Specifications Continued

As mentioned on the previous page, the 503G supports HSDPA, although it’s limited to 3.6Mbps. This shouldn’t be too much of an issue, since most networks only support 1.8 or 3.6Mbps currently, but we should see more and more 7.2Mbps networks appear. It’s a shame the 503G doesn’t support this faster standard, but we’re not going to deduct points because of it. It’s also a quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE handset and it works on WCDMA (3G) networks operating at 850, 1900 and 2100 MHz which covers most locations in the world.



If you happen to be outside of 3G coverage and need a fast internet connection you’ll be happy to know that the 503G supports 802.11b/g Wi-Fi as well, and it’s pretty straight forward to get it up and running as with most other Windows Mobile devices. UBiQUiO has also fitted Bluetooth to the 503G, however it’s only the older 1.2 standard, but at least it supports A2DP profiles and stereo sound. It’s just a shame that it doesn’t have Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, as that would’ve made it easier to use the 503G as a HSDPA modem. You can read Cameron’s piece about HSDPA on this handset here. It does however work really well with a USB cable, and the 503G has built-in internet connection sharing too.



The 503G has a 2 Megapixel camera without flash, as well as a front mounted camera for video calls. We’ll go more in-depth about the camera a little later on. For memory expansion the 503G has a microSD card slot and we tested it with a 2GB Transcend card without any problems. The memory card slot is accessible externally and it has a small but sturdy rubber flap to cover it.



The battery is rated at 1,500mAh which we have to say is pretty good as most devices of this type have between 1,200 and 1,350mAh batteries. According to UBiQUiO this should give you around 4h talk time or some 250h standby time. It’s hard to judge a Windows Mobile device on battery life, as you’d use it for more things than just making phone calls, but the 503G seemed to last 2-3 days on a full charge, which is fairly normal.



Size wise the 503G measures 123 x 65 x 17mm (HxWxD) which makes it quite nice and slim, but it’s a little bit wide if you have small hands. At 159g it’s not too heavy and you could even carry it in a shirt pocket if must be. It might not be as small or as thin as the HTC S620, but it packs a much bigger punch in terms of features and hardware, so it’s a trade off we can live with quite happily.