The Good and Bad side of C168. Review on Motorola C168

Gone are the days when NOKIA used to monopolise Indian markets. People have now stopped being conservative and have started buying one or the other of those intriguing models available with other mobile phone manufacturers like MOTOROLA, SONY ERICSSON, LG and the like.

C168 is one of those models that has contributed a lot  towards breaking the convention of blindly opting for a NOKIA. I lost my lovely 1100 when I went to Bangalore and I couldnt do without a mobile phone for long. I just walked into the mobile shop and wanted to buy a mobile within 3K. I have always liked MOTOs as usually they have a repute for being "value for money" products. This mobile C168 struck my eyes when the shopkeeper displayed all mobiles within that 3K range.

I bought it with not much scrutiny as I was dumbstruck with the features for that price of Rs.2800.( ps. I bought this phone as soon as it was released - b4 this phone became popular in the market) It looked richer than what price I paid for it. I flaunted with this phone amongst my friends as it was a real Value for money phone and it was unique at that time as not many would have had this in hands. I bought it soon after its release. **The stereo FM, loud ringtones, fresh looks all seemed to be great for me and people around.

But I would like to add here that this C168 is just like a girlfriend. So exciting, flashy and beautiful only for the first few days/weeks. Subsequently, this phone too becomes a nine days wonder and below are my observations on this phone which might  give you an Idea about this.

Good things about this phone :

1. The first remarkable feature of this phone is its Stereo FM. You can store upto 10 frequency channels and switch between different channels with a single keystroke

   
   




2. The display is of decent quality and the fonts are big and neat. One good thing to note here is the display is **quite clear even in direct sunlight.

   
   

3. Another good thing about  this mobile is its **loud ringtones; in fact annoyingly loud at times. You can easily here it even when its in your pocket or is placed in another room.

1. The vibrator is really strong and there is an earthquake in your pocket every time the mobile vibrates to an incoming call.

   
   




2. The keypads are quite ok and it is really easy to operate with the keys no matter you have stout fingers or naily ones. It could do with both equally well.

   
   




3. You could store upto 250 SMS and it is really good for an entry level phone. It really is a good storage device. Quite handy for people who dont want to delete some 'special' messages.

   
   




4. There is an in call timer which displays time as you are on a call which could probably intimate some people that they have been talking continuously over the phone with their girl friend for 3 days, 16 hrs, 23 mins....!!!

   
   




5. And there is also a minute minder which beeps at every x mins and 50 secs so you can tell your sincere friend on the other side bye bye bye bye and cut the call abruptly.

   
   




6. The looks are also really new and good for an entry level phone of that price. It also comes packed with lot of features like polyphonic tones, GPRS, Stereo FM with hands free. Quite good.

   
   

The above 9 points would dominate the session in the Nine days wonder.

*Subsequently.. the bad things that you may observe..

1. The most bugging thing about this mobile is the lagging response when you type your sms. This was quite disgusting for me as I had to put up with a tortoise after having been with a rabbit like 1100.

2.  The hands free that is provided along with this mobileis a curse rather than a compliment. It looks cheap and performs cheaper. In mine it broke down within three months of occasional usage.

1. The finer menu options are a maze and you have to excavate features from  this mobile phone. It sure has some good features but then you will lose most of the time searching for them. It does take some time to get used to it.

   
   




2. You cannot listen to the FM without the hands free ( which would surely break down sooner or later as already mentioned ). There is no speaker phone facility. And you cannot change the channel with your handsfree; it becomes quite laborious as you have to take it out of your pocket every time you wanto tune into a different station.

   
   




3. There is nothing called customizable Profiles in this phone as in Nokia. There are preset options viz Silent, Vibe, Vibe and ring, Loud, Soft and you know what they mean;

   
   




4. It is very difficult to insert and remove SIM without some damage to the poor SIM card. If you do it quite often, you may have to visit your nearest (HUTCH shop for example) for a replacement SIM.

   
   




5. The mobile phone hangs up at times especially when you choose send to many option. Sometimes it simply refuses to perform any operation and you have to shut it off and restart and the booting time is more than primitive 486 processors in old computers. **The lag time between phone on time and operations on time is really long enough to have a cup of coffee in between.

   
   

1. There is no Assign tones Option in this phone and you may have to assign tones to different profiles. And assigning a contact to a profile is quite an art by itself. Do it and you will know what I mean.

   
   




2. GPRS is just bundled with this package to show value for money and it is just a gimmick. The quality of GPRS is not so appreciable. As this phone has a load of features so it has a load of bugs. I think this would have been taken care in subsequent versions.

   
   

Other Observations :

The battery seems to be quite Ok and it takes solid 2 hrs to get charged completely.

Radio seems to drain the battery quite fast.

The reception and sound quality are all quite ok and there are no regrets.

Buying a panel for this mobile isn't quite easy and would cost you about Rs. 150 or more.

You can receive tones from Nokia phones and store as many as you want in your mobile subject to availability of space but can actively use only 5 tones.

*Conclusion :

Now that you know the good and bad things about this mobile to an extent, I guess this would help you decide whether you can go for this mobile or not.

ps. Nokia 6630's price is slashed now and it would be worth considering it also when you are think of buying this phone; another phone worth giving a thought is **NOKIA 2626.

Cheers!!!

Barani