Utilitarian, long-bodied Nokia 5.3 has budget basic specs - but it does cost £150
- Reference: 1594113306
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/07/07/review_the_nokia_53_review/
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Following in that storied path is the Nokia 5.3, which delivers steely reliability in an otherwise forgettable package.
If you’re looking for a Ronseal-esque blower that won’t break the bank, this device will meet all your expectations and then some.
The first thing you’ll notice is the price: at £149, it sits in a crowded market, rubbing shoulders with upstart Chinese rivals like Xiaomi and Realme. And while the usual bargain-basement compromises are there (Mobile payments? Forget about it. The Nokia 5.3 doesn’t have an NFC radio. And don’t drop it in a puddle, as there’s no waterproofing), it gives rock-solid performance for the cost.
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Click to enlarge
In terms of aesthetics, the Nokia 5.3 is unlikely to stand out in a crowd — or a police line-up, for that matter. The phone’s rear is clad in a simple (but reasonably sturdy) matte black plastic shell, which contains the physical fingerprint reader and the phone’s quad-camera setup. It’s comfortable to grip, and doesn’t feel especially flimsy — although the phone is reasonably airy and light.
There are the occasional design delights to be found. For example, the power button also contains an LED for indicating notifications, which is a feature that took hold on the old BlackBerry phones of yore and still remains relevant today.
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In the sunlight
Flip it over and you’ll catch a glimpse of the generous OLED 6.55-inch display. It’s not the brightest or most detailed we’ve ever seen, but it is tall, with a 20:9 aspect ratio that makes it better suited to emails than Netflix binges.
And it’s as a productivity device that the Nokia 5.3 best stands out. As is the case with other Nokia-branded smartphones, this device is enrolled in Google’s Android One program, guaranteeing three years of security patches and two software updates. That means it’ll eventually see an upgrade to Android 12, bringing incremental security and performance updates, along with the usual functionality shiny stuff.
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It also comes with an Android experience that’s as close to stock as possible. You won’t find much bloatware here, nor will you encounter the custom skins frequently found on comparable phones — like [6]the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro we reviewed recently , or [7]the TCL 10L .
20 years of GSM digital mobile phones [8]READ MORE
Under the hood, you’ll find Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 665 platform paired with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. While that won’t move the needle, it’s more than enough for day-to-day business work. The overall experience was breezy and responsive, with apps loading with a minimum of lag, and media-rich websites working without the typical judders found on pocket-money phones.
Battery performance is about what you’d expect from a phone with a power-sipping processor and a 4,000 mAh battery. Our testing showed it last at least 36 hours between charges, which is respectable. Sadly, there’s no wireless charging on offer, and wired tops out at 10W.
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Sharp focused shot taken with the unit
As mentioned, the camera is a quad-lens affair, headlined by a 13MP primary sensor. Accompanying it is a 5MP ultra-wide lens, a 2MP macro shooter, and a 2MP depth sensor for portrait shots. There’s no telescopic zoom lens to be found — and, in fairness, you wouldn’t expect there to be one for the price. That said, for day-to-day shooting, it delivers acceptable quality.
Overall, this phone is standard utilitarian Nokia fare, albeit with a pricetag that’s fairly easy to swallow. We’d happily recommend it over the aforementioned Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro and TCL 10L, purely on the basis of its Android One credentials.
That said, if you can afford to pay more, it’s worth doing so. Wireless charging is a convenience worth having in 2020. So too is NFC. And it’s likely those features will appear on Nokia’s upcoming mid-range 7.3 phone, expected later this year. And, if the tech grapevine is to be believed, it’ll also pack 5G. ®
*If we cherry-pick our sample and ignore outliers like the [10]N-Gage .
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2005/03/04/nokia_9300_review/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2012/11/09/20_years_of_gsm_digital_phones/
[3] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/07/06/nokia_53_rearb.jpg
[4] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/07/06/nokia53.jpg
[5] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/07/06/nokia_53_bottom.jpg
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/08/hands_on_xiaomi_redmi_note_9_pro/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/26/tcl_10l_review_tcls_debut/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2012/11/09/20_years_of_gsm_digital_phones/
[9] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/07/06/nokia_53_cam.jpg
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2007/01/31/n_gage_not_dead/
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Wireless charging is great, trust me.
