Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Nokia 6303 classsic review: Euro hatch territory

GSMArena team, 8 June 2009.

Introduction

If we're allowed an automotive metaphor, the Nokia 6303 classic is one of those handsets that will get you from A to B without burning rubber at the traffic lights. It's just how most phones are used: voice call cruising with an occasional red light jump to keep things interesting. If you're not a street racer that eats 8 megapixel and breathes 7.2Mbps, the 6303 classic will be just fine for snapping a photo on the go or browsing the web.

You probably already know where this is going and what the Nokia 6303 is all about - it will bail you out of a tough spot when you need more than calling and texting, but power users won't be pleased. But hey, at this price point, were you really expecting the Bugatti Veyron of mobile phones?

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Nokia 6303 classic official photos

Key features:

  • Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
  • 2.2" 16M-color QVGA display with excellent sunlight legibility
  • 3 megapixel camera, autofocus and LED flash
  • VGA video recording at 15fps
  • S40 user interface, 6th edition
  • Stereo FM radio with RDS
  • Bluetooth (with A2DP) and microUSB port
  • microSD card slot (4 GB supported, 1GB included)
  • Standard 3.5mm audio jack
  • Rich preinstalled application package
  • Ovi Maps and Ovi Share
  • Solid metal casing, sweet oval shapes
  • Respectable BL-5CT battery (Li-Ion 1050 mAh)

Main disadvantages:

  • No 3G
  • Memory card slot under the back cover
  • No dedicated shutter key
  • Below par image quality
  • No smart dialing
  • No multi-tasking
  • No office document viewer

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Nokia 6303 classic in our office

The looks of the Nokia 6303 classic are quite reminiscent of the 6600 slide and fold duo. Nonetheless, it stands on its own two feet as a phone and the metallic body is a joy to hold.

Before you go on reading, just remember who this phone is aimed at and learn to live with the fact that it doesn't even have 3G.

Unboxing Nokia 6303 classic

The retail package of the Nokia 6303 is standard issue stuff. The regular charger (not the mini variety), a very short (and we mean really short) data cable, and a set of stereo headphones with a detachable remote are what you find inside. The 1050 mAh battery is here as well, while a quick start guide and a manual round out the contents.

The only bonus goodie is the 1GB microSD card that ships with the handset.

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Nokia 6303 classic unboxed

Nokia 6303 classic 360-degree spin

The Nokia 6303 classic measures 108.8 x 46.2 x 11.7 mm with a volume of 57 cc. The phone hits the sweetspot of comfortable handling. Neither too small, nor too big, it fits nicely into any pocket. Don't let the weight of 96g fool you, the 6303 classic has a pleasingly solid feel in the hand, and the metal body seems quite sturdy and reliable.

Design and construction

The earpiece is centrally placed right above the Nokia logo up front. The ambient light sensor is right next to it.

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Earpiece and ambient light sensor above the display

The display of the 6303 classic is among the finest we've seen by Nokia in terms of both contrast and color rendering, and it has an impressively wide viewing angle.

The QVGA screen can display up to 16M colors on a 2.2" diagonal. Sunlight legibility is an absolute treat, something that's become almost a trademark for Nokia.

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A decent-sized display

Beneath the display, rocker-styled knobs on both sides of the D-pad accommodate the soft keys and the Call and End buttons. The navigation frame of the D-pad projects nicely over an roomy confirm key. All controls are comfortable to use and occasional mispresses are very rare.

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2.2" display and comfortable navigation

The front has a slight curve at the bottom, which raises the end row of the keypad slightly. This makes keys a bit harder to press, but it's nothing major.

The star and hash key are smaller and slightly less comfortable but that seems a sacrifice to the curvy styling of the device. Otherwise, the keys are well defined and solid to press.

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The top and bottom row of keys had to make sacrifices in the name of looks

The display backlighting and the blue keypad illumination are very strong and even make the handset a pleasure to use in the dark.

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The strong and even blue backlighting is a treat

Design and construction (continued)

The top side of Nokia 6303 classic is pretty bare, as Nokia decided to cram everything into the bottom this time. The top houses just the power button, which is recessed enough to rule out accidental presses.

