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,.