Nokia Asha 503 Review
posted by Victor H.
/ Dec 18, 2013, 5:34 AM
Introduction
The Nokia Asha 503 is a fun little affordable feature phone coming in vibrant colorful tones. With a unique glass-like outer coating, it appears as if it’s in a transparent glossy case and is definitely aiming for the younger crowds.
The Asha 503 comes in a dual and single SIM models (we have the single SIM version for review). It builds up on the blocky design and colors of the Asha 501, but adds in 3G connectivity, a more capable 5-megapixel camera and a bit more in performance power. Is all of that enough to justify you buying this feature phone rather than getting an affordable modern smartphone?
Let’s find out.
In the box:
- Wall charger
- Earbud headphones
- User manual
Design
The Nokia Asha 503 has a pretty unique design - a translucent glass-like (it’s actually plastic) coating covers its vibrant color without hiding it. It looks a bit as if Nokia took this summer’s Asha 501 and put it in a glass case. Initially, we were surprised rather than impressed by the Asha 503 design, but overtime this hard coating grew on us and we ended up liking it for the sense of rigidity it gives the phone and just for its unique visuals. The Asha 503 comes in vivid red, yellow, green, cyan, white and black.
This new member of the Asha family is also small and compact as most of its Asha peers and while that does mean you get a smaller display, it also means that the device fits easily in pockets and is actually easy to use with a single hand. It’s a bit larger and thicker than the preceding Asha 501, but the difference is small. Truth is it’s a bit chubby, but given its compact size, this is not really much of an issue. The phone is solidly put together and it feels like you’re holding something that will withstand the test of time and elements, even though this phone is not water or dust protected in any way.
The Asha 503 features a single capacitive ‘back’ button right below the display and it works in a predictable and consistent way, bringing you back one step at a time. All other navigation in Asha’s interface happens conveniently via swipes, but more on that later.
The handset also features a very clicky and easy to press lock key and volume rocker, fittingly positioned on the right. There’s also a microUSB port and 3.5mm headset jack on top.
Samsung GALAXY Star
Dimensions
4.14 x 2.3 x 0.47 inches
105.2 x 58.5 x 11.9 mm
Weight
3.62 oz (102 g)
Samsung GALAXY Star
Dimensions
4.14 x 2.3 x 0.47 inches
105.2 x 58.5 x 11.9 mm
Weight
3.62 oz (102 g)
To see the phones in real size or compare them with other models, visit our Visual Phone Size Comparison page
Display
The Asha 503 features a 3-inch capacitive LCD display (covered with protective Gorilla Glass) supporting 262 thousand colors and not the 16 million we’re used to seeing on most smartphones nowadays. This makes color transitions less smooth and with a very low resolution of 240 x 320 pixels, images look pixelized, not sharp.
It does not make much sense speaking about color accuracy for such an affordable device, but we still ran our tests only to prove what we suspected - colors are way off in many occasions with a noticeable blueish tint.
Brightness is also way below the average and that makes the screen hard to read outdoors. Viewing angles are also poor and the image washes out significantly at an angle and nearly completely at more extreme angles. Despite all the price considerations, we were underwhelmed by the screen of the Asha 503.
32 Comments
1. xperiaDROID
Posts: 5629; Member since: Mar 08, 2013
Wow, 3 out of 10? Come on Victor, this is a $99 feature phone, what do you expect for such a cheap feature phone? I know there are better alternatives, but this phone has a decent camera, stylish colorful design, sturdy construction and an easy to use UI, it's more easy to use than Android. This phone deserves at least 4.5 out of 10.
posted on Dec 18, 2013, 5:48 AM 14
5. taikucing unregistered
You better check Lenovo A390 for $99. No contest.
Sturdy is not enough if you can't run whatsapp.
posted on Dec 18, 2013, 6:04 AM 9
12. taikucing unregistered
Does it have GPS & WiFi?
Can it play subway surfer & fifa like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV0zEXjLofY
If I want texting & calling only, I'll buy Nokia 3310. It's as hard as steel.
posted on Dec 18, 2013, 6:55 AM 4
32. mothana1998
Posts: 2; Member since: Mar 27, 2014
yes it has wifi put no gps and it can run subway put i don't know about the other one i don't know it its a great phone its easyer than android
posted on Mar 27, 2014, 2:56 AM 0
21. kaikuheadhunterz
Posts: 1157; Member since: Jul 18, 2013
Find me a phone that is of the same price AND can be easily found in stores (don't even think about suggesting eBay)
posted on Dec 18, 2013, 9:29 AM 3
2. eisenbricher
Posts: 973; Member since: Aug 09, 2012
Typical PA.
C'mon, there is a variable involved in review process called PRICE (or segment).
posted on Dec 18, 2013, 5:52 AM 3
3. PhoneArena Team
Posts: 258; Member since: Jun 27, 2006
We rate every phone according to its (price) class. This one gets 3/10 not compared to high-end phone, but compared to its class.
posted on Dec 18, 2013, 5:56 AM 12
6. eisenbricher
Posts: 973; Member since: Aug 09, 2012
What hemedans said in comment no.4
Feature phone strongholds are Battery, Call Quality, Ruggedness and Ease of Use. This phone did excellent in these areas.