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The top side of Nokia 6303 classic

The right and left side of the handset don't have much to show either: the left side is completely empty while the only thing on the right is the volume rocker.

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The neat sides of Nokia 6303 classic

The bottom part of the 6303 is where all the connectivity ports are - the microUSB port hidden under a plastic cap, a 3.5mm audio jack, charger plug and the lanyard eyelet. This means that the phone will have to be upside-down in your pocket if you've got the headset plugged in.

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Bottom is port-heavy

We conclude our round- trip of the 6303 classic with the rear. The steel battery cover features a dual LED flash right under the 3-megapixel camera lens. Just next to it is the loudspeaker grill, and an etched Nokia logo. One complaint we have here is that sound does get muffled when the phone is lying on a flat surface.

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The steel rear: camera lens with LED flash

Releasing the battery cover reveals the powerful Li-Ion 1050 mAh (BL-5CT) battery and the SIM compartment.

The SIM card compartment is housed under a hinged metal bracket and swapping it in is quick and easy. The microSD card slot is under the battery but worry not, it's accessible from the side of the phone (you will still have to remove the rear cover though).

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Rear cover comes off easily

The metal frame scores big for the phone but it's hard to call the 6303 classic a looker. The back and the plasticky keys can't really rival the sophisticated air of high-end handsets. Nonetheless, the phone handles nicely and navigation is quite straightforward. Fingerprints are not a problem either.

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The small Nokia 6303 classic is a joy to handle

User interface

The Nokia 6303 classic employs the Series 40 6th edition user interface. The environment is well familiar, the novelties are a couple of menu icons and a few tweaks here and there. Most additions are under the hood, but we'll cover them after we've gone through the basics.

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S40 user interface updated

The standby screen of the Nokia 6303 classic features the pre-selected wallpaper with the usual status readings, such as signal strength, battery status, ringing profile icon and time occupying the top bar.

The center of the navigation key opens the main menu, while the context keys can be assigned a function of your choice. The D-pad directions can be set up as shortcuts - by default, left brings up the new message menu and right the Calendar. The font on the main display can be of any color you desire.

Active standby mode is available. It consists of four sections that can be edited or relocated as users see fit. In the most common case, the top area is reserved for instant access to favorite functions denoted by their respective icons. The second section displays today's events from the calendar.

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Regular homescreen • Active standby mode • Each section can be user customized

A nice feature is that pressing the end key while the keypad is locked brings up a clock that shows time and date. It's something of a poor man's tap-for-time feature that's usually reserved for more expensive phones.

The icons themselves have been changed and the 3D animation has been dropped. They can also be freely reordered within the grid, should the user find their original order inconvenient.

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The four main menu views: Grid, grid with labels, tab and list

The interface is quick and responsive. There were no freezes or unexpected restarts for the time of our review, except Ovi Maps crashing on us once.

There are six predefined ringing profiles on the Nokia 6303 classic. These should be enough to cover virtually any scenario. They can be set to expire at a given time, returning the phone to the previous profile. Flight mode is on hand too, turning off all transceivers and rendering the phone usable without a SIM card inserted.

The only downside of the S40 user interface seems to be the lack of multi-tasking support - something that Sony Ericsson implemented on their feature phones long ago. With S40 you can't just minimize a Java application (such as the Opera browser) and go read a new message.

S40 is already quite a mature platform - now in its 6th edition - but it seems Nokia have no intention of changing it. Perhaps they want multitasking to be exclusive to their smartphones.

What's new in S40 6th edition

The biggest change on the latest version of the S40 UI is the new web browser. Borrowed from their Symbian smartphone elders, the WebKit-based app represents quite a shift in Nokia feature phones so we'll give it the quality time it deserves later on.

One of the changes you might not notice right away: Java apps are now easier to adapt from one manufacturer to another, making it easier for developers to create applications for multiple devices. What that means to the end user is simple - more apps.

A location API has been added as well, which utilizes whatever method the phone has to locate itself. This opens the door for location-aware applications, which have been on the rise with phones like the iPhone and Google's Android, as well as Ngage-enabled handsets.

