By Scott Colvey on Sunday, 30 September 2007
 If you’re an unfamiliar company determined to launch products into an established marketplace, it’s a good idea to make a big splash with some innovative products. That’s been Ubiquio’s plan. But so far, the firm’s output has hardly set the mobile technology world on fire.
Following a couple of unexceptional mobile phones and a similarly unremarkable line of Ultra Mobile PCs, the company’s latest effort is the 503G, a 3G Windows Mobile smartphone that, on paper at least, sounds fantastic. But is it any good?
Well, not judging by first impressions alone. Compared to some of its smartphone contemporaries, like the BlackBerry Curve 8300 or the MDA Mail, the Ubiquio 503G looks rather ungainly. Indeed, it is rather ungainly — it just feels that bit too big in the hand. In fact, the elongated design has the odd effect of making the 503G’s display look small, and yet, at 2.4” across and with a 320 x 240-pixel resolution, it’s on par with the competition.
Talking of the screen, it is perhaps the 503G’s nicest feature. ‘Bright’ and ‘clear’ are terms often wheeled out to describe displays, but here they are words that really fit. Text is super-sharp and the contrast is fantastic. It’s even viewable in sunlight, which is doubly impressive when you consider that the screen is touch-sensitive.
This brings us on to control and navigation. The 503G relies on Windows Mobile 6 Professional. Whether or not you’re a fan of this, there’s no doubt that the 503G offers plenty of ways to get around Microsoft’s pocket operating system. In addition to the touch-sensitive screen, there’s a jog-dial with action button, a D-pad, a Windows menu button and most notably, a button to access context (right-click-style) menus. This latter inclusion means that the 503G can be controlled entirely without the stylus, if desired. It’s a good thing, not least since the keyboard itself is a full Qwerty affair, with nicely raised keys that work quite well.
As the name implies, the 503G is a 3G phone. One attraction of 3G, in theory anyway, is the ability to conduct video calls and the 503G is pitched at business users who want to do video-conferencing on the move. As such, it includes two separate cameras — a 2-megapixel snapper on the back, and a 0.3-megapixel webcam at the front for those who would engage in video chat. Neither is particularly great quality, but the flexibility offered is good.
Finally, we rather suspect you might read other reviews of the 503G that bang on about its fast processor (a 520MHz model from Intel). Certainly, Ubiquio thinks that this is noteworthy, but a speedy chip does not necessarily make a quick smartphone. While the 503G does run more smoothly than many other Windows Mobile handsets we’ve reviewed, it still has moments when it runs frustratingly slowly. The web browser, in particular, seems tardy, with pages taking a good while to sort themselves out.
| Price |
£385 |
| Rating |
4 out of 6 |
| Good |
Sharp display; two cameras; versatile controls
|
| Bad |
Ungainly design; slow navigation
|
Buy from
|
Expansys |
Specifications
GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900, GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA, UTMS, HSDPA, 2.4” touch-sensitive (320 x 240), Bluetooth 1.2, 802.11b/g, 96Mb RAM, microSD slot, Windows Mobile 6, front and rear cameras, 0.3- and 2-megapixel respectively Battery life 4h quoted talk time, 250h quoted standby time Size 123 x 65 x 17mm Weight 159g
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