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Nokia Asha 501: Impressive Low-end Touchscreen Phone for $99
- RyanZAG 13y agoHardly impressive - fairly pathetic really. Observe: http://androidandme.com/2013/04/smartphones-2/archos-reveals-stock-android-phones-starting-at-99/ http://androidandme.com/2013/04/smartphones-2/archos-reveals... http://www.androidforcheap.com/cell-phone-android-phone-c-58_53.html http://www.androidforcheap.com/cell-phone-android-phone-c-58... http://www.pandawill.com/mobile-phone-c1/android-os-phone-c551.html http://www.pandawill.com/mobile-phone-c1/android-os-phone-c5... etc. Just Google around for tons more. Generally better in just about every way, and running a real OS that can run real apps.
- mtgx 13y agoI think there was a quad core 1080p Chinese phone for $160, too. Considering these are running Symbian, that's a lot less value for buck compared to an Android one, even if the price is "low". EDIT: This one iOcean X7 - quad core 1.2 Cortex A7, 1080p screen, PowerVR 5XT (1080p video support), 2 GB of RAM, 13 MP camera. Now that's impressive. And it doesn't look too bad either: http://android-sale.com/iocean-x7-phone.html http://android-sale.com/iocean-x7-phone.html
- RaduTyrsina 13y agoof course, there are a lot of them, but what about the quality of them ... ?
- Jhsto 13y agoI used a pirate Chinese phone for a year. It worked just like any other Android phone and the quality was great considering the price tag of 100€.
- RaduTyrsina 13y agowould you buy it? :P
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- seanmcdirmid 13y agoThese are not running Symbian. From the article: > Nokia Asha 501 represents the first fruit after Nokia bought Smarterphone, back in November 2012. And maybe thanks to the Smarterphone software, Nokia has managed to pack so much inside a tiny, 3inch touchscreen device. As for the iOcean, I can't find a review about it anywhere on the web in English. Kind of risky.
- moystard 13y agoIndeed, it is running on a modified version of the S40 platform.
- Zigurd 13y agoThat's correct. That means the "app" runtime on Asha is J2ME plus some Nokia-specific classes. Only pre-installed software can access the S40 OS directly. That's not competitive with Android, Sailfish, or Firefox OS, all of which are already or will soon be in comparably priced devices in the developing world markets. Nokia should have kept Meego and/or Meltemi to remain competitive in this segment. They also could have sold Android alongside Windows Phone, as other OEMs do.
- RaduTyrsina 13y ago+1 to that. And, you won't be paying 100$. This is that type of phone you'll get for free on your carrier with a basic plan
- seanmcdirmid 13y agoThe markets that are targeted by Asha and Chinese shanzhai white labels don't have phone subsidies, mostly. China doesn't, I assume India doesn't either.
- bonchibuji 13y agoYou're right. Other than iPhone and some BB, I haven't seen anything coming with subsidies. Also, in India, almost of the connections are pre-paid. As per a Nielsen study, 97% of the youth (age 15 to 24) in India are on a pre-paid connection. http://trak.in/tags/business/2011/02/24/indian-youth-mobile-phone-usage-survey/ http://trak.in/tags/business/2011/02/24/indian-youth-mobile-...
- RaduTyrsina 13y agoIndeed, the first one is good, but second one - Starting at: $219.00 + it's a no name. the same about the rest of them. archos' interesting though. but no, asha 501 is not pathetic at all
- RyanZAG 13y agoSorry, my bad on the 2nd link, I pasted the wrong one. It was meant to be the 'cheap phones' link from that website. Here it is: http://www.androidforcheap.com/cell-phone-android-phone-c-58_53.html http://www.androidforcheap.com/cell-phone-android-phone-c-58... Those devices are better specs, cheaper (some are under $50), and run a real OS. The third link is the same, with better specs and well under $99, so I'm not sure where you're coming from here. Asha 501 seems very pathetic to me at least.
- seanmcdirmid 13y agoAll of those phones are pieces of junk. If you are comparing specs, the Asha loses. If you are comparing size, design, build quality, reliability, etc...then there is no competition here.
- seanmcdirmid 13y agoThink of the difference between a namebrand and a white label. If you get a bland cheap Chinese android phone, everyone will know it and you'll lose face. An Asha is a bit more classier, well designed, higher quality, still very affordable.
- RyanZAG 13y agoI'm not so sure about that. For example, this phone: http://www.androidforcheap.com/a7100-tv-wifi-smart-phone-android-40-os-sc6820-10ghz-5-inch-50mp-camera-p-679.html http://www.androidforcheap.com/a7100-tv-wifi-smart-phone-and... Without a careful inspection, most people will have a very difficult time telling it apart from newer Samsung phones, and it runs far, far better than the terrible Symbian OS. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx2ueazLvXI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx2ueazLvXI
- RaduTyrsina 13y agoRyan, there's some truth in your assertions BUT this is not ONLY Symbian. It's MeeGo + Symbian on the core + Smarterphone that Nokia has acquired = new Asha platform software.
