Unboxing
Not adding a lot of stuff into the package there is only set of charger, headset, a battery and 2GB external memory card. A non-welcomed manual has also been added as always. To be noted that there is no data/connectivity cable in the package we got for review. And we probably can confirm the same for all units of the devices which have come to Pakistani market will not have data/connectivity cable in the retail package. You might want to buy one in addition.
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Design and Display
If you ask in one word then this is one of the “precious” looking handsets in your hand with nice grip. Picking up resemblance from Nokia X2-01, Asha 303 is rather better quality build with a metal battery cover on back. It really doesn’t look cheap or low quality handset and really solid as above I told about its build quality.
Well if tell you the truth I don’t like these transmissive displays as I really don’t feel comfortable with them. It’s not like the display on Asha 303 is any thing like bad but to me personally it feels more whitish on these transmissive displays. However the viewing is fine if not great outdoors, but it’s pretty descent indoors or in dark.
I’ll add again that the clarity is not that sharp and color support is just 256K in QVGA resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. 16m colors are must for better image quality. What’s the best in the screen of Nokia Asha 303 is the capacitive touch which is just first time ever put on a S40 handset. It really gives a richer experience of touch over other S40 phones. However it won’t listen to light touch pressure but gives the same haptic feedback as it’s with other high end smartphones.
Front profile of the handset obviously serves a well coated black screen with four keys below it. Two call keys on the side and two shortcut keys in between the call keys to direct access for messaging and music. These keys are well apart from the keyboard and fitted right into the black frame around the screen. Importantly an LED is placed in between the middle two keys that only lightens up to notify about missed alerts. It’s not visible until it lightens up; which is indeed impressive.
QWERTY keyboard is actually well designed in curved four rows and size of the keys is just nice for normal and little finger tips. Of course it will not be friend with bigger fingers. The keyboard serves with backlight when in dark or indoor. On the head of the front side there is the most important part of a mobile phone that is an earpiece along with the ambient light sensor.
Left side hosts nothing more than a wrist strap but on the right side there is a volume rocker for volume up/down which also works for zoom in/out when for according applications e.g. gallery image viewer. As well there is nothing on the bottom but on top there 3.5mm AV Connector, Micro USB Connector and Charger connector. If you wondering about the microphone than it’s hidden under the keypad.
Plus-point is that charging is also supported via USB connector when connected to computer but unfortunately you will have to purchase a data cable separately if you need.
The back panel serves the camera on top, battery cover in middle and loudspeaker at the bottom covering with a grill on body. If you have read the specifications then you probably know that Asha 303 doesn’t have flash with the camera that means you won’t have good options to take pictures in low light.
Removing the back panel and then the battery inside it will give you the access to memory card slot and SIM card slot. Yes! you got it right. none of the memory card or the SIM card is hot-swap-able.
To sum up the design in a few words, I would be good to say that there are a few elements that are impressive and first of those is the “build quality” which is really great in this S40 handset. Second will be the capacitive touchscreen which is a debut on this platform. And third is the QWERTY keyboard (only if you prefer that). There was no handset before Asha 303 combining S40+Touchscreen+QWERTY.
The things which I didn’t like were the display quality as I’ve told above but in this budget line-up I’ll prefer Asha 303 for all its plus-points.
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