The Flash Lite player has been updated to version 3 and Flash Lite content can also be used as 'organic' wallpaper. Nothing new, but the more options you have, the better.

Some other things have been changed as well - a little UI polish, MMS ver. 1.3, message support of up to 600KB and better support for WMV and WMA codecs.

Customization

The background color of the entire menu, as well as the wallpaper, can also be easily modified by changing the active theme. The music and radio players can also be skinned by the theme, or you can use the default skin.

There are five themes preinstalled on the Nokia 6303 but downloading new ones takes only a matter of seconds. And of course, as we already mentioned, a Flash Lite background can be used to spice things up.

A super fit phonebook

The phonebook of the Nokia 6303 classic stores up to 2000 contacts and that sounds more than enough. Each contact can be assigned a variety of fields but the phone numbers are limited to 5. First names are separated from last names, eliminating problems which may occur with synchronization. Ringtones can be assigned to each contact.

Naturally, you can also assign personal pictures or videos that will run on an incoming call. Caller image is different for incoming and outgoing calls. It fills the screen when you are on the receiving end of a call, and appears much smaller when you are calling one of your contacts.

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The difference between normal and large font • the phonebook can be searched by gradual typing

There are three available view modes for your contact list: Normal Name List, Name-and-Number and Name-and-Image. It can display the SIM card contacts, the phone memory contacts or both at once. Contacts can be ordered by either first or last name.

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Some of the available fields when editing a contact

The phonebook font size can be either normal or large, and it's an option that will surely be appreciated. The bigger font fits just as many contacts on the screen by leaving a smaller gap between the lines. And lastly, the well-known grouping option is also present. This means that contacts can also be organized in groups and these can subsequently be used as call filters.

Another application to mention here is the voice dial: no pre-recording of voice labels is necessary.

A nice extra is the Find-on-Map option which locates the contact's address on the new Ovi Maps for S40 application if it is entered correctly.

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The Find-on-Map option

The Call Log on the Nokia 6303 classic is the well-known S40 application. It can display Dialed, Received and Missed calls separately, as well as all of them in bulk. Every submenu can hold up to 20 call records with their date, time and duration.

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The typical call log

Telephony is crystal-clear

Signal reception and in-call sound cause no concerns with the Nokia 6303 classic. Like almost all current S40 midrange phones this one also features Voice Clarity which is another way of saying that it applies some sort of background noise suppression during calls.

Sound is loud and clear on both ends and you will have zero trouble with your calls. Vibration strength on the 6303 classic is very good too.

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Nokia 6303 classic in a call

Nokia has not included any Smart dialing features, so typing a number would give you the "helpful" option to start a countdown timer (interpreting the numbers as hours, minutes and seconds) but won't search through your contacts.

We carried out our traditional loudspeaker test to find out Nokia 6303 classic is an average performer. You can't count on getting just everything in noisier environments, and calm and subdued ringtones surely won't do. You can find more details about our test, as well as the results of all other tested handsets here.

Speakerphone testVoice, dBPink noise/ Music, dBRinging phone, dBOverall score
Nokia 6303 classic67.965.372.3Average
Nokia 6600 slide66.764.666.6Below Average
Samsung U60067.766.275.3Good
Nokia 3600 slide67.766.775.7Good
Nokia 6500 slide74.272.878.2Very Good
Samsung M3200 Beat s76.178.384.7Excellent

Messaging is great

The messaging department is quite up to the task. The Nokia 6303 classic is capable of handling all the common message types including SMS, MMS and email, as well as flash and audio messages.

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The messaging department • Message formats

SMS, MMS use one and the same editor and all you need to do to turn a regular SMS into MMS is insert some kind of multimedia content. As soon as you activate the editor, it displays a field for entering the number of the recipient, which you can fill by simple typing, select it from the phonebook, from the caller groups, or from the list with the most recent addressees in the call register. There is even the very handy option to define a favorite message contact. One is all you get.

