Best buy: *Free* with free line rental or £230 auto cashback from Mobiles.co.uk (Silver); or £79.90 on PAYG from Mobiles.co.uk (Silver) or £79.95 from the Carphone Warehouse (Black, Silver or Pink Illuvial).
Review: June 2009. Last updated September 2009.
The Nokia 6303 Classic is the upgrade for the Nokia 6300, which has been a bestseller for the past couple of years and one of our favourite Nokias of all-time. The 6303 Classic updates the technology and the styling of the 6300, fixing the 6300's problem of poor battery life.
Slightly larger than the 6300, but with rounded edges, the 6303 retains the smart stainless steel finish of its predecessor, but has a softer, more rounded style. The 6303 is a few grams heavier than the 6300 and feels good in the palm, but is by no means a heavy phone. One noticeable design improvement is the larger screen. At 2.2 inches across, and with 16.7 million colours, this is a comfortable display for this type of phone, and is bright and with a good number of pixels (320 x 240). The large screen, well-designed keypad and familiar Nokia menus make the phone very easy to use.
The camera has been significantly upgraded and has a 3.2 megapixel detector, with autofocus and a dual LED flash. Whilst not a replacement for a dedicated digicam, this is a respectable camera that is capable of taking print quality pictures under most lighting conditions. The video recording capability is good too, with a high maximum resolution of 640 x 480 pixels, although only at 15 frames per second. There is no video calling, as this is not a 3G handset.
The music player can handle all standard formats, and there is also a stereo FM radio with RDS, so that you can see which channel you are tuned to, and also the details of the music playing. And we're delighted to see the addition of a 3.5mm headphone jack, which means that you can plug in any standard-fit headphone of your choice.
An essential for a music player is a decent amount of memory, and whilst the 6303 comes with just 17MB of internal flash memory, it has the option of adding a microSD memory card up to 4GB.
A major shortcoming of the 6300 was the poor battery life - a common problem with slimline phones. Nokia seem to have solved this one, and the 6303 Classic has a significantly extended battery life, although the quoted figure of 7 hours talktime seems to be optimistic - was this test carried out standing next to a mobile mast?
Connectivity is good too. As well as the 3.5mm audio jack previously mentioned, the 6303 has USB and Bluetooth 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate.
The 6303 is priced at around the £100 mark at launch, so don't expect lot of high-end features. But it does have some nice touches, like Nokia Maps (but no GPS received), voice commands, email support and a web browser. The sales package is generous and includes a stereo headset, a micro-USB cable and a 1GB memory card. Nokia have done an excellent job of updating one of our favourite phones, and we highly recommend this phone for anyone looking for a budget upgrade, or in search of a solid reliable phone for business or personal use.
If you have a bit more cash to play with, then we would definitely recommend the 6700 Classic, which adds more functionality and has a smarter, more business-orientated look and feel.
Features of the Nokia 6303 Classic include:
3.2 megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom, autofocus and dual LED flash
Video camera (640 x 480 pixels, 15 frames/second)
Display: TFT, 16.7 million colours, 240 x 320 pixels (2.2 inches)
Music player (MP3, MP4, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, H.263, H.264 formats)
FM stereo radio with RDS
Integrated loudspeaker
Voice commands and voice recording
MP3 ringtones, 64-voice polyphonic ringtones, video ringtones
Messaging: SMS, MMS, email, Instant messaging, Nokia Xpress audio messaging
Java games, Nokia Maps
Personal organiser with calendar, to-do list, and notes
Memory: 17 MB plus microSD card slot (expandable up to 4 GB)
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, USB, 3.5mm audio jack
Flight mode
WAP, GPRS Class 32, EDGE Class 32, XHTML web browser, modem
Vibration alert
Triband
Size: 109 x 46 x 12 mm
Weight: 96g
Talktime: 7 hours
Battery standby: up to 450 hours
