Nokia Asha 305 review: Smarter 2gether

2MP fixed-focus camera

The Nokia Asha 305 has a 2MP fixed-focus camera that produces photos at maximum resolution of 1600 x 1200. The camera interface has been updated but still offers just a few settings.

The camera's main UI has four shortcuts in each corner of the viewfinder and surprise - they're orientation aware. This is a bit of joke really - one of them being a Back button, which has to always fall in the bottom right corner of the screen, they realign rather messily. Not to mention, the auto-rotation isn't the fastest around. Still, this is a surprisingly advanced feature to have in such a basic camera.

The camera UI

Anyway, you have settings, camcorder switch and a shortcut to the gallery. The virtual shutter is always center at the bottom, whether portrait or landscape.

In the Settings you can set effects, self-timer, grid and scenes. There is a deeper Advanced settings menu with resolution options, camera sounds, orientation, etc.

The image quality is nothing to write home about and is further affected by a problem with the camera lens - the left half of the photos is OK with pleasant colors and enough detail, but the right side is all washed out. We hope this is an issue specific to our unit.

Nokia Asha 305 camera samples

QCIF video recording at 10 fps is not enough even for MMS

Video recording isn't something the Asha 305 is good at. It does QCIF at 10 fps - really basic stuff.

The camcorder UI

The quality is bad and you can barely recognize what's on the video.

Here is a QCIF at 10fps sample for you to check out.

Connectivity

The Nokia Asha 305 is a dual band device (900 / 1800) and offers GPRS and EDGE class 12. There's no 3G (HSDPA) or Wi-Fi on board.

Bluetooth is version 2.1, but according to Nokia's official specifications is lacking A2DP.

The Nokia Asha 305 uses a microUSB port for both data connections and charging. There's no USB-on-the-go here though.

The Nokia Asha 305 also has a memory card slot (and a complimentary 2GB card). Coupled with a card reader it can usually give you the fastest data transfer rates.

And finally, there's the standard 3.5mm audio jack.

The web browser is good enough

The Nokia Asha 305 boasts a really cool new browser. Its start screen has a unified URL and search bar and a few handy shortcuts to favorite websites and services.

The tabbed interface offers one-tap access to Favorites, Downloads and Apps. The Favorites tab has the History, Home and Start page shortcuts, and you can add your own bookmarks here.

Browsing the mobile and desktop versions of GSMArena.com

The browser does the Opera Mini trick - compressing web pages on a dedicated server before sending them to the phone. Pages load quickly (even on EDGE) and don't use much data. Image quality is adjustable (Best/Good/Average or No images).

The web browser UI

You get only two zoom levels (again, just like Opera Mini): page overview and zoomed in. A single tap will will zoom in on the desired part of the page. To zoom back out to overview you need to hit a dedicated button in the bottom left corner.

Overall, the performance is not perfect due to the phone's low specs, but the browser works when needed and will get the basic tasks done.