I guess the phone rating is downgraded by availability of good apps, RAM, and screen quality. Problem is, these are the reasons why smartphones exist. Basic phone user knows what he's buying and these aren't definitely the reasons. I'm no stranger to tech reviews.
Please don't try to defend the review as everybody knows and this has been repeated numerous times while reviewing feature phones, by PA.
posted on Dec 18, 2013, 6:06 AM 10
8. taikucing unregistered
Have you ever heard Lenovo A390? It's almost the same price as this Asha phone.
posted on Dec 18, 2013, 6:13 AM 5
13. taikucing unregistered
"Feature phone strongholds are Battery, Call Quality, Ruggedness and Ease of Use."
*cough* Then buy Nokia 3310 *cough*
posted on Dec 18, 2013, 6:58 AM 3
4. hemedans
Posts: 746; Member since: Jun 01, 2013
most people buy featurephone because they want good battery life to make calls and sms.
this phone has good battery life, decent camera and good call quality. these are most important things.
phonearena better learn from gsmarena on how to review feature phone
posted on Dec 18, 2013, 5:57 AM 12
14. boosook
Posts: 1442; Member since: Nov 19, 2012
If the feature phone is priced like a smartphone, then the price must be considered. With this hardware, it should cost no more than $49/EUR49, since for $99/EUR99 you can buy something with much better hardware, e.g. bigger screen with higher resolution, and with good call quality and good battery life as well.
GSMArema makes very good and detailed reviews, but they're usually too complaisant and you must learn to read between the lines because they never say explicitly that a phone is crap, but they let you understand it.
posted on Dec 18, 2013, 7:09 AM 4
7. taikucing unregistered
Asha is a fail phone. Chinese phones are the king in sub $100 segment. No contest for Samsung & Sony, let alone Nokia. I don't mean Chinese crappy phones, but they are high quality cheap phones like Lenovo A390 or Huawei phones.
posted on Dec 18, 2013, 6:12 AM 4
9. Antonyjoseph
Posts: 217; Member since: Apr 06, 2013
Much as I like Nokia and the efforts at feature phones, I think the days of feature phones are over, when you can buy cheap Andoid phones (at least in India) for equivalent of $60 and above.
Feature phones with physical keyboards may still have a market, but not with touchscreens.
posted on Dec 18, 2013, 6:20 AM 5
15. itsdeepak4u2000
Posts: 3718; Member since: Nov 03, 2012
Yes Victor, it should be between 4.5 or 5.
posted on Dec 18, 2013, 7:29 AM 4
16. ArtZGraphic
Posts: 16; Member since: Sep 04, 2013
it's a good phone for its class. unfortunately, it's an overprice device. nowadays, most people have been more clever in choose a phone. with $99 we should've got a basic or midend smartphone such as chinesse phone has to offer. if this is not overprice, maybe Victor would have give a higher score for the review.
posted on Dec 18, 2013, 7:40 AM 1
17. jroc74
Posts: 6023; Member since: Dec 30, 2010
As smartphones become even more cheaper...feature phones that try to compete with them with features will get compared to them. It is what it is.
Might as well get a similarly priced Android phone and call it a day. I think you can still get older iPhones for this price too.
posted on Dec 18, 2013, 8:19 AM 2
19. loveHEAVYMETAL unregistered
what?! just two cons?but rated at 3/10
posted on Dec 18, 2013, 8:45 AM 2
20. mercorp
Posts: 1045; Member since: Jan 28, 2012
It only supports very basic Java games with a maximum size of 5MP.
Is it 5mb??
posted on Dec 18, 2013, 9:07 AM 2
22. kaikuheadhunterz
Posts: 1157; Member since: Jul 18, 2013
Yeah, it's 5mb. Most Java games don't exceed that size
posted on Dec 18, 2013, 9:31 AM 0
24. HalaMadrid
Posts: 92; Member since: Sep 04, 2013
3 Out of 10 LOL What a crap phone asha 503 is.
posted on Dec 18, 2013, 11:11 AM 0
26. Tech_Junkie1996
Posts: 43; Member since: Aug 29, 2013
For those saying "its only $99," I would like to say that I have a phone from Virgin Mobile that was $99 MSRP. Sure, since Virgin in the US is a CDMA carrier, you can hold that against me, however, the MSRP for the phone means that even if the phone was unlocked it would probably go for the same price. With that being said, my phone, ZTE N800, has a 1.2 GHz Snapdragon ARM 7 dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 4GB ROM, 4" 800x480 display, GPS, and a front-facing 1 MP camera. In terms of tadays smart phones, it doesn't look like much, but when compared to the Asha, it whens hands down. Now, I must repeat that this is a CDMA phone, which means that the Asha has the advantagte in terms of availabilty, since it can go on GSM networks, but, besides that small caveat, the N800 is much better, and isn't that great of a phone.
posted on Dec 20, 2013, 7:45 PM 0
28. PorkyBurger
Posts: 585; Member since: May 18, 2013
It is OK phone, but Nokia has a lot of time to make this Asha line even better.
I could start off with it's tiny screen, ending with price tags. There are a lot better phones out there with this price tag, which I find sad to see.
posted on Jan 02, 2014, 9:10 AM 0
- Display 3.0" 240 x 320 pixels
- Camera 5 MP
- Processor
- Memory
- Storage
- Battery 1200 mAh(4.5h 3G talk time)
Recent articles
