Nokia Asha 303

   
Nokia Asha 303 official pictures

At first, it felt strange, but a few minutes into it, we knew we were with a friend. The Asha 303 offers the familiar convenience of Touch and Type phones, but comes with a slightly bigger screen and – most importantly – a full QWERTY keyboard. With a connectivity set that borders on premium and a powerful 1GHz processor, the Asha 303 is ready to lead a Nokia return to markets the Finns like to call their own..

Pros:

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• Penta-band 3G with 10Mbps HSDPA and 2Mbps HSUPA
• Asha S40 Touch and Type platform
• Four-row hardware QWERTY keyborad
• 2.6" QVGA 256K-color capacitive TFT touchscreen
• 1GHz processor
• 128MB RAM, 256MB ROM
• 3 megapixel fixed-focus camera
• VGA video recording at 15fps
• Wi-Fi b/g/n
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Bluetooth v2.1 (with A2DP)
• Standard microUSB port (charging enabled)
• USB On-The-Go support
• microSD card slot (32 GB supported, 2GB included)
• 3.5mm audio jack
• Angry Birds for S40 exclusive

Cons:

• No multitasking
• Fixed-focus camera
• No smart dialing
• No video-call camera
• No document viewer
• Non-hot-swappable memory card

The Asha 303 is in charge of a lineup that tries to cover the entire range of the low end. From a basic Dual SIM solution to different combinations of touchscreen and QWERTY and cameras ranging from 2 to 5 megapixel – there should be a phone for every use and budget.

   
Nokia Asha 303 live pictures

Save for the 3.2 megapixel camera (it’s fixed-focus across the range), the Asha 303 is the best equipped handset of the lineup. Not only is it the first QWERTY/touchscreen S40 phone, the capacitive display is a debut for the platform. The penta-band 3G support along with Wi-Fi and USB-on-the-go are worthy of a smartphone.

The Asha 303 is not a smartphone of course and the biggest omission is multitasking. Nokia’s S40 have never had that and it seems a shame that the 1GHz processor will never be really tested. Smart dialing is another No on the list – would’ve been a nice thing to have on a QWERTY phone.