C5212 DUOS is one of the cheapest dual SIM devices. Considering the low price, the phone does not shine with functionality. But for people who want to save money and have access to two operators at the same time, this is not so important. Bluetooth and memory card support are enough.
The device is designed in a simple style with a lot of straight lines. And the chrome-plated body parts give it a certain elegance and high cost.
Equipment
The complete set corresponds to the price. To be honest, I was even surprised to have a headset. In the box with the phone you will find the actual C5212 phone, its battery, charger, wired headset and instructions.
Appearance of the device
The C5212 is made entirely of plastic. It is difficult to say that it is glossy, and you cannot call it matte either. In general, this is something in between. The material is slippery to the touch and perfectly picks up scratches. So I recommend buying a case right away, so as not to spoil the look of the phone. Speaking of appearance. The design of the device is more than stylish. There are no cheap design elements here. Everything is strict and solid. It can be seen from the photographs. True, if you hold it in your hands, then it looks even better.
I can't say anything bad about the assembly. The phone does not creak when pressing the buttons on the keypad, and the back cover has no backlash. And nothing else is needed.
The weight of the device is small - less than one hundred grams. The dimensions are the same - 49x113x14mm. So the phone can be carried in any pocket of any clothing.
The disadvantage is the lack of a large selection of body colors. There is only black and red. But it seems to me that the phone is unlikely to look as good in another color as in classic black.
- Screen
Like all budget phones, the C5212 has a small 2.2-inch screen with a modest 176x220 pixel resolution. Such a small number of dots makes them visible on the screen. But it can display "as much" 262 thousand colors. And the brightness is quite bearable: you can read text messages in the sun without much effort. The screen accommodates three and nine service and text lines, respectively.
What I didn’t like about the display was that it was level with the body, not sunk into the depths. Therefore, scratches appear on it as quickly as on the back wall. Buy a cover!
- Keyboard
The keyboard is plastic and has a bright white backlight. The buttons are medium in size, there is a small gap between the adjacent keys. At the expense of ergonomics, I can say that it is average lousy. Taking into account the short travel of the buttons and their small size, it will not be very convenient for people with thumbs to use it.
Function keys have the same problem. They are altogether small, and even located close to each other. Plus, the joystick has no backlight. Thank God, it is slightly raised above the rest of the buttons, and it is not a problem to find it by touch.
- Connectors, other controls
The volume rocker is located on the left side of the phone. There is also a connector for connecting a headset to the device, charging and a computer. A seemingly flimsy plastic plug covers the connector.
On the right side there are two buttons - release the camera shutter and switch between SIM cards.
You can attach a strap to the C5212. For this, there is a special hole at the bottom end.
There is no phone on / off button. It is replaced by the end call key.
On the back surface there is a camera peephole and a mirror for creating self-portraits.
The "insides" of the phone
- Memory
There is not a lot of "native" memory in the device - only 49MB. But there is a slot for microSD cards without hot swapping. It is located under the battery, near the SIM cards. Supported volumes up to a maximum of 2 GB. Modestly, of course, but enough for music in the player.
- Camera
A budget phone - a budget 1.3 MP camera. Naturally without autofocus and flash. And naturally, the quality of the images is below average when compared with what modern phones can do.
The C5212 offers the user a wide range of shooting modes and settings. Six resolution options for photos: from 220x165 to 1280x1024; four white balance options: auto, sunny, cloudy, incandescent and fluorescent; as many as eight graphic effects. You can also choose a shooting mode and compression quality. I advise you to choose the highest compression for the best shooting results. There is also a night shooting function and a digital eight-fold zoom.
Video shooting is available. Maximum 15 fps and three resolution options to choose from: 128x96, 176x144 and 160x120. The quality of the videos captured is mediocre. What did you expect?
- Communication means GSM, work with two SIM cards.
The C5212 works on GSM900 and GSM 1800 networks with GPRS and EDGE support.
There are two SIM card slots under the battery. Slots are numbered. This is done only so that during the initial settings it was possible to figure out where which card is.
So. We turn on the phone and the SIM-manager appears on the screen. In it, we must assign a name to each card. Moreover, the name is not limited to five characters as before. Also in the manager, icons for maps are selected and a default map is assigned.
The ability to turn off a choice of one of the cards allows you to save battery power. A useful option in some cases.
In general, the module for two cards is well implemented. When you talk or connect to the Network on one of the cards, the second remains available. The phone is capable of holding up to four calls at the same time. Now you can not be afraid to miss an important call.
USB Bluetooth2.0
Supports EDR and a lot of different profiles. Connecting a Bluetooth headset does not cause any problems.
