Nokia's small wonder: Why Asha 501@ Dh300 is a smart hit

The Asha 501 is a small wonder Nokia launched in May ideally suited for beginners and first-time phone users. Priced at just over Dh300 the phone offers everything that a ‘feature’ phone should have.

Yes, the device is not a smartphone and lacks GPS and 3G support, but otherwise, performs like one.

It is expected to play a major role is Nokia’s success in the developing market, especially in the Asian Sub Continent, Africa and the Middle East.

According to reports, the Asha 501 is eighth among phone models searched for on the internet, on par with the HTC One, Sony Xperia Z and BlackBerry Q10.

So what makes this pone special?

The dual sim phone has a screen size of 3 inches, a capacitive touch screen with a QVGA display with 133 ppi.

The 3.2 megapixel camera can shoot decent images and videos. There is no front camera on the device.

The Asha 501 comes in six different colours -  red, cyan, black, yellow, green and white. Red and cyan continue to remain the most popular.

The design is a bit boxy but fits easily into any pocket. The rounded icons make it convenient and easy to use, even for an elderly user.

It has a single back button to close a ‘live’ app and take you back to the home screen. Similarly, a simple swipe to either side on the screen will take you back to the apps menu. There is no multitasking on this phone.

The device is powered by a 1GHz processor CPU 64MB ram and an internal memory of 128Mb, although upgradable to 32Gb through a micro SD card.
Like all Nokia Lumia phones, transferring your contacts from another phone is pretty simple and easy.

Just switch on the Bluetooth on both devices and keep the other phone in close proximity and the contacts just ease into the Asha device.
Setting up an email too is simplified enough with support for major service such as Google, Yahoo and Hotmail.

The Xpress Browser, compresses data by up to 90 per cent, thereby reducing data transmission charges. A recent update also enables tabbed browsing.
The 1200mAh battery is sufficient enough to run the phone without charging for more than a day.

According to the company the battery enables 624 hours of standby time and a talk time of 17 hours.

What’s more Nokia has just announced that it is planning to introduce its Nokia Music into the Asha series, adding value to the user, especially as the App store is yet to get populated with popular apps to match the scale of what’s available to Android users.

In an effort to boost the number of apps for the Asha series Nokia recently released the first version of a software development kit (SDK) for the phone, making it easier for developers to come out with Java enabled apps for the Asha OS.