- seanmcdirmid 13y agoAh, I've seen that phone for real (my office is in Zhongguancun). Its a piece of crap; all the Shanzhai phones are actually. In Chinese they have a saying: 便宜没好货，好货不便宜, you get what you pay for. What if I wanted to buy something for 7-800 kuai that wasn't a knockoff or a cheap piece of crap? The Asha promises "less" in terms of specs so it can offer more in other areas. Reasonable trade off.
- jsnell 13y agoIf by "without careful inspection" you mean "looking at the phone when it's turned off". That device is compromised beyond belief. For example it's got 256MB of memory while running Android 4.0. That amount of memory was appropriate for low-res phones running 1.5. Devices with double the RAM became close to unusable with 4.0.
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- moystard 13y agoTo be perfectly honest, I have seen quite a few Chinese no name Android phones and I have never been impressed by any of them. On paper, everything looks great, but the reality differs a lot: stolen design, bad build quality, poor screen resolution/contrast/responsiveness, slow, under-performing battery, etc. The 401 is not pathetic at all. It includes everything people from emerging country needs: a nice design with robust material, a solid battery life, and an OS good enough for Internet, and social network usage.
- ippisl 13y agoRyanZAG also mentions an archos phone. Archos is definetly no a "a chinese no name android phone".
- moystard 13y agoThat's the exception in his list, but it does package the same hardware as the Chinese ones. Regarding the Archos 35 Carbon Spec (the only one under $100), I have never seen a single core processor running Android decently. Most of the time, it actually drains the battery because the processor is struggling to accomplish any task. Not saying Android is a bad OS, just saying that Android requires much more power than S40, and I am sure the Meego-like UX on the Asha is actually nicer than the one proposed by a slow Android phone.
- ippisl 13y agoI'm dunno. My brother has a single core android, and it works fine.
- Zigurd 13y agoHad Nokia kept Meego they would not be in the pickle they are in. Asha sales fell sharply in the previous quarterly report. S40 is not a competitive OS. Meego devices would have multiprocessing and Qt-based apps. While some customers prioritize industrial design, battery life, and UI responsiveness, the success of Android phones among low-cost Chinese OEMs indicates they think some customers want capabilities before a nice physical package.
- AlexSerban 13y agoI'm not going to start the OS talk. From my point of view yes, Android is better if you want functionality and stuff like that. On the other hand, I give my vote for the build quality, the design, color and why not, even for the platform. It may held certain tricks that will prove reliable in daily use. Unlike the author, I still see this phone as a back-up. But I wouldn't say the same for my smaller sister.
- eliasmacpherson 13y ago"Another big selling point of the Asha 501 is definitely represented by its battery life, as it has an astonishing 17 hours talk time and up to 48 days of standby" I challenge you to find something comparable on the sites you've linked in terms of battery life.
- claudius 13y agoHey, 48 hours standby isn’t all that much…oh wait.
- 6ren 13y ago48 DAYS (because I didn't pick up on it at first, even with your comment, it's so unexpected).
- Kurtz79 13y agoIs it really relevant in this day and age ? I can think of a very few cases (like, being lost in the Borneo jungle) where this would be actually useful in a normal environment. If you live someplace where you don't have easy access to a power outlet at least once per day, it's unlikely you will have support for the advanced features of a smartphone, and an older Nokia phone will work just as well ...
- claudius 13y agoI find it quite helpful that I don’t have to carry a charger with me for shortish trips, although my phone only lasts about 5 days with medium usage. Granted, if I carry my laptop with me anyway it is just an extra USB cable, but if I don’t, it’s another 200 or so grams I potentially have to carry uphill on a bike.
- micampe 13y ago200gr? Dude, that's the laptop charger.
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- claudius 13y ago> running a real OS that can run real apps. Don’t underestimate Symbian and the quality of apps available even for niche products. Sure, Android and iOS might get the newest fanciest things in the Valley, but as long as your expectations are not too uncommon, you will find decent apps for nearly every usecase. Add to this that Nokia still has some high-quality apps themselves (Nokia Maps, e.g.) and the fact that Symbian has been around for a long time, and you shouldn’t have too many problems from an app perspective with these phones. I mean, even the hardly-sold N9 has apps for just about everything (and fifty trillion more things only insane people with too much time on their hands could want).
- kalleboo 13y agoIt's not Symbian, it's S40. So, J2ME apps.
- anonymous 13y agoAFAIK there's no freely available SDK for S40 phones, which limits the number of available applications to only what Nokia deem in their interest to make.
