Nokia’s Asha 501 launch was a grand affair,
so much so that Nokia’s very own CEO Stephen Elop flew down to our
nation’s capital for the big unveiling. The Asha series hasn’t exactly
been a runaway success mostly because, even at its selling price, the
user experience left a lot to be desired. Local smartphone makers have
changed the perception of a cheap mobile phone. After being exposed to
Android ICS at prices as low as Rs 5,000, the Asha series paled in
comparison.
The Asha 501 is the first in the new series of Asha phones with which Nokia hopes to gain better traction against the never ending horde of budget droids. We’ve had a chance to spend some time with the phone so here’s our first impression of the device.
Display
The 3-inch display feels a little too small for a phone without a keyboard. Not only that, the resolution (240 x 320) is very low which makes everything pixelated. Don’t be fooled by the crisp and vivid display seen on Nokia’s website or the press shots; it looks nothing like that in reality. The screen sensitivity is pretty good however and even slight gestures are registered. There’s no ambient light sensor onboard, just a proximity sensor and accelerometer.
Interface
The Asha 501 debuts Nokia’s brand new Asha software platform v1.0. The UI is quite a bit faster as compared to the older Asha series but not what we’d called smooth. With just 64MB of RAM onboard, the interface gets sluggish quite fast. The other issue that’s parcelled with a new platform is apps. The ones available for the previous Asha series will have to be ported over so apps like Whatsapp is still not available for the 501.
The new UI gets rid of Nokia’s typical S40 homescreen. Switching the 501 on will take you straight to the list of apps on your phone. Nokia has added a new feature called ‘FastLane’ which essentially keeps a track of any and all activity performed on the 501. This means, you can just swipe right from the homescreen to see your recent activity and jump to that app directly.
The audio quality is quite good given the size of the speaker. Music and
alerts can be heard clearly, even in relatively noisy environments.
Video playback is not great due to the low resolution screen. The camera
has a fixed-focus and quite frankly, it wouldn’t have made a difference
if it weren’t there.
The Nokia Asha 501 is definitely a fresher and more interesting offering compared to its predecessors. A couple of features you’ll find lacking in the 501 is 3G and a front-facing camera but we won’t hold this against it since it's supposed to be an entry-level phone. Looking at the market however, we do feel the pricing is a bit high especially since you can find Android handsets with better specifications around the same price (the Karbonn Smart A4+ is one such example). The low resolution screen and lack of popular apps could be the two big factors to hold back sales of the device.
Online price in India
Rs. 5,199-5,400
The Asha 501 is the first in the new series of Asha phones with which Nokia hopes to gain better traction against the never ending horde of budget droids. We’ve had a chance to spend some time with the phone so here’s our first impression of the device.
Display
The 3-inch display feels a little too small for a phone without a keyboard. Not only that, the resolution (240 x 320) is very low which makes everything pixelated. Don’t be fooled by the crisp and vivid display seen on Nokia’s website or the press shots; it looks nothing like that in reality. The screen sensitivity is pretty good however and even slight gestures are registered. There’s no ambient light sensor onboard, just a proximity sensor and accelerometer.
Interface
The Asha 501 debuts Nokia’s brand new Asha software platform v1.0. The UI is quite a bit faster as compared to the older Asha series but not what we’d called smooth. With just 64MB of RAM onboard, the interface gets sluggish quite fast. The other issue that’s parcelled with a new platform is apps. The ones available for the previous Asha series will have to be ported over so apps like Whatsapp is still not available for the 501.
The new UI gets rid of Nokia’s typical S40 homescreen. Switching the 501 on will take you straight to the list of apps on your phone. Nokia has added a new feature called ‘FastLane’ which essentially keeps a track of any and all activity performed on the 501. This means, you can just swipe right from the homescreen to see your recent activity and jump to that app directly.
The Nokia Asha 501 is definitely a fresher and more interesting offering compared to its predecessors. A couple of features you’ll find lacking in the 501 is 3G and a front-facing camera but we won’t hold this against it since it's supposed to be an entry-level phone. Looking at the market however, we do feel the pricing is a bit high especially since you can find Android handsets with better specifications around the same price (the Karbonn Smart A4+ is one such example). The low resolution screen and lack of popular apps could be the two big factors to hold back sales of the device.
Online price in India
Rs. 5,199-5,400
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