Tag: asha

  • Nokia Asha 302 Review

    hyp4mhz
    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)

  • Nokia Asha 300 Review

    hyp4mhz
    Welcome to the Nokia Asha 300 review. The new Nokia Asha 300 is part of a series of value for money feature phones that Nokia released to the world in November 2011. To be completely honest we are tired of smartphones that are priced at HUGE amounts of money. Very few of us use all the features that the latest smart phones are capable of and even if we didn't like them they are too expensive to try something else. Like the majority of people on the planet we just want a phone that does calls, text and emails very well followed by internet capability of course comes and next followed by 'Apps'.  Long battery life is also common requirement and most of all we don't want to be tracked! The result is the Asha 300 and it also happens to be one of the nicest regular mobile phone we have tested in the last 6 months. In the hand the Asha 300 is very well made. Although made of plastic there are no creaks, is not too heavy or too light and most of all DOES NOT feel cheap, even the panel shut lines are hair thin. The buttons feel good although a little small but everything is logically placed.  The screen also looks good despite the relatively small and has low tech resistive touch screen, which admittedly helps reduces the problem of obvious finger prints. Highlights include a decent 5Mp camera and quad band 3G, meaning it will work on all phone networks. In terms of operation the latest S40 OS is easy to use with the touch screen a really useful addition to the interface. The customizable standby screen with short cuts to regular contacts and calender entries and so forth work very well. The screen is responsive and works well especially considering it uses cheaper technology and anyone complaining is being pedantic or has never use one. The surprise is that the phone uses a 1GHz CPU which makes the phone as quick as much more expensive models although it does really show when using it for normal functions. Although we think the Asha 300 is a great package for the price but you may miss A-GPS and Wi-Fi but considering it is a fully functional 3G phone you can always use Google Maps for GPS work and the small screen is not really suitable for hard core web browsing anyway. Nokia have included GPS and Wi-Fi in these types of phones before but clearly there are not many buyers hence they don't offer them. However they are missing the halo effect from having these features whether people want to use them or not. With the Asha you are also unlikely to exceed your data plan too quickly. Overall the Nokia Asha 200 is a very good regular phone that works well and feels good. If your needs are reasonably basic than this is the phone to get. It does all the basics of email, Facebook, text, contacts and appoints really well. The in-built Nokia browser is also one of the best in this class of phone with FLASH compatibility. It makes most of the phones in this style and  price bracket like the Telstra/ZTE and the Sony Ericsson Cedar feel and work cheap. We don't have any serious complaints, only one in fact and that is not even related to the Asha - why haven't Nokia made a more stylish (Vertu-ish) but value for money handset like the old 6500 classic without its flaws? - regardless we are considering purchasing one ourselves for benchmarking purposes! Specifications
    • Nokia Asha 300
    • Network Quad-band GSM 850/900/1800/1900 Quad-band 3G 850/900/1900/2100 HSDPA 10.5 Mbps HSUPA 2 Mbps
    • Design Candybar
    • L112.8 x W49.5 x D12.79.9 mm Weight 85 grams
    • Display/s 2.4 inch TFT 240 x 320 Resistive touch screen
    • Camera 5MP Full focus
    • Video Camera 640 x 480 pixel main video camera 30FPS
    • Connectivity Bluetooth V2.1 Micro-USB
    • CPU 1GhzMhz
    • Memory Up to 140MB available to user MicroSD up to 32Gig
    • Ring tones MIDI, MP3, Video, vibration and others
    • Features JAVA Apps Music and Media player Organiser/Calender SMS, MMS, IM, Email JAVA MIDP 2.0 FM radio Speaker Phone/Hands free 3.5mm AV/headset BP-4U 3.7V 1100mAh Up to 24 days Standby Up to 6.9 hours Talk Time
    • Price history Under $129 AUD MArch 2013 (Outright only) Under $149 AUD November 2011 (Outright only)