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Typing a SMS/MMS message is a nice experience with the Nokia 6303 classic

Everything in the editor is intuitive and organized in a practical time-saving manner. You enter a few letters of a contact's name and then click match. This brings up a list of matching contacts and selecting one prompts you to choose either a mobile number or an email address, then it will shift to the message body automatically where you can start typing. The T9 dictionary and the handy delivery reports go without saying.

Message length is limited to 1000 characters with both the count of typed characters and the number of parts the message will break down into displayed on the screen. All messages use the shared memory, regardless of their type. A photo, a contact card, or an event from the calendar can be sent via MMS.

Audio messages have a separate editor, which can either record the message on the fly or use a previously recorded sound clip.

Email goes too

The email client does pretty well to meet most user needs. It works with POP3, SMTP, and IMAP4 protocols and supports multiple email accounts. The email client supports SSL, which enables it to handle a Gmail account for example.

Setting up the email client was extremely easy. It just required an email address and entering and confirming the password, the 6303 classic took care of the rest.

When a message is to be sent, it finds the email address of the corresponding recipient in the phonebook. Either message headers only or entire messages can be downloaded by default, depending on your choice.

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The native email client is more than good • A variety of files can be mailed as attachments

Gallery is unchanged

If you have been keeping track, you'd know that we aren't really in love with the looks of the S40 gallery. The fact that it is an inherent part of the file manager is probably the main cause of our disappointment.

There are three different views for the gallery: list with details, list and grid. Once you pick a picture you can zoom on it to see more detail. Zooming itself is not the fastest (especially for larger pictures) or the most capable around - it can only zoom in steps, so it is practically of little use.

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Gallery hasn't changed one bit

Pictures can also be viewed full screen and can be edited with the built-in picture editor. The latter offers a very limited number of options (in contrast to almost every Samsung phone with their suite of editing features), so Nokia 6303 classic users are highly unlikely to take up photo editing on the handset.

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Looking at a single picture in normal and landscape mode • Zooming isn't really a treat

The final extras of the gallery include the available Slideshow and Search option, which is quite convenient for finding a specific file in overflowing folders.

As a whole we aren't exactly delighted with the S40 gallery and we do hope that it will be one of the first things to be improved in future versions of the UI.

Traditional music player

Without doubt, the music player is among the nicest applications of the Nokia 6303 classic. It has decent looks and all-round functionality, including album art, and a fair number of formats are supported. The theme can be set to match that of the rest of the phone, integrating it very well with the rest of the interface.

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The Nokia 6303 classic music player with the applied theme • built-in theme • on the standby screen

The music player is controlled with the D-pad. Besides all the typical functions, the music player of Nokia 6600 slide also sorts songs by artist, album and genre. The player works with AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, MP4, WMA, AMR-NB. Naturally A2DP profile is supported, allowing the use of stereo Bluetooth earphones.

There is only one default theme available for the music player. Not counting the five preinstalled themes for the UI. They change the color scheme and background.

The sonic experience gets enhanced by equalizer presets and stereo widening. There are 5 equalizer presets on Nokia 6303 but you can easily create new ones thanks to the two user defined slots available.

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The equalizer preset with two user-defined sets • Stereo widening is available too

As usual, the artist and title of the currently playing song are shown on the homescreen. They appear in the Radio and music area on the homescreen so they need to be active for the info to be displayed.

Audio quaity

Even though it is not a music phone, Nokia 6303 classic has pretty good frequency response. It also pulled off excellent total harmonic distortion and intermodulation distortion socres.

The rest of the readings in our audio quality test weren't as impressive but there is nothing too disturbing about them either. We have to admit that they are slightly below average.

Given the acceptable price tag of the device and the fact that we've seen Nokia do far worse, we would call the audio quality of Nokia 6303 classic decent. Here are the results so you can see for yourselves.

