Analyzed: Nokia Asha 303

Lately, Nokia has been undergoing a complete revamp in its quest for sustainability and profitability. It has been cutting its losses and has teamed up with Microsoft for its flagship model the Lumia. But the top of charts isn't the only place Nokia has been working on. They have been busy at the bottom of the ladder as well and have been pushing the Nokia Asha 303 hard, especially in the Indian market. We tested the Asha and must say, we were pleasantly surprised.

With the Asha 303 you get all the features of a higher end smartphone like a touchscreen display, expandable memory card slot, HD camera (for still images and video recording) and a 1GHz processor for a fraction of the price. It feels ergonomically designed and is comfortable to hold for extended periods of time. Good thing it comes with a decent battery that will last over 9 hours on a single charge (with heavy usage). You also get a QWERTY keyboard which is very handy considering the size of the display. In that aspect, it kind of reminds you of the Blackberrys. It is no powerhouse by any means, but it has more than enough to get the job done. It also uses Nokia's own operating system and as a result you won't have the same number of apps as an Apple or Android product, but the Nokia store (it's called Ovi) has enough to keep you coming back. Here is a look at some of the specs on the Asha 303:

1. 2.6" LCD touchscreen at a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels
2. 1GHz single core processor
3. 128MB RAM
4. 100MB built in storage expandable to 32GB via microSD card
5. Nokia S40 Asha operating system
6. 3.2MP camera with 4x digital zoom
7. Weight: 99g
8. Battery capacity: 1300mAh

Now despite having a 3.2MP camera, honestly we expected the images to be a little more crisp than they are. We had the camera resolution at the highest setting and still felt the images were blurry. Surprisingly videos looked a little better even though they are shot at 640 x 480 pixels at 15 frames per second. Still, considering the price, the Nokia Asha 303 feels like a well thought out and packaged device.

Our Rating: 

The Asha 303 is currently on sale in India for around Rs. 7,900 (~$155).