This week a report has been struck by the folks at Counterpoint Research that suggests that it’s Samsung and Apple ahead in the sales of smartphones worldwide by a mile throughout the month of October. Their research shows models sold throughout the world, so to speak, surveying 33 countries throughout it, including China where they […]
If you thought Foursquare was going to abandon the smallest of the small, the cheapest of the cheap in smartphone technology, you were wrong. Here this week the folks developing Foursquare have released the app for the Nokia Asha 501. This is a device that does not have GPS abilities – this would normally hinder an app that largely depends on such data – but no worries! This version of the app will use location data picked up by your network connection.
This app is one of the few available on essentially any smartphone you’re able to pick up – here on the Asha 501, it deserves a medal for good effort. What you’ll be doing here is checking in as you normally would on any other smartphone with Foursquare, here working with a simplified user interface to make sure the entirety of this smartphone’s relatively tiny and low-resolution display is made use of.
Users will still be able to add friends, seek notifications, and work with location searching. Supposing your connected to mobile data you’ll be able to search nearby locations for places of interest, check the locations you’ve been to make sure you’re still Mayor, and check information on locations such as, for example, if they’ve got free wi-fi.
You can see photos from locations, keep track of your own profile, and of course: check in. The graphics are simple, the app is small, and the whole experience looks to be just about as cut-down while remaining usable as it possibly could be.
Sound like a winner? This app is free – of course – and should be available for download by you immediately if not soon, if you’ve got a Nokia Asha 501 on hand, that is. If you’ve got any other smartphone – you’ll probably be able to download Foursquare there as well.
VIA: Nokia Conversations
Nokia Asha 501 gains Foursquare app: even without GPS is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Nokia’s play to retake emerging markets, the Asha 501, has begun its assault, hitting shelves in the first two countries this week. Arriving initially in Thailand and Pakistan, Nokia says, ahead of imminent availability in India, the Asha 501 borrows the eye-catching colors and unibody design from the company’s Lumia Windows Phones, but runs a
Finnish phone manufacturer has yet another device released, but this time around, it will not be on the high end side of things considering how it will not run on the Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system. In fact, this will be a feature phone, but does that mean the new Nokia Asha 501 does not deserve any kind of news coverage? That would be anathema to me – at least, as Nokia intends to position the Nokia Asha 501 to break down plenty of barriers and smash people’s expectations of just how much ‘smartphone’ that their hard earned money is able to buy.
First of all, let us get this out of the way – the Nokia Asha 501 might not be a smartphone, but this does not mean that folks who pick one up are going to lose out on touchscreen goodness. No sir, you will find the Nokia Asha 501 capable of delivering the full touchscreen experience, complete with social networks, content sharing and connectivity that has been deeply integrated into a wonderful, responsive and revamped operating system.
It will be compatible with the GSM 900/1800 + WLAN and GSM 850/1900 + WLAN bands, falling back on the Nokia Asha platform user interface, but this will not come with a dual SIM slot. There is a 3” QVGA TFT capacitive display to get things going with your fingers, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and I am quite sure the 128MB of internal memory is far from sufficient in this day and age – which is why the engineers over at Nokia has decided to throw in a memory card slot that is expandable up to 32GB, if you get the right MMC card, of course. Other connectivity options include Micro USB, a 3.5mm AV jack, and a 2mm charger connector.
The Asha 501 will come in bright red, bright green, cyan, yellow, white and black colors, where each purchase will be accompanied by a pair of red headphones right out of the box. It costs $99 a pop from Q2 onwards.
[ Nokia Asha 501 announced copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Nokia’s Asha 501 may have been met with a surprising degree of positivity for a budget smartphone, its $99 price tag and distinctive design undoubtedly helping critics overlook its rough edges, but it nonetheless faces strong competition from budget Android devices in emerging markets. The first of the new Asha Touch series, building on a revamped platform using elements of S40 and Nokia-acquired Smarterphone OS, the Asha 501 is distinctive arguably not because of its specifications – which are relatively mundane – but because Nokia has given the aesthetics of the handset the same degree of consideration it would its high-end Lumia Windows Phones.
The argument, as Nokia puts it, is that just because a phone may be cheap – or a shopper have only a small budget – that doesn’t mean there is less of a concern for design. Conversely, the assumption that hardware is the be-all and end-all of buying decisions is an erroneous one, Nokia’s User Experience Design VP Peter Skillman told us, with the theoretical budget potential users have in mind not solely being monopolized by what gets listed in the tech specs.
That’s certainly the way Nokia’s focus groups apparently lean, with the company claiming to have constructed this first of the new Asha touch range according to the sum of their demands. Nokia took its designers on a world tour, the company says, to focus on more than just building to a budget.
Making of the Nokia Asha 501:
The Asha 501 faces strong competition, on paper at least, from cheap handsets predominantly running Android. They’re widely available in India, China, and other countries Nokia is targeting with Asha, and for the same equivalent of $100 (or less), often with larger displays but still offering things like dual-SIM support and expandable memory.
