to 10W menacingly low charging. At this rate, the battery will take a few hours to go from empty to fully charged.

Pros and Cons of the Nokia C32

Pros

- Sturdy and durable build 
- Premium look with glass covers on both front and rear
- Side-mounted fingerprint sensor
- Slim bezels and chin
- HDR, Portrait, and Night Mode features
- Good-quality selfies 
- Long-lasting battery life
- Multiple storage and RAM variants to choose from
- Smooth performance for regular multitasking.

Cons

- The display lacks crispness and struggles outdoors
- The touch response of the screen may degrade at times
- Low pixel density affects graphics quality
- Limited video recording capabilities, especially for the front camera
- Outdated processor, GPU architecture, and data transfer technology
- Inadequate for high-end gaming
- Slow charging speed at 10W

- Not compatible with 5G network  

Price of Nokia 32 in Bangladesh

The Nokia C32 phone is officially available at BDT 13,499.

Conclusion

As a budget-friendly phone, the Nokia C32 offers good features like a 50 MP primary camera, 5000 mAh battery, glass cover on the rear, etc. It also has weaknesses in terms of performance and charging. The itel P55+ offers a better processor with UFS 2.2 data transfer technology at similar price ranges.  

Considering overall features, heavy users and gamers shouldn’t opt for this device. But considering its price range the limitations are acceptable. Nokia C32 will best suit people seeking a device with browsing and essential tasking capacity.