TestFrequency responseNoise levelDynamic rangeTHDIMD + NoiseStereo crosstalk
Nokia 6303 classic+0.27, -0.08-75.975.90.0075 0.042-71.7
Nokia 5310 XpressMusic+0.29, -1.69-94.492.00.015 0.491-73.8
Nokia 5220 XpressMusic+0.29, -1.64-91.790.30.012 0.612-73.1
Nokia N81+0.39, -1.13-86.685.80.0410.040-69.9
Nokia N85+0.28, -1.19-94.495.40.3050.701-88.1
LG KM900 Arena+0.09, -1.61-91.691.70.0017 0.101-90.4
Samsung M7500 Emporio Armani+0.86, -6.28-80.180.10.017 0.134-73.9
Sony Ericsson W508+7.30, -2.18-85.984.70.0052 0.020-84.7
Apple iPod Touch 2G+0.04, -0.05-91.491.50.0027 0.012-90.0

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Nokia 6303 classic frequency response graph

You can learn more about the whole testing process here.

FM radio has RDS

An alternative to the preloaded content on Nokia 6303 classic is the FM radio. It resembles the audio player interface and covers all basic functions.

Much like the music player, the FM radio also has the standard theme and the 'Set by Themes' option, which uses the currently selected UI theme.

RDS support is available. RDS info and frequency appear on the homescreen, much like with the music player.

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FM radio player interface - RDS is onboard

Video player is minimalist

The video player of Nokia 6303 classic is compatible with 3GP and MP4 formats. Videos can be played in fullscreen mode, as well as fast-forwarded or rewound. The option to hide soft key captions to make better use of the full screen mode also improves the viewing experience. The player works in the background appearing on the active standby tab.

We tried a WMV file but only the audio played. It seems that WMV codec support is not finalized yet.

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Video player in portrait and landscape mode

Nokia 6303 classsic review: Euro hatch territory

GSMArena team, 8 June 2009.
Pages: «12345678»

Tags: Nokia, S40

The camera is decent and has autofocus

The Nokia 6303 classic is armed with a 3.2 megapixel camera for image resolution of up to 2048 x 1536 pixels. Typical Series 40, the camera settings are rather limited but reasonable given the mid-range spot. The available settings include white balance, three quality levels going from basic to high, and various effects. Sequence shots and shooting in both portrait and landscape mode are also among the available options.

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The camera user interface in portrait and landscape mode • settings are limited

The LED flash is rather inadequate,only really usable with close range objects. Another drawback is the lack of a dedicated camera key, the D-pad is in charge of focusing and capturing. With no half-press, you press down the center key to focus and release it to capture the scene, which means you can't change your mind and skip the photo.

The 6303 camera doesn't rank among the top 3.2 megapixel shooters. Image quality is about average; in favorable weather decent images can be produced, oversharpened, but with good color rendering. Noise levels are normally quite high and the aggressive noise reduction that kicks in takes its toll on resolved detail. The lack of detail in images is a major weakness, while darker areas can be troublesome as well.

The camera speed isn't remarkable and saving files is average too.

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Camera samples

As far as video recording is concerned, the Nokia 6303 classic manages VGA resolution at 15 fps. The 3GP video clips length is only limited by the memory available. Although video quality is far from stunning, VGA resolution is still rare enough across the midrange.

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Video recorder interface

The Nokia 6303 video suffers from the unwanted effects of the rolling shutter. A rolling shutter is usually used on all handsets equipped with a camera but the extent of the unwanted geometric distortion is especially pronounced with the 6303 classic videos. You can see the almost constant nasty jelly-like effect even though we've tried to keep the phone as steady as possible.

Here is a Nokia 6303 classic sample video shot at VGA resolution (15 fps).

Connectivity on the low side

The Nokia 6303 classic connectivity options are considered low-end by today's standards, 3G is hardly a novelty any more.

The rest of the connectivity options are there - EDGE and GPRS are both the best there is on the 6303 classic. Bluetooth version 2.0 is also supported.

Finally, the memory card slot, which can sometimes be the most convenient way of transferring data, is also present here but again, the lack of hot-swappability brings its usability into doubt.

Cutting-EDGE browser

The Nokia 6303 classic has an integrated WebKit-based HTML web browser. We guess that rings a bell. Apple's Safari and Mobile Safari are based on WebKit, as well as Google Chrome, the browser for the Android platform and the Palm Pre. It's safe to say that Nokia 6303 classic is in good company.