What they don’t have, generally, is the same emphasis on design, and that may be Nokia’s wild-card. In a world of black, featureless slabs, the Asha’s near-lurid colors are not only attention-grabbing but memorable. That’s even if users eventually opt for the more sober white or black casings – which can, of course, be interchanged with other finishes.
The effort to tailor device to audience has another advantage. Android may run the gamut from bargain device to high-end flagship, but the user-experience on lower-powered phones (i.e. cheap ones) can leave plenty to be desired. In contrast, the carefully optimization Asha platform on the 501 doesn’t feel like the shabby cousin left languishing with an underpowered processor. Apps are swift; screen transitions lag-free.
The benefits of that could take a little explaining, and would probably require some hands-on time before they became clear, but if Nokia’s color schemes can get potential customers in the door and picking the Asha 501 up, that challenge gets a little easier. There’s more on the Asha 501 in our full hands-on.
Nokia Asha 501 hands-on:
Nokia Asha 501: Can strong design win emerging markets? is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Nokia will not launch its new Asha Touch range of affordable smartphones, such as the Asha 501 revealed earlier today, in the US or Canada, the company has confirmed, focusing North American sales solely on Windows Phone. The Asha 501 – which will cost $99 pre-tax and subsidies when it hits stores from June – will be the first of a line of handsets running the new Asha platform, which builds on Nokia’s S40 and acquired Smarterphone OSes; however, those in the US with an eye on a cheap smartphone won’t get the chance.
Nokia confirmed the sales decision, which not only affects the single- and dual-SIM variants of today’s Asha 501, but future Asha touch models, speaking to SlashGear in advance of the launch in India today. The phone has already been confirmed for Latin America, India, and Africa from June, with European availability – including the UK – from Q3 2013.
For the US and Canada, however, Nokia will be sticking with its focus on the Lumia range of Windows Phones. The company has struggled with low-cost handsets in the North American market in the past, and has since attempted a more strategic process rolling out Windows Phone, with carrier-exclusives rather than broadly offering each model across multiple networks.
That approach has had mixed results, with Nokia recently announcing its strongest ever global Lumia sales in the most recent quarter, but Windows Phone still dawdling in the mid-single-figures in terms of smartphone OS marketshare. Unsurprisingly, that’s left some investors unhappy, with calls at the recent annual general meeting to switch over from Microsoft’s platform to Android.
That looks unlikely, and Nokia will reveal at least one new handset running the OS at an event next week, the Lumia 928, expected to hit Verizon as a probable exclusive in the US.
Nokia: No Asha Touch range for North America is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Nokia has announced its latest handset for developing markets, the Nokia Asha 501, relaunching the Asha touch series and borrowing some of MeeGo‘s usability for a mass audience. Arriving in India, Latin America, and Africa from late June, and priced at just $99 pre-tax and subsidies, the Asha 501 debuts a new interface with a twin-pane homescreen, pulling apps into one view and then – a side-swipe away – notifications and recently-used items into a second, Fastlane view.
That Fastlane list also has shortcuts to posting Twitter and Facebook status updates, as well as messaging previews and music controls. Nokia also loads its Xpress Browser, which uses server-side compression to strip away extraneous bulk from webpages and thus save data costs and load times; new for the Asha 501, however, is Xpress Now, which creats a custom digital magazine based on curated news content selected based on the user’s interests.
As for hardware, there’ll be single- and dual-SIM variants, depending on market, with both having 2G, WiFi, and Bluetooth. No 3G – though that’s likely to come in future Asha touch models – but there’s a 3.2-megapixel camera on the back and a 4GB microSD card preloaded. Access to the Nokia app store is supported, and Nokia will be pushing out HERE Maps services from Q3 2013.
There’s also Nokia’s deal with EA Games, offering forty titles for download to the phone. Other available apps include Facebook, Twitter, LINE, Foursquare, LinkedIn, ESPN, CNN, and eBuddy. A WhatsApp app is likely, Nokia says.
Making of the Asha 501:
As well as the sub-$100 price, the Asha 501 will be offered with various data and social networking deals, depending on carrier. Airtel subscribers, for instance, will get free Facebook access for a limited period in Africa and India, while Telkomsel subscribers in Asia-Pacific will get a month of free data, to allow people to load up their phone with apps and such. Update: Nokia UK confirms the Asha 501 will launch in the UK in Q3 2013.
For more on the Asha 501, check out our full hands-on.
Nokia Asha 501 relaunches Asha touch with a hint of MeeGo is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Take Nokia’s estimable skills in crafting solid, affordable smartphones, a dash of MeeGo-learned interface know-how, and a motivating desperation to own the developing market, and you get this, the Nokia Asha 501. First of the new Asha Touch series, and toting an ambitious $99 (pre-tax and subsidy) sticker, the Asha 501 does what Nokia would argue only it can: distill the build quality and usability of a Lumia into something with the mass market reach of an Asha. The 501 makes its debut in India today, but SlashGear caught up with Nokia last week to find out exactly what makes it special.
