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As long as you have reasonable expectations for its price point, the Nokia 5.3 does not disappoint. It's one of the better value smartphones, with its bright screen and capable rear quad camera setup.
In many ways, the Nokia 5.3 defies expectations for what a budget device can be, proving once again that if you look around, there's always a gem to be found in the sea of ever so expensive smartphones out there.
Design
The Nokia 5.3 is fairly light in weight, at about 185 grams, and features a subdued plastic back, with only its quad-camera setup above the Nokia logo and fingerprint sensor adding some flare. On the front, however, its display is protected by Gorilla Glass 3, and overall, the device doesn't feel cheap, but reassuringly solid. Nokia calls the available color options Cyan, Sand, and Charcoal, with us having the latter.
A teardrop notch above the display holds its 8MP selfie camera, while a small chin houses a second Nokia logo. The display features smooth curves all around, making for an appealing, modern look.
The volume and power buttons are placed on the right side of the device, in a similar fashion to most other smartphones, so there's no learning curve needed there. A smooth, breathing notification light is uniquely embedded in the power key. On the left, the phone has an extra button dedicated to Google Assistant, unfortunately non-customizable.
The fingerprint on the back gets the job done, although it's not perfect in terms of accuracy and speed. It can additionally be used to bring down the notification shade by swiping down on it.
The phone's 6.55-inch 720x1600 IPS screen is far from the sharpest, but it impresses with its contrast and high brightness, making it well visible even in sunlight. Black shades always look surprisingly solid, and viewing angles are perfect. For its price class, the Nokia 5.3's display is generally very good, and it's ultra-widescreen 20:9 aspect ratio makes this smartphone a good choice for watching movies.
From a technical standpoint, while the display achieved high scores for its maximum brightness and contrast, it's performing poorly in our color temperature benchmarks, and appears noticeably more blue than the average smartphone display. The good news is, color temperature can be tweaked in the phone's Display settings.
The CIE 1931 xy color gamut chart represents the set(area)of colors that a display can reproduce,with the sRGB colorspace(the highlighted triangle)serving as reference.The chart also provides a visual representation of a display's color accuracy. The small squares across the boundaries of the triangle are the reference points for the various colors, while the small dots are the actual measurements. Ideally, each dot should be positioned on top of its respective square. The 'x:CIE31' and 'y:CIE31' values in the table below the chart indicate the position of each measurement on the chart. 'Y' shows the luminance (in nits) of each measured color, while 'Target Y' is the desired luminance level for that color. Finally, 'ΔE 2000' is the Delta E value of the measured color. Delta E values of below 2 are ideal.
The Color accuracy chart gives an idea of how close a display's measured colors are to their referential values. The first line holds the measured (actual) colors, while the second line holds the reference (target) colors. The closer the actual colors are to the target ones, the better.
The Grayscale accuracy chart shows whether a display has a correct white balance(balance between red,green and blue)across different levels of grey(from dark to bright).The closer the Actual colors are to the Target ones,the better.
A defining feature of this smartphone's look is its circular camera module on the back, containing four cameras and a flash.
The Nokia 5.3 appears to have a great focus on portrait mode photography, with portrait shots taken on both its selfie shooter and back cameras often turning out quite impressive, with nice blurred backgrounds. Subjects generally look crisp and sharp, as long as there's enough light available, preferably natural.
In addition to Portrait mode, the Nokia 5.3's camera app includes a Night mode for low-light photography, which delivers generally decent results by processing the photo and boosting its brightness after it's taken. Night mode on the Nokia 5.3 is available on the main, and wide-angle cameras.
< Night mode onNight mode off >
Video recording from the main 13MP camera can go up to 4K, with its default resolution being 1080p. Videos come out satisfyingly sharp from the main camera, albeit a bit shaky and sometimes with too strong contrast.
For photos and videos, the phone's 5MP ultra-wide camera and 2MP macro camera are also accessible, and deliver good, although softer results.
Audio and Call Quality
For media consumption, the smartphone has a single bottom-firing speaker. Although it doesn't offer much in terms of bass or lower-midrange frequencies, the speaker makes up for it by having significantly high peak loudness, and remaining fairly crisp, at least to a point. A welcome alternative is available too - the phone has a headphone jack.
Call quality on the device is well above average, with voices sounding crisp and clear on both ends.
Software and Performance
Coming with the Android One version of Android 10 (and a promise of Android 11), the Nokia 5.3 offers a pure software experience with basically zero bloatware. 2 years of Android upgrades and 3 years of monthly security updates are guaranteed.
Performance from the on-board mid-range processor, the Snapdragon 665, is smooth and snappy. Casual games run great, with even the more demanding and large titles such as PubG Mobile performing smoothly at medium settings.
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In addition, Android 10's gesture navigation works great on this device. A double-tap to wake the screen gesture can also be activated and works reliably. Having the option to remap the extra Google Assistant button would have been nice, but currently, it can only either be used as intended or be disabled.
If the T-Rex HD component of GFXBench is demanding,then the Manhattan test is downright gruelling.It's a GPU-centric test that simulates an extremely graphically intensive gaming environment that is meant to push the GPU to the max. that simulates a graphically-intensive gaming environment on the screen. The results achieved are measured in frames per second, with more frames being better.
Nokia promises a good two days of battery life on a single charge, and that has proven to be true in my usage. Thanks to the phone's 4000 mAh battery and lack of bloat, light users can easily get it lasting even longer.
The Nokia 5.3 lasts through 11 hours and 53 minutes of continuous web browsing, 9 hours and 47 minutes of YouTube playback, or 7 hours and 27 minutes of 3D gaming on a single charge, according to our benchmark tests. It outperforms the likes of iPhone 11 Pro, Galaxy S10+ and Pixel 3a.
Samsung Galaxy A20e - The A20e looks eerily identical to the Nokia 5.3 from the front, and also promises good selfies on a budget. Motorola Moto G8 Power - Motorola's new budget battery king is a great alternative to the Nokia 5.3 for those who need reliable battery life above all else. Google Pixel 3a - Although higher priced, Google's budget Pixel offers unrivaled camera quality for the sub-$400 phone category, and it too impresses with strong battery life. If quality photography is what matters to you the most, shedding a few more dollars for this smartphone is the better move.
Rado, a tech enthusiast with a love for mobile devices, brings his passion for Android and iPadOS to PhoneArena. His tech journey began with MP3 players and has evolved to include tinkering with Android tablets and iPads, even running Linux and Windows 95 on them. Beyond tech, Rado is a published author, music producer, and PC game developer. His professional work on iPads, from producing songs to editing videos, showcases his belief in their capabilities. Rado looks forward to the future of mobile tech, particularly in augmented reality and multi-screen smartphones.
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