Nokia Asha 200 : Dual SIM , QWERTY enabled S40 device announced

The Nokia Asha 200 is a dual SIM enabled device which allows for Easy Swap ie it is possible to change the SIM card without turning off the device. You also get shortcuts for social networking , email , IM , Orkut and Flickr amongst others.

The phone can support upto 32GB microSD cards allowing users to store thousands of tracks. The phone is rated for 52hours of audio playback. A 2MP camera is also present at the back of the phone.

Nokia Asha 300 hands-on

The Nokia Asha 300 is one of four new Nokia Asha series featurephones announced today at Nokia World 2011 in London. The Asha 300 is almost identical in featureset to the Asha 303, except apart for a QWERTY keyboard, the Asha 300 comes with a traditional 12-key numerical pad and a portrait touchscreen.

The Asha 300 will feature a 1GHz processor of unknown type and a 240×320 resistive touchscreen. It’s design is that of a classic monoblock device. It is stylish and yet powerful enough for a none-smartphone class device. The built quality is solid, but feels a tad cheap – which is exactly what it is. A 5 Megapixel camera can be found on the back.

Nokia Browser and a host of other social networking, including Orkut and Flickr, and messaging apps can be found installed, as is Angry Birds. I was sceptical on how Angry Birds would work on a 2.4″ screen device but it works surprisingly well. The resistive touchscreen technology used meant that pressure has to be applied at all times. Multi touch isn’t supported, but that is due to disadvantages of using a cheaper resistive touchscreen.

The Asha 300 is a 3G device, but it lacks the WLAN radio found in its more advance sibling the 303. It does ship with Bluetooth connectivity, FM radio and will support microSD cards up to 32GB in capacity.

No announcement has been made regarding availability but it is due to retail for EUR75 before taxes and subsidies. It is expected to be released in Q4 of this year.

Nokia Asha 303 hands-on

Nokia today announced the Nokia Asha 303, part of the new Asha portfolio of S40 touch and type featurephones designed for emerging markets and part of Nokia’s strategy of getting the next billion people online.

Of all the Asha devices announced today, the 303 is the most interesting one. The Nokia Asha 303 is a monoblock device with a front facing QWERTY keyboard and 2.6″ QVGA capacitive touchscreen. Powering the device is a 1GHz processor of unknown type (likely to be some kind of ARM CPU).

 

The Asha 303 is a stylish device borrowing elements from the Nokia 700 and the low cost C3 QWERTY featurephone. It feels solid in hand and the build quality is good. The keys are well spaced, though they do not provide the nice ‘clicky’ tactile feel I was looking for. Four hardware keys resides above the QWERTY keyboard providing shortcuts to the messaging app and music player.

Because the 303 is built around social networking and mobile internet, it comes with a wealth of built-in applications and the wireless hardware necessary for it to do so. 3G and WLAN comes as built in standard. The 3.2 Megapixel camera doesn’t impress, but you can’t complain much for a device in this price range.

Nokia made a big deal of Nokia Browser, a cloud based proxy web browser that compresses the web by up to 90%. This is essentially the same thing that excellent Opera Mini does. Other apps installed includes Facebook Chat and WhatsApp, a sign that Nokia is serious in taking the instant messaging market into RIM’s territory, and Angry Birds Lite.

The retail price of the Asha 303 is EUR 115 excluding subsidies and taxes. It is expected in the first quarter of 2012.