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The new and improved browser

We're a little hesitant to say this but, it renders pages better than Opera Mini. It's mostly minor bugs but nonetheless - the native app is more accurate.

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Built-in browser on the left, Opera Mini on the right. See how the text overlaps? It shouldn't

The Nokia 6303 native browser still has its shortcomings though. There are obvious indications that the hardware is not quite up to the job - scrolling is quite slow, don't expect anything like iPhone smoothness. Flash is also not supported - there's some rudimentary support but it's just enough to display certain banners, not play YouTube videos.

Not that streaming full-size video over EDGE is something to look forward to. Which brings us to another problem the browser has, although it's mostly the hardware's fault. The built-in browser is a full-blown web browser, while Opera Mini isn't.

The way Mini works is the page is rendered on Opera's servers and sent into a lighter format to the device. This makes it perfect for low-power devices like feature phones and things like scrolling don't stress the hardware as much.

Another thing is that Opera compresses the images on the page, which both saves on data charges and speeds up the transfer. For example, GSMArena.com clocked in at about 300kb through the built-in browser and just 70kb through Opera Mini. The loss of quality in the images is negligible on such a small screen. Lack of landscape mode and Google (or any other engine for that matter) search is another downer of the WebKit web browser.

Anyway, both applications are preloaded and you can choose the one that suits you best. Anyhow, it's exciting to see that even S40 phones get such advanced updates.

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The well known Opera Mini web browser

Organizer is great as usual

The organizer of the Nokia 6303 classic is very elaborate, offering a large number of time management applications with nice features and a user-friendly interface. The calendar offers month, week, and day modes and five types of events can be set up.

The week can start on Monday, Sunday, or Saturday. The event types are: reminder, meeting, call, birthday and memo. Furthermore, each type of event has its own specific fields and some of them even allow an alarm to be set up as a reminder.

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Calendar month a week view modes • setting up an event

Next-in-line is the handy To-Do manager that enables you to categorize tasks in three priority levels. Tasks can be assigned alerts, as well as marked off once accomplished. Those can also be easily synchronized with the calendar application.

Text notes are available as well - their length is limited to 3000 characters.

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Text notes on board

The alarm clock is repeatable: it can be set to go off on any selected days of the week, even when the phone is switched off. You can also customize the snooze time if you wish.

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The alarm is nice but has only a single slot

The other organizing functions available include a voice recorder with a 60-minute limit, a stopwatch and a countdown timer.

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Countdown timer and stopwatch are available

Finally, the Nokia 6303 classic calculator offers two versions - basic and advanced. In addition a loan calculator is also available.

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The calculator has a simple and a scientific version, along with a loan calculator

Plenty of applications

The consistently useful unit converter is first in the list of additional applications. It offers all kinds of converting options and, if provided with enough information about the rates, offers currency conversion too. There's an additional converter that gives you clothing and shoe size equivalents worldwide.

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The unit converter is really nice • clothing size converter

The Download! application follows. This directly connects to the Nokia download center, where you can find a lot of downloadable content for you phone, most of it free of charge. Don't worry, it still works despite the service getting integrated into Ovi. Integration is not yet complete on this phone, however as only Ovi Maps and Ovi Share are supported.

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The Download! Application

We'll have a look at Ovi Maps in the next section, after a look at sharing images, video and audio files the Ovi Share way. After a quick sign-up process, selecting files for uploading is easy enough.

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Main menu • uploading a file • viewing an uploaded file

This app is limited, you can only browse your and your friends' uploads. For general browsing you'd need a web browser (the built-in one works quite well). Bear in mind that even 3 megapixel photos can cost you quite much at the end of the month if you're not on an unlimited data plan.

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Ovi Share in the built-in browser

The Search application offers Google Search initially, though other search engines might be available depending on your country and region. Searching launches the web browser, which makes this app somewhat useless. Or rather, it would have been if the browser had this functionality built-in.

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Search application

Windows Messenger is included for your IM needs. If you don't like it you can always download something else with the Download! app.

