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Welcome to the Nokia Asha 302 review. The new 2012 Nokia Asha 302 is part of a series of value for money feature phones that Nokia started releasing to the world in November 2011. The selling point is the mini QWERTY keypad as there aren't many high end keyboard based mobile phones any more, apart from Blackberrys. Nokia has discontinued the E series Symbian OS phones so the S40 based phones are the only keypads you can buy new. So if you've always wanted a Nokia E-series get one now before they disappear forever. The Asha 302 is priced as around $129 as a pre-paid package but less than $200 outright.
In terms of construction the 302 is very good. For a cheap phone there's real metal surround and back plate! You should not need to buy additional 'fancy phone cases' to protect it. The keypad feels OK but not as good as the E series. We don't understand why Nokia simply didn't re-use the old parts since they were some of the best out there. The screen looks Ok for the price and the only thing missing was GPS functionality.
In terms of use the Asha 302 feels like a quality mobile phone. The speed and responsiveness is great, all the features are there for texting, email, and web browsing in a low priced package. With Wi-Fi capability and the updated web browser it works better that other 'cheap' mobile phones in the same price category and similar to the one in Symbian Belle. The final feature is the amazing battery life of any phone based on Nokia S40 interface - which equates to about 1 month left in standby mode.
So far all the Android based qwerty phones we've tried have only been impressive due to cheap prices. These cheap phones may use the latest OS but their speed makes them impractical to use. The Asha 302 proves that you don't need Android or Symbian to be a genuinely useful and modern phone that can do everything and most of all have amazing battery life.
Overall we liked the Asha 302 and only missed GPS functionality or an additional 'wow' factor. Apart from that it has all the key components and capabilities of a very good regular mobile phone. It is one of the best available in the price category.
Specifications
- Nokia Asha 302
- Network
Dual or Quad-band GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (dependent on country)
Tri or Quad-band 3G 850/900/1900/2100 (dependent on country)
HSDPA 14.4 Mbps
HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
- Design
QWERTY
- L116.5 x W55.7 x D13.9 mm
Weight 99 grams
- Display/s
2.4 inch TFT 240 x 320
Resistive touch screen
- Camera
3.2MP Full focus
- Video Camera
640 x 480 pixel main video camera 15FPS
- Connectivity
Bluetooth V2.1
Micro-USB
- CPU
1Ghz
- Memory
Up to 100MB available to user
MicroSD up to 32Gig
- Ring tones
MIDI, MP3, Video, vibration and others
- Features
JAVA Apps
Organiser/Calender
SMS, MMS, IM, Email
JAVA MIDP 2.0
Music and Media player
FM radio with RDS
Speaker Phone/Hands free
3.5mm AV/headset
BL-5J 3.7V 1320mAh
Up to 34 days Standby
Up to 9 hours Talk Time
- Price history
Under $129 AUD November 2011 (Pre-paid only)
