Nokia has launched three new advanced feature phones with touchscreens offering a "smartphone-like" experience, the company said on Wednesday.
Nokia is trying to make the low end of its portfolio more competitive: During the first three months of 2012 it suffered not just because slow sales of its Windows and Symbian-based smartphones, but also because its feature phone portfolio hadn't kept up with the competition's.
The company needs to do a better job with the feature-phone business, CEO Stephen Elop said during a conference call announcing the first quarter results, and vowed to launch full touch products.
Elop has kept that promise, adding the Asha 305, Asha 306 and Asha 311 to Nokia's portfolio. All are based on the S40 platform.
The Asha 305 and Asha 306 both have a 3-inch screen, a 2-megapixel camera and GPRS connectivity.
In addition, the Asha 305 has Nokia's Easy Swap Dual SIM technology, which allows SIM cards to be swapped without opening up or turning the phone off, according to Nokia.
The Asha 306 also has Wi-Fi, which at US$93 before local taxes or operator subsidies is Nokia's cheapest WLAN phone to date, it said.
However, the Asha 305 is the cheapest of the three new phones at $85 before local taxes or operator subsidies.
The Asha 311 is the most advanced of the three. The HSPA phone is powered by a 1GHz processor and has a 3-inch display, a 3.2-megapixel camera and a micro-SD card slot. The phone will cost $121 before local taxes or operator subsidies.
On the software side, all future owners of the three phones will receive 40 games from Electronic Arts to download for free, excluding the cost of the data connection, according to Nokia. The games range across action, arcade and sports, and include titles such as Tetris, Bejeweled, Need for Speed: The Run and FIFA 12, Nokia said.
Users can also browse the Web and choose between a number of options for email and chat.
The Asha 305 will be available in the second quarter, while the Asha 306 and Asha 311 are arriving in the third quarter.
Nokia has to compete with a growing number of cheap Android-based smartphones.
For example, Vodafone recently launched the Smart II, an Android phone with a 832MHz processor, a 3.2-inch screen, a 3.2-megapixel camera and a micro-SD card slot. It can access the Internet using Wi-Fi and HSPA, and track the user's position with A-GPS. The phone runs Android 2.3 and will first go on sale in the U.K., costing £70 (US$108) with a pay-as-you-go subscription.
More Olympic madness as O2 loses venue name for Games - Gigaom.com
Except when it doesn’t.
With the London Olympics just around the corner, O2′s naming rights are being whipped away from it as the International Olympic Committee continues its quest to try and be the craziest organization the planet.
Not content with trying to ban user-generated content of The Games and policing the use of phrases like “London” and “2012″ in the same sentence, official Olympic literature has now erased any reference to the name of The O2 and called it “the North Greenwich Arena” instead.
It sounds a little odd, but in fact there is some logic. According to the IOC, it’s all about keeping the Games free of corporate blemish: the rules state that the names of venues should remain free from sponsorship.
And that would all make sense… if it were not for the fact that the Olympics are horribly tarnished from top to bottom with corporate branding.
Seems fairly hypocritical to me.
In fact, everywhere you turn, the Olympics are festooned with crass sponsorships. The official mobile company of London 2012? Samsung. The official sculpture? The Arcelor-Mittal Orbit. Oh, and don’t turn up wanting to use a Mastercard at a cash machine, because all of the non-Visa ATMs at Olympic venues are being closed as part of the card company’s sponsorship deal.
This Millennium Dome deal is not a shock for O2: it knew about it back in 2005 when it signed the deal. But that doesn’t make it any less silly to apply these branding rules in such an odd, arbitrary way.
Olympic handcuffs copyright anbibyte / Shutterstock
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Nokia launches Asha Touch keypad-less feature phones - Know Your Mobile
Nokia has just revealed a new line-up of Asha feature phone models, dubbed the Asha Touch range.
As the name implies, these are touchscreen-based feature phones running an Asha Touch UI, each with a 3-inch display. The range includes the Asha 305, Asha 306 and Asha 311, while the 305 and 306 have resistive WVGA resolution touchscreens the 311 has a scratch-resistant capacitive display.
The handsets have quite a different aesthetic design from other keypad-based Asha models and, typically of Nokia, come in a variety of bright colours. The 305 and 306 share the same outer shell which looks very sharp to us.