Interface
The phone is budgetary and you shouldn't expect any features in the software part from it. The interface and implementation of most of its functions is not much different from what you can find in Samsung phones of the same price category.
The main menu consists of twelve icons arranged in a 3x4 matrix form. Each submenu is organized in a horizontal list. During navigation, the selected item is highlighted and at the same time the font size is increased in it. The menu has a memory for the last used sub-item.
There is the ability to create your own menu for quick access to applications. Or, you can assign up to three applications to the joystick keys (excluding applications you downloaded).
To change the exterior of the interface, you can choose one of the available color schemes. In the C5212, these can be referred to as "skins". You can also enable one of the two cute visual effects available. Although they are not many, they brighten up the meager graphics in the menu of the device.
- Phone book
The phone book of the device is designed for 1000 subscribers and is opened either through the menu or by pressing the right soft key. It is displayed in the form of a familiar list, automatically sorted by language. For all languages in the book, you can choose to sort by either first name or last name. Initially, the list includes entries from the memory card and phone memory, but you can select the type of memory manually.
For each subscriber in the book, you can write down: first and last name (maximum twenty characters for each field, when displayed in the list, the fields are combined); five phone numbers (one is chosen by the main one), birthday (the entry is automatically added to the calendar), address of residence and e-mail, text note, etc. It is possible to assign a photo / video and a melody to the subscriber for an incoming call and message. It is available to create an unlimited number of groups of up to 20 subscribers and assign them a picture and a sound file as a ringtone and SMS.
The speed dial list is designed for eight numbers, in which you can enter different phone numbers for the same subscriber.
- Call log
90 entries for all and 30 for each possible type of call. Each entry has attributes: time, date, call duration and the name of the SIM card used.
If you are tired of someone with your calls, you can add his number to the "black list". Calls from this list will not be accepted.
- Messages
The C5212 has enough memory for 200 messages. If you want to save any message, you can move it to your folder on the memory card. The phone number to be sent is selected from the phone book, from any existing group of subscribers or from the last numbers to which sms were sent. EMS messages are supported.
For text messages and letters, you can create your own "black list". You can also reject a mail message based on the subject.
There are limitations and settings for MMS. Outgoing - no more than 295 KB, The size for incoming messages is not limited. The type of reception for roaming and the network of the home country is configured, you can turn off the reception of advertisements.
Email client without bells and whistles. It doesn't even have html support. But it supports up to five accounts and one hundred saved messages for each. Outgoing message limit - 300 Kb.
Like many phones from Samsung, this device has such a function as sending an emergency message to the five numbers you specified. There is not much sense in it, since your friends, having received this message, still do not know where you are. If it was possible to change the text of the message itself, then this "mailing list" would immediately make sense.
- Organizer You can record up to 1000 different events with different options in the calendar. Also in the organizer you will find a calculator, stopwatch, converter, notes. - Apps and games The device has a voice recorder with the ability to create a maximum of 60-minute recordings. There is no limit to the number of records. The quality is acceptable. There is no call recording. A simple image editor will allow you to apply effects, frames, and create slideshows to pictures. The presence of ABBYY Lingvo (a version of the dictionary for mobile phones) is a pleasure. The phone has as many as nine games. True, only one of them is not a demo version. You can download additional toys via wap. - NetFront 3.4 The browser is quite functional. I will list its features: JavaScript support, Smart-Fit function, function of changing the font size, displaying pictures in full screen, there is a virtual cursor, pages are cached. The speed of work is normal. Considering all this, it makes no sense to replace this browser with any other. - Mp3 player There is not much to tell about the player. Typical for mid-priced Samsung phones. There is support for Cyrillic tags, custom playlists, there are different playback modes. A modest equalizer and fourteen volume levels are responsible for the sound. - Radio receiver The working range is 87.5-108 MHz. The memory for 30 radio stations is enough to store the available stations in the city. As always, a wired headset must be connected for the receiver to function. There is a truncated RDS (displays only the names of stations) and the function of automatically turning off the receiver (for those who like to listen to music before bedtime will be very relevant). Radio music can be recorded to MP3. Battery Even in spite of two radio modules for SIM cards, a 1000mAh lithium-ion battery keeps the phone running for three days at average loads. Not a bad result for a device for that kind of money. It takes two hours to fully charge your phone. Summary Of course, the phone is not the cheapest among its brethren, especially considering similar solutions from other manufacturers. But the high-quality implementation of the module for two SIM cards allows the company to ask for that kind of money for its device. If you are not very demanding on the functionality of your phone and want to save money with frequent calls, the C5212 DUOS is the perfect solution for you.
