Prices of Nokia phones in the Philippines

Click on CMK page for the latest prices which may be subject to change without further notice. I will put up a table later based on this page.

Upgraded to the newest Ovi Store?

I opened my Store app today in my C3 and was surprised that it was asking me to replace the 3.22.0 version with version 3.30.2! I pressed Yes and I got a warning "Application Source differs from original. Continue?", I pressed Yes again and my phone was downloading store app in under a minute.

Opening the app and going to Applications took a long time, I even forgot my password. I will be back again, but it really pays off to upgrade to the latest stable version. Some people simply use Nokia to avoid the insecurities in the larger Store App market for android phones!

Dont panic when your contact lists are gone!

It happened NOT to my C3 but to my new cheap C2 dual-simmed phone. The contact lists were gone, or was emptied and were not displayed on the screen.

What happens usually is that the battery is almost totally drained. Almost since you can still access the phone screen. Remove the battery at the back, and place it back again. Then fully recharge it before use. The contact lists will be back. So don not panic, like resorting to actually removing the sim cards.

Nokia C2-00, a PhP 2,350 dual sim phone.

The Nokia C2-00 is a basic phone with the VGA camera, bluetooth communications and dual-sim capability as the major features. However the model I got has no external card slot which should be able to accomodate 32 Gbytes micro SD cards, in contrast to published information from online sites! grrr.

I got mine at the SM Annex at SM City for 2350 pesos. I thought I could use an external micro SDHC card. NOt! Anyway my purpose was to use my two SIM cards, Sun and Globe which were rendered useless by my broken glass iTouch (there goes my P4,000!) phone.

It has this nifty feature to record FM station broadcasts, which is missing in the C3! Of course this is not an overwhelming reason to buy the phone!

How to determine the IMEI number of your Nokia phone

I just bought a new C2-00 basic phone for P2350 at SM Annex at SM City, Quezon City. The guy was helpful enough to show me when asked how to get the IMEI number, handy in case you lose your phone and want to block its use by the one who found it. Not that the C2-00 is worth stealing, it is relatively cheap, but it is Nokia branded.

The numbers are also imprinted just below the battery compartment, but the numbers are too small to see.

Type *#06# on you cellphone. It should automatically display the results!
but I am wondering why I got 2 numbers, then realized that it has two SIM cards.

IMEI1
359************
IMEI2
359************


There is no relation between the IMEI numbers with your SIM cards.

IMEI stands for International Mobile Equipment Identity number and supposedly identifies your phone on the GSM, WCDMA, and iDEN mobile , as well as some satellite phone networks.

You can use it to tell your carrier to block the phone in case you lose it, rendering it useless, but criminals have learned and have the tools to change the IMEI numbers! But better save it for future use.


Further reading:

Wikipedia entry on IMEI

Excerpt:


The IMEI number is not supposed to be easy to change, making the CEIR(Central Equipment Identity Registry) blacklisting effective. However this is not always the case: a phone's IMEI may be easy to change with special tools.

[edit]Limitations
"New IMEIs can be programmed into stolen handsets and 10% of IMEIs are not unique." According to a BT Cellnet spokesman quoted by the BBC. [1]
IMEIs can sometimes be unlisted depending on local arrangements. This would typically include quoting a password which was chosen at the time the blacklisting was applied.

Basic C3 model still going strong surprisingly in the Philippines!!

I bought the original C3 at P5,700 pesos at SM Annex. Now you can get the C3 for 1000 pesos less. The greater affordibility translates to more buyers of this basic QWERTY keyboard input mobile phone from Nokia. the C3 is rather top heavy, but comnes with wifi, bluetooth connectivity. Unlike the two touchscreen phones (at 4000 pesos) each which died on me(screen cracked), the C3 has survived many times it was accidentally dropped.


Perhaps the sane mobile phone buyer in the Philippines is not impressed by the newer Android powered mobile phones?Some would rather buy an N8 with its high quality camera. The Android phones are just out of reach or are too expensive to buy at the moment.

I only wished a newer C3 upgrade should have dual SIMS.In fact I am planning to buy a basic dual sim phone to have access to more than one service provider,.

Access and display Log history records

Your C3 phone is a marvel of modern design and engineering.
Here is how to display the history of current and past activities in the C3.
It is in Menu/Contacts/Log. You now can view one of the following choices:

All calls
Missed calls-Somebody called and you ignored it.
Received calls
Dialled numbers-the numbers you last dialed, from most recent.
Message recepients
Clear log lists
Call duration
Data Counter
Packet datatimer
Message log
Positioning
Sync Log

Display name or image with number.

Here is how to display name with the number in the phone.
Goto Menu/Contacts/Settings/{Contacts view}.
Choose from [Name list, Name and Number, Name and image].

To display the name and number together, Choose Name and Number.

What's my number?

What's my number? Go to Menu/Contacts/More/{My Numbers}. The number(s) is(are) displayed.

What Calculators are available for your Nokia C3?

I am still looking for a replacement scientific calculator for my warm old Nokia C3. Perusing the Nokia Ovi Store I got the following listed softwares:

1. Life expectancy calculator
2. Tax Calculator
3. BMI Calculator Free

There is no advanced scientific calculator for my Nokia C3. Come on, it is ridiculous that I still have to lug along my TI-89 or HP-50g graphing calculator with me. :(

Lost your wifi functionality? It may be battery related.

I was wondering why my Nokia C3 indicates full charge in only a few minutes after I connected it to my charger and how fast it drained after use. It also affected my wifi connectivity.

But recently the lithium battery recovered, and is now properly charged. It now lasts longer than one day and I have my wifi connection back.

If you are impatient you can buy an extra battery to test the functionalities of your phone. I am just happy that I have the battery working properly again and the wifi functionality back to normal.

What's the service provider given the first four digits of the number?

Here is a table giving the service provider for the first four digits of the phone number. The starting 0 digit is ignored in this table which applies only to the Philippines.

Prefix Service Provider

905 Globe
906 Globe
907 Smart/TNT
908 Smart/TNT
909 Smart/TNT
910 Smart/TNT
912 Smart/TNT
915 Globe
916 Globe
917 Globe
918 Smart/TNT
919 Smart/TNT
920 Smart/TNT
921 Smart/TNT
922 Sun
923 Sun
925 Globe
926 Globe
927 Globe
928 Smart/TNT
929 Smart/TNT
930 Smart/TNT
932 Sun
933 Sun
935 Globe
936 Globe
937 Globe
938 Smart/TNT/Red
939 Smart/TNT/REd
942 Sun
943 Sun
946 Smart/TNT
947 Smart/TNT
948 Smart/TNT
949 Smart/TNT
989 Smart/TNT
996 Globe
997 Globe
999 Smart/TNT