The Asha 311 features a 1GHz processor, HSPA (3.5G) connectivity and a 3.2-megapixel camera. Bundled in with the phone is Noka Maps and a 15-level build of Angry Birds.
All three will also include the Nokia browser 2.0, which utilises ‘cloud-acceleration' technology the company claims is three times quicker than normal browsing and can reduce data usage by 90 per cent for ‘faster and cheaper internet access'.
According to Nokia's press release the browser also features an integrated download manager and supports plug-in apps with 10,000 already available.
‘The Nokia Browser's Download Manager feature helps consumers to manage external content easily, saving music, video or pictures on a memory card, while surfing the internet,' Nokia says.
The trio of devices will come bundled with a selection of EA games thanks to an agreement with Nokia.
Nokia's statement said: ‘As well as providing a great, social online experience, the Nokia Asha 305, Asha 306 and Asha 311 have been created with entertainment in mind. All users will receive an exclusive gift of 40 EA games to download for free* and keep forever. These games range across action, arcade and sports, and include titles such as Tetris®, Bejeweled®, Need for Speed(TM) The Run and EA SPORTS(TM) FIFA 12.'
Nokia says the Asha 305 will be priced at around 63 euros (£51) while the 306 will be slightly higher at 68 euros (£55) making it the company's 'most affordable Wi-Fi handset to date.'
The Asha 311 is the most expense of the three at 92 euros (£74) and all three are expected to start shipping in Q3 of this year.
Nokia announces touch phones in Asha series - NDTV
Nokia Asha range was first introduced in October last year and includes 10 models, which are available in over 130 countries right now.
The Nokia Asha 305, Asha 306 and Asha 311 offer a fully re-designed touch user interface, and are targeted at young urban buyers. Consumers will have access to 10,000 web apps as well as 25,000 regular apps via Nokia store on the new phones.
Asha touch phones also feature an updated web browser, which on the lines of Opera Mini, reduces data usage by up to 90%. This is not all, as the phones also come with 40 free games from EA including Tetris, Bejeweled, Need for Speed - The Run and EA SPORTS FIFA 1.
Coming to the specific phones, Nokia Asha 305 and the Nokia Asha 306 feature 3.0-inch WQVGA resistive touch screen, 2MP camera, GPRS, and Edge connectivity. Nokia Asha 305 also comes with dual-SIM support.
On the other hand, Nokia Asha 311 comes with 3.0-inch scratch resistant, capacitive glass screen, 3.2 MP camera, 1GHz processor and HSPA connectivity.
The estimated retail price for Nokia Asha 305 is EUR 63 and it's expected to start shipping in the second quarter of 2012. Nokia Asha 306 and Asha 311 will be sold for EUR 68 and EUR 92 respectively. Both devices are expected to start shipping in the third quarter of 2012.
Key Specs
Nokia Asha 311
- 3.0" scratch resistant, capacitive glass screen
- Polarised display filters for better usability in direct sunlight
- WLAN
- 3.2 MP camera
- 1GHz processor
- Music Player, FM Radio and Internet Radio
- Plug and Play, easy PC connection and file transfer
- HSPA connectivity
- Nokia Maps and Nokia Life (in selected markets)
- Colours: Dark Grey, Rose Red, Blue, Brown and Sand White (colours will vary by market)
Nokia Asha 305 and Asha 306
- 3.0" WQVGA resistive touch screen
- 2 MP camera
- Music player and FM radio
- Built-in speaker
- Plug and Play, easy PC connection and file transfer
- GPRS/EDGE connectivity
- Nokia Maps and Nokia Life (in selected markets)
- Colours: Silver White, Red, Mid Blue and Dark Grey (varies by market)
Nokia's Asha range goes full touch with 305, 306 and 311 - All About Symbian
The Asha portfolio of devices represents the lower half of Nokia's overall mobile device strategy, complementing the smartphone devices running Windows Phone and Symbian. With the Asha portfolio, Nokia says it aims to "connect the next billion", a reference to both its current global reach (more than one billion people use a Nokia device) and its belief that access to the Internet and related connected services will be key for driving future devices sales across all market segments.
Nokia describes the Asha Touch phones as having "an incredibly rich, smartphone-like experience to consumers who want to be set free from excessive data consumption costs and short battery life". The "smartphone-like" may raise some eyebrows, but by many of the most common smartphone (specifications, third party apps, access to services) definitions it is valid.
