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Welcome to the Nokia Asha 300 review. The new Nokia Asha 300 is part of a series of value for money feature phones that Nokia released to the world in November 2011. To be completely honest we are tired of smartphones that are priced at HUGE amounts of money. Very few of us use all the features that the latest smart phones are capable of and even if we didn't like them they are too expensive to try something else. Like the majority of people on the planet we just want a phone that does calls, text and emails very well followed by internet capability of course comes and next followed by 'Apps'. Long battery life is also common requirement and most of all we don't want to be tracked! The result is the Asha 300 and it also happens to be one of the nicest regular mobile phone we have tested in the last 6 months.
In the hand the Asha 300 is very well made. Although made of plastic there are no creaks, is not too heavy or too light and most of all DOES NOT feel cheap, even the panel shut lines are hair thin. The buttons feel good although a little small but everything is logically placed. The screen also looks good despite the relatively small and has low tech resistive touch screen, which admittedly helps reduces the problem of obvious finger prints. Highlights include a decent 5Mp camera and quad band 3G, meaning it will work on all phone networks.
In terms of operation the latest S40 OS is easy to use with the touch screen a really useful addition to the interface. The customizable standby screen with short cuts to regular contacts and calender entries and so forth work very well. The screen is responsive and works well especially considering it uses cheaper technology and anyone complaining is being pedantic or has never use one. The surprise is that the phone uses a 1GHz CPU which makes the phone as quick as much more expensive models although it does really show when using it for normal functions.
Although we think the Asha 300 is a great package for the price but you may miss A-GPS and Wi-Fi but considering it is a fully functional 3G phone you can always use Google Maps for GPS work and the small screen is not really suitable for hard core web browsing anyway. Nokia have included GPS and Wi-Fi in these types of phones before but clearly there are not many buyers hence they don't offer them. However they are missing the halo effect from having these features whether people want to use them or not. With the Asha you are also unlikely to exceed your data plan too quickly.
Overall the Nokia Asha 200 is a very good regular phone that works well and feels good. If your needs are reasonably basic than this is the phone to get. It does all the basics of email, Facebook, text, contacts and appoints really well. The in-built Nokia browser is also one of the best in this class of phone with FLASH compatibility. It makes most of the phones in this style and price bracket like the Telstra/ZTE and the Sony Ericsson Cedar feel and work cheap. We don't have any serious complaints, only one in fact and that is not even related to the Asha - why haven't Nokia made a more stylish (Vertu-ish) but value for money handset like the old 6500 classic without its flaws? - regardless we are considering purchasing one ourselves for benchmarking purposes!
Specifications
- Nokia Asha 300
- Network
Quad-band GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Quad-band 3G 850/900/1900/2100
HSDPA 10.5 Mbps
HSUPA 2 Mbps
- Design
Candybar
- L112.8 x W49.5 x D12.79.9 mm
Weight 85 grams
- Display/s
2.4 inch TFT 240 x 320
Resistive touch screen
- Camera
5MP Full focus
- Video Camera
640 x 480 pixel main video camera 30FPS
- Connectivity
Bluetooth V2.1
Micro-USB
- CPU
1GhzMhz
- Memory
Up to 140MB available to user
MicroSD up to 32Gig
- Ring tones
MIDI, MP3, Video, vibration and others
- Features
JAVA Apps
Music and Media player
Organiser/Calender
SMS, MMS, IM, Email
JAVA MIDP 2.0
FM radio
Speaker Phone/Hands free
3.5mm AV/headset
BP-4U 3.7V 1100mAh
Up to 24 days Standby
Up to 6.9 hours Talk Time
- Price history
Under $129 AUD MArch 2013 (Outright only)
Under $149 AUD November 2011 (Outright only)