I've had to get rid of too many phones because the charging port gets used so much. Doubly so if it lacks a proper headphone jack.
I echo your NFC comments, but wireless charging is great. I have a little wireless power brick with me, it's convenient and no need for cables.
You are plugging it in wrong!
Both of those are just shiny baubles to me with the latter being a battery sucker
Never use NFC myself but it is generally passive, otherwise how would wireless card payments happen? But then that's what I use for paying for stuff? Why should I get my phone out to make a payment, when a far less fragile card will do?
Wireless is charing is very convenient and becoming more available. But, particularly with USB-C, it's not as if plugging in a cable is beyond people.
It's passive on one side yes, but when NFC is enabled on a phone it's constantly looking for devices that are also passive (or at least it used to be). Mine always used to ping when a credit card or a passport was within reach.
I would guess you've installed an NFC reader app which is then looking for NFC tags to read.
The normal use case is the payment terminal is constantly looking for tags to read and the NFC on the phone acts as a tag.
I'd never use my phone for payments or banking ...
Finally. =-D
Thanks you for saying that.
I've been saying the very same thing since this NFC thing came on and been endlessly made fun of as being backward. Because, you know, new and shiny is good and ah so convenient.
Well, not for me.
Electronic wallet my ass.
O.
NFC is useful sometimes
https://www.freestylelibre.co.uk/libre/
Fairly specific use case though I admit..
I thought it was a great idea until seeing a good many people screw up at the barriers on the underground. Hang on that didn't work... double-click, or was it triple-click? ah no the wallet app has disappeared, hang on a sec... sorry about this...
And while waving your £700 phone around. No ta.
My Nokia 5 has NFC (so a regression in specs with the 5.3), and I have no problem with battery life. I turn off wifi when not needed, as that seems to be the biggest drain. Bluetooth and GPS are on all the time.
Like you though, I wouldn't dream of trusting the Android ecosystem with my money, so I don't actually use NFC for anything, although I have played with a little app that can skim credit card numbers.
Bugs?
Hopefully it will be better than my Nokia 5. I've been woken up a couple of times when I've left it on charge overnight. It beeps to tell you that it's too cold to charge, cancel that message and five minutes later it will do it again. Cancel that message and shortly it will beep to tell you that it is now too hot to charge. WTF!
The phone did not feel hot and the ambient temperature was about 13°C so I can only assume that it's a bug.
Can we get a utilitarian tablet?
I'd like an Android tablet with no GPS, no cameras, no microphones, stripped of all the third party spyware. Its a thing for running software and interacting with the screen, I don't want all the other crap.
I've got Huawei Matepad pro's at the moment, and I find the punch through front camera to be a real PITA. I normally stick some tape over the cameras, but its not pleasant with the hole punch camera types they're doing now. They've made the front all screen and punched a hole for the front facing camera I never use.
Also the charging thing. My tablets will be always on, they don't really do a charge-discharge cycle. I'd sacrifice the battery for a bigger screen. Why is it I cannot get an interactive screen tablet device designed for work?
Like PC all-in ones, but a modern Android slimline portable remake of one?
Somebody is telling porkies!
Not sure who it is though, or if they are just ill informed, the Nokia website says the 5.3 does have NFC, who's right?
which Nokia
so is this from whatever part of Nokia wasn't taken over by Microsoft, or from some random chinese company who just licenced the name?
Re: which Nokia
HMD Global have the rights to Nokia phones from Nokia. They are an independent company from Finland.
Wireless charging is a convenience worth having in 2020. So too is NFC.
Both of those are just shiny baubles to me with the latter being a battery sucker and I'd never use my phone for payments or banking as it's too many eggs in one basket.
Call me old fashioned but a hardened world traveller knows to split up his cash, cards, phone, wallet and passport for security reasons.