Nokia 603 Review

Introduction:

The Nokia 603 is supposed to be the workhorse of the new Symbian Belle portfolio, balancing the value-for-money virtue in the low mid-range spectrum. Thus it is pretty average in terms of specs – 3.5” display, 1GHz processor and 5MP camera with 720p video recording but no LED flash.

It shares the “brightest mobile display” of the Nokia 701, however, and has an abundance of swappable back covers in various colors for the joy of the teen market, but does it deserve its price point, and is it distinctive enough apart from those different shell paints? Read on our review to find out...

In the box:

• Spare color back cover
• In-ear headphones
• Wall charger
• microUSB cable
• Warranty and information leaflets

Design:

The Nokia 603 comes chubby at 0.5” (12.7mm), so it's not going to win any design awards that seem to be all about waistline these days, but its tapered edges and sloping corners make it pretty ergonomic and easy to hold. Operating the phone with one hand is also easy, and all buttons around the sides are protruding enough for a decent feel, plus their travel is decent.



You can compare the Nokia 603 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

The 3.5” IPS-LCD display boasts 360x640 pixels of resolution, and 210ppi pixel density, which only came detrimental when we were trying to read very small text. Viewing angles are wide, and brightness is very high thanks to the 1000 nits output, plus the ClearBlack tech minimizes reflections. The higher than average brightness and low reflection make for an excellent outside visibility on the Nokia 603.,


The handset comes in black and white, with a number of swappable back covers in different colors, and one is included in the box for free. There is no front-facing camera, just a 5MP fixed-focus shooter without an LED flash.

Interface, Functionality and Software:

Symbian Belle that we already reviewed runs oily on the Nokia 603, without hiccups - the handset sports the same 1GHz processor with 512MB RAM other Belle handsets like the Nokia 700 and 701 have. It has 2GB of memory, which is expandable via a microSD card.


Typing on the 3.5” display is a decent experience, although the keys come a bit small in portrait mode; for an alternative input method you can always try Swype.


The Nokia 603 comes with the rich set of preinstalled apps we are used to with Symbian Belle – QuickOffice for document viewing and file browsing, Adobe Reader for PDF docs, Shazam for song recognition, as well as photo and video editors. Here we also have the ABC dictionary app and Vlingo, the voice-recognition service that is no substitute for something like Siri, but still allows you to control your phone by certain phrases while driving, for instance. Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja round up the entertainment offerings.  

Internet and Connectivity:

Browsing on the 603 is a good experience when compared to older Nokia phones, thanks to the sped up hardware and optimized Symbian Belle.  Panning and scrolling is fluid enough to be usable, but not as smooth as on Android, Windows or iOS phones. The rendering engine resorts to the checkered boxes more often than it should while pinching in, and scrolling stutters occassionally. Of note is the very good automatic text reflow for easier reading of articles. Adobe Flash support is sorely missed, too, so you won't be able to play games or watch video from some sites. Flash Lite 4.0 comes to the rescue with things like Flash-based ads, which you probably don't care much about anyway.


Penta-band HSDPA radio is tucked inside the Nokia 603, so you can use it on T-Mobile’s 3G network as well, with download speeds up to 14.4Mbps, provided that the carrier can supply them. In addition the phone has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM Radio with transmitter, A-GPS and NFC.

Nokia Maps with Drive provides the free lifetime navigation with voice guidance in most countries of importance worldwide, as well as life traffic in some of them. The NFC capability has its own video tutorials and comes in handy if you want to exchange files with another Nokia handset with NFC without the PIN codes hassles of Bluetooth, or for pairing with some accessories, but not much else for now.