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Windows Live Messenger

The final featured application is World clock for checking the time in any time zone at the cost of only a few clicks.

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World clock applications is well familiar

Ovi Maps for S40

Ovi Maps is a Nokia Maps rebrand. The whole thing is part of Nokia's integration of all their services into one. As for the app itself, it hasn't changed much.

By now you're aware that the 6303 classic doesn't have built-in GPS, but Maps can work without one - you can browse the maps, look up addresses, plan routes, but you'll have to do without voice guided navigation. Furthermore it won't give you your general location based on Cell-ID like Google Maps does.

With the Map Loader application for PC you can download map data to a compatible computer, and transfer it to your device to save on data charges.

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Ovi Maps for S40

Ovi Maps offers straightforward route planning. Having entered a start point and a destination, the application will plan your route with easy-to-follow directions to where you're heading.

If you pair the phone with a Bluetooth GPS unit, it turns into a full-fledged navigation decice. Furthermore, turn-by-turn visual and voice guidance are available upon purchasing a navigation license.

Saving locations in the Favorites section is another available option. The contents of Favorites can have different icons and can also be exported/sent via MMS, which is a nice extra.

Good pastime package

There are four games preinstalled and they are diverse enough to help most people kill a bit of time.

First up is Bounce tales - a fun, cartoony platformer that follows the adventures of a blob.

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Bounce tales

Brain champ is a collection of simple puzzles - a variant of Simon Says, simple math questions (2 + 4 = ?). The puzzles may be simple but since you're running against the clock, things can still get pretty competitive.

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Brain Champ

City Bloxx is the well-known block stacking game. Be warned, it's addictive.

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City Bloxx

And in the end is a Sudoku puzzle. Its inclusion is no surprise - these puzzles have become very popular. If you're a Sudoku buff, this may very well be the most used feature on the phone.

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The popular Sudoku puzzle

Conclusion

Well, here we are at the end. As you've read through this review you might have thought that instead of 6303 classic it could very well have been named the Nokia 6600 bar. And we mean that as a compliment.

Exploring the 6th edition of Nokia's S40 interface was a little underwhelming, we were secretly hoping for multitasking support, but the excellent web browser makes up for that.

The Nokia 6303 classic is a very well balanced phone. It will serve the needs of the regular user and do so with grace. Looks might not appeal to everyone but once you get it in your hand it starts to grow on you.

As good as it is, it's got quite a battle on its hands. The midrange is a very crowded market - there are new competitors coming out by the day, and worse still - the high-enders age and move down the ranks.

An old heavy weight - the Sony Ericsson K850 - has dropped into this price range with a price tag of about 190 euro. It has a camera that still holds its own today, and a xenon flash, which is a nice and yet not quite common feature. It also has tri-band HSDPA support.

Sony Ericsson K850
Sony Ericsson K850

The Sony Ericsson K770 Cyber-shot (about 110 euro) also offers similar specs, but has a lower price tag, a much better 3 megapixel autofocus camera and has 3G of course.

However if you prefer the metallic thin body of the Nokia 6303 classic, you may go ahead and check out the now similarly priced Sony Ericsson W890 (about 150 euro) or even the cheaper Samsung U800 Soul b (about 110 euro), which both offer slimmer profile, HSDPA, and 3 megapixel cameras.

In about the same price bracket is the immensely popular Nokia E51 (about 160 euro) - a Symbian smartphone with excellent build quality and Wi-Fi connectivity.


Sony Ericsson K770 • Sony Ericsson W890 • Samsung U800 Soul b • Nokia E51

Another one of the Sony Ericsson assets is the Sony Ericsson T700, which can be had for around 150 euro and offers serious, no-nonsense looks. While it's neither a Walkman nor a Cybershot it brings features comparable to the Nokia 6303, with fast data on top. Time has taken its toll on the T700's asking price so it's worth a look.

Sony Ericsson T700
Sony Ericsson T700

So, Nokia 6303 classic is pressured on both ends, as yesterday's top performers quietly age and capable smartphones gain more turf. The 6303 is neither, but still has plenty to offer the right kind of users. We're sure many people would consider the balance of features just fine.