A smartphone experience at the price of a feature phone

Dubai: The Nokia Asha 501 is the Finnish manufacturer’s attempt at delivering a smartphone experience at the price of a feature phone. The mobile phone promises smartphone capabilities including a touchscreen, a new application platform, bundled social networking apps and dual SIM capabilities for extended connectivity. Let’s find out if the Asha 501 delivers to that promise.

The device features a candybar form factor with a three-inch screen. The phone comes in multiple colours with a plastic body and is 12.1mm thick with a weight of 98.2 grams. The plastic body makes the phone look a little bit like a toy, but as all things Nokia, it feels solid.

While the screen has an unimpressive screen resolution of just 240 x 320 pixels, it is touch enabled which brings a new experience at this price point. Until now feature phones have been mostly button driven.

With the Asha 501, Nokia has introduced a new platform for developers to build apps on top of. The Asha platform, although a modified version of Nokia’s Symbian platform, allows developers to extend the capabilities of the platform; bringing the Asha 501 closer towards ‘smartphone’ territory. The device already features applications for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other news portals.

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Nokia Asha 501 Spec, Photos & Price in Dubai