- pavlov 13y agoCertainly there is a S40 SDK. It's been around for a decade -- the S40 phones have always been programmable with Java ME and many Nokia extensions. As of this new device, the S40 SDK has been renamed as the "Asha software platform": "The new Nokia Asha software platform builds on the success of the Series 40 Developer Platform, to deliver consumers globally the power of a smartphone in an affordable, pocketable form factor. A 3” QVGA screen and swipe UI delivers a superior, fun user experience. For developers the Nokia Asha software platform offers new Java APIs and an updated web apps platform for desirable, high value apps." http://www.developer.nokia.com/Develop/asha/ http://www.developer.nokia.com/Develop/asha/
- Zigurd 13y agoThat's technically correct, but J2ME, even on Asha, is limited in capability and capacity: 2MB jar size and 4MB heap size, and without the rich component lifecycle that enables Android software to fit in small-ish heap limits. There is also no background processing, and no concept of middleware components like bound services. If you are a close partner of Nokia, you can get an SDK to create code that accesses S40 OS directly, but that's much like coding on a feature-phone's RTOS, and only for creating pre-loaded software.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- Nux 13y agoHow is that pathetic? Looks like a nicely engineered _PHONE_ with dual sim capability and can also check your emails/web sites/etc. To top it off they come with a battery LIFE that puts the whole industry to shame! I think you are greatly overestimating the power of "android smartphones"; especially the cheap Chinese stuff. The hype is impressive. Many people just want a _reliable_ phone they don't need to worry about charging every 12 hours. After having used a "smart phone" for 6 months I'm back to my cheap 4 years old Nokia phone: makes calls, receives calls, needs charging once a week (also does radio and flashlight, how cool is that!).
- SimianLogic2 13y agoSeems like a better "Facebook phone" than the one on Android.
- cbg0 13y agoA nice, cheap, small phone with dual-sim? Isn't this just like every other Asha phone they make?
- RaduTyrsina 13y agoYes, but look at more features, read the article and you'll see
- rajupp 13y agoAwesome build quality and impressive design. The screen size could've been bigger though
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- Geee 13y agoInteresting to see lots of influence from the N9. The interface seems quite good on this one, there's a little demonstration by Peter Skillman, starting at about 2:00: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6iMsePF0kk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6iMsePF0kk
- UnoriginalGuy 13y agoZTE produces tons of Android devices for this amount or slightly less. The ZTE Blade being one example: which has been out three or four years. This seems less "impressive" and more "impressive marketing." Why are we reading about this? How does it advance anything? A worse phone for slightly more money, because it has "Nokia" on the front?
- RaduTyrsina 13y agoDid you read the entire article?
- ultimoo 13y agoThis "used-car salesman" undertone, wordily mulling over the same points, and over the top praise are very typical of most Indian magazines and newspapers even. I'm not trying to be nasty here, even I am Indian and not a native speaker of English. I just find this style of writing very amusing and can recognize it anywhere. :-) EDIT: I was wrong about 'recognizing it anywhere', this article isn't from an Indian publication. No offense.
- RaduTyrsina 13y agohuh?
- RaduTyrsina 13y agoIt is, but I don't get your point. Though the writer is from Romania
- feintruled 13y agoBy "the writer", you mean yourself, right? I think the GP is just pointing out how unusual in style such articles are compared to, say, US tech websites. I very much doubt you'd see a sentence like "There are many things that might steal your heart away at this device" there. A more cynical man than I might label it a gushing puff piece garnered by some expenses paid Nokia PR event, GP points out cultural differences that might belay such an accusation.
- ricardobeat 13y agoCan I put Android on it?
- RaduTyrsina 13y agowhy?
- Nux 13y agoThis is awesome and may well be my next phone! Going to wait for the 3G version, though.
- JonnieCache 13y agoIf this is a return to the good old days of being able to throw your nokia down a flight of stairs without even dropping the call, then count me in.
- jdhzzz 13y agoWait, you can make calls with it?
- pjmlp 13y agoSo, who will write J2ME apps for them?
- Alterlife 13y agoIf by "free access to facebook" they mean no data charge for facebook access for the lifetime of the phone, I wouldn't be surprised by this being a hit with the college crowd... especially if the camera is decent.
- Maxious 13y agoA lot of carriers provide "free" access no matter what phone you have https://www.facebook.com/blog/blog.php?post=391295167130 https://www.facebook.com/blog/blog.php?post=391295167130 The catch is the videos/photos are not free, nor are the links to other websites of course.
- DocG 13y agoFor all the non-impressed people. It was unveiled in New Delhi, meaning it focus group isn't western world. It is not meant for you, who already own a smartphone. And for its focus group, it is pretty darn impressive. Battery life for people who don't have toilet, not mentioning wall outlets. edit: I think it would be perfect phone for kids first phone. Simple, cheap, good battery, durable.
- pavlov 13y agoOn a conceptual level, I like the approach of building up a mini-smartphone from the bare essentials. A few years back Nokia acquired a company called Smarterphone that was doing this[1], and this updated Asha platform is apparently the first fruits of the acquisition. The alternative is to take the "kitchen-sink" platform of Android which is actively developed for quad-core phones and full-HD displays, and try to pare it down to run on low-end hardware that's an order of magnitude slower and also has an order of magnitude less pixels to work with... While still preserving compatibility with half a million existing apps. That's of course pretty much impossible, so instead the super-cheap Android devices are running old software from several years ago with extra limitations imposed by the low-end platform. The difference in the two approaches is analoguous to Windows RT vs. iOS on tablets -- the other party tries to cut down the full system for cheaper devices, while the other builds up from software that's been proven on smaller devices. -- [1] According to previous reports, the Smarterphone OS had an app platform written in Scheme! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smarterphone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smarterphone ...I doubt anything of that survives in the Asha platform, but it would be cool to do low-end smartphone apps in Lisp :)