The new phones run the new Asha Touch UI, which is built on top of Series 40 Developer Platform 2.0. Asha Touch UI is a refinement of the previous Touch and Type UI, designed to be used on full touch devices. Notable features include a swipe-like gesture implementation for switching between a homescreen, app launcher and a favourite application (reminiscent of the Nokia N9); a pull down notifications bar (for alerts, messages, missed calls and status information; full on-screen keyboard; and a reworked design for all the key built in applications.
Nokia Asha 305 (left) and Nokia Asha 311 (right)
Nokia Asha 305 and 306
The Asha 305, which has an estimated retail cost, before taxes and subsidies, of €63 and will start shipping in the next three weeks, is a mid tier feature phone. A key feature is the inclusion of Nokia's Easy Swap dual-SIM feature, which allows users to switch SIM cards without turning off their phones, but just as important is the inclusion of software and service-based features which expand the functionality of the phone beyond the communication core. Among the notable services-based apps are Nokia Life Tools, Nokia Music, Nokia Maps and Nokia Browser.
Key hardware features include:
- Easy Swap Dual SIM - change SIM cards without turning off phone
- Dimensions of 110.3 x 53.8 x 12.8mm, weight of 98.3g, 66cc in volume
- 3 inch WQVGA (240 x 400) resistive multi-point (LCD transmissive) touch screen
- 32MB RAM
- 10MB internal free memory and microSD card slot (2GB included with device)
- 2.0 megapixel camera
- Dual-band 2G (GSM 900/1800 or 850/1900)
- Bluetooth 2.1, microUSB and 3.5mm AV connector
- Music Player and FM radio; loud speaker
- Accelerometer sensor
Key software features include:
- Runs on Asha Touch, a full touch interface on top of Series 40 Developer Platform 2.0.
- Nokia Browser 2.0, a proxy based browser which speeds up web access
- Nokia Maps
- Access to email, SMS and instant messaging services
- Access to Twitter and Facebook through pre-loaded Social application
- 40 free EA games available through Nokia Store
The Asha 306, which has an estimated retail price, before taxes and subsidies, of €68 and will start shipping in the third quarter of 2012, is a sister variant of the Asha 305. It replaces the dual SIM functionality with WiFi connectivity.
Nokia Asha 311
The Asha 311, which has an estimated retail price of €92 before taxes and subsidies and will be available in the third quarter of 2012, is a high end feature phone and offers an Asha Touch experience with 3G connectivity and a number of specification bumps (additional sensors, faster processor, more internal memory, higher resolution camera, improved touchscreen and improved materials) over the Asha 305 / 306.
The 1GHz processor, 128MB of RAM and 3.5G connectivity means that the Asha 311 has better performance than the Asha 306/306 across a range of general tasks, but also opens up additional functionality and apps. An example of this is the included 15-level taster edition of Angry Birds.
The Nokia Asha 311 is Nokia's highest performance, most fully-featured Series 40 feature phone. It will effectively replace some of the lowest cost Symbian devices in Nokia's portfolio line up for 2012 and 2013.
Key hardware features include:
- Dimensions of 106 x 52 x 12.9mm, weight of 95g, volume of 92cc
- 3 inch WQVGA (240 x 400) capacitive touch screen (LCD transmissive), with scratch resistant Gorilla Glass and polarizing filters for better readability in sunlight
- 1 GHz processor and 128MB RAM
- 245MB internal memory and microSD card slot
- 3.2 megapixel camera
- Penta-band 3G (HSDPA Cat 10 - 14.4Mbps / HSUPA Cat 6 - 5.76Mbps) and WLAN (WiFi) connectivity
- Bluetooth 2.1, microUSB and 3.5mm AV connector
- Music Player and FM radio; loud speaker
- Accelerometer, Proximity and Ambient Light sensors
Key software features include:
- Runs on Asha Touch, a full touch interface on top of Series 40 Series 40 Developer Platform 2.0.
- Nokia Browser 2.0, a proxy based browser which speeds up web access
- Nokia Maps (relies on cell ID and WiFi for positioning data)
- Access to email, SMS and instant messaging services
- Access to Twitter and Facebook through pre-loaded Social application
- 40 free EA games available through Nokia Store; some of the 35,000+ available apps
- Special 15 level version of Angry Birds pre-loaded
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