Nokia isn’t new to making cheap phones, nor cheap touchscreen handsets. Its previous Asha series have run the gamut from numeric keypads through QWERTY thumbboards, to full-touch, with pricing in the low double-digits even before operators have had their way with subsidies. The Asha 501, though, is of a new breed: the first to market to run the new “Asha platform” for a start, and the closest an Asha has come to not only a Lumia Windows Phone, but to Nokia’s ill-fated but highly-esteemed N9.
So, you get a compact, sturdy unibody plastic chassis that’s worlds apart from the cheap feeling casing of previous Asha phones, and available in a choice of Lumia-esque colors – red, green, cyan, yellow, white, or black – with a slab of scratch-resistant glass up front. Just because it’s a cheap phone doesn’t mean it compromises on design: fit and finish of the handsets we saw felt far above the $100 price point, and the neat stylistic touches – such as the oval stud on the lower back panel, which not only allows you to remove the cover but serves as the speaker hole – leave the Asha 501 punching higher than its peers.
The hardware straddles the line between price and ability. Most disappointing – though understandable, given the target market – is the absence of 3G, with the Asha 501 making do with a 2G connection along with WiFi. There’ll be 3G Asha touch phones in future, Nokia tells us. Both single- and dual-SIM versions of the 501 will be offered, depending on location, with the first SIM under the battery but the second hot-swappable next to it, and a microSD slot that will come preloaded with a 4GB card. Dual-SIM models will be able to switch between the two cards without demanding the phone be power-cycled.
Speaking of power, that’s another string to the Asha 501′s bow. Nokia is quoting a runtime of up to 48 days standby (from the single-SIM version; the dual-SIM manages up to 26 days standby) or up to 17hrs talktime, which is more than impressive for a touchscreen smartphone. There’s Bluetooth inside too, along with a 3.2-megapixel camera.
Nokia Asha 501 hands-on video:
The tech is only half of the story, though; the other side is the new Asha platform. It may be built on some of the fundamentals of S40, but in practice it’s a new beast almost entirely, far more reminiscent of MeeGo on 2011′s N9 than anything else. We loved MeeGo and the N9, and so are glad to see that Nokia has in effect distilled much of what made them great into a device that’s far more ready for the mass market.
Swiping is the name of the game, with the Asha platform homescreen split into two views: the app launcher, a grid of “squircle” icons, and the Fastlane, a notification stream that tracks how you use your phone in chronological order. Apps loaded, calls and messages made or received, photos or videos taken, music played, or social networking updates posted are all listed, with the single physical control on the fascia – the back button – making multitasking between apps straightforward. Pull the Fastlane down, meanwhile, and you get a glimpse of what’s round the corner, with upcoming calendar entries listed, along with single-tap updating of Facebook and/or Twitter.
The other big software addition is Nokia Xpress Now, which builds on the Xpress browser – supporting server-side compression to cut down on data costs and delays – with a dynamically customized web-based “magazine” of news content that automatically pulls in new information based on your previous reading preferences. The browser itself has been redesigned with big, easily navigable buttons from the outset, along with a merged address/search bar that can be switched between Bing, Google, and Yahoo. HERE mapping will arrive in Q3 2013, meanwhile, and pave the way for more of Nokia’s custom location services to be added to the Asha platform.
Nokia isn’t handling all the apps itself, however. The Asha platform has access to a download store for third-party titles, with only a minor amount of fettling needed to get existing S40 software ready for the new OS. Nokia has carried over its deal with EA Games to offer forty free titles for all new buyers, while Facebook, Foursquare, LINE, Twitter, and more all have software ready to download. Nokia tells us it expects 90-percent of the so-called “key apps” to be available for the Asha platform within the next few months, a somewhat nebulous promise admittedly, but one which at least suggests the Finns aren’t entirely focused on pushing Windows Phone.
In practice, it all works surprisingly well, considering the price. At 99.2 x 58 x 12.1 mm and 98g it’s a short, stubby little thing that nestles into the palm nicely; Nokia isn’t talking processor speed or memory, instead expecting that the fluidity of what User Experience Design VP Peter Skillman – who also led the N9 project – tells us is a heavily optimized UI layer will speak for itself. Sure enough, we have no complaints around performance, though the LCD display has mediocre viewing angles (although we can stomach its QVGA resolution given the overall small size).
The Fastlane system quickly becomes second nature. By swiping left or right in an app you return to the homescreen – either app launcher or Fastlane, depending on what you used last – while dragging town from the top edge pulls open a notification drawer complete with toggles between the two SIMs (if supported) and shortcuts for WiFi, Bluetooth, and other settings. Pull up from the bottom edge and you find the contextual menu, helping keep the UI as clear as possible for the app itself. It leaves the software experience feeling more expansive than it actually is, aided by the use of MeeGo-esque graphics that still look crisp and clean even several years down the line.
As on the N9, you tap the display to wake the phone from standby. Notifications pop up as scrollable blocks on the lockscreen, and you can either swipe generally to get to the homescreen, or swipe a notification itself to jump straight into the relevant app. Nokia has usefully added a SIM icon to show which account the notification comes from. There’s also support for music playback controls when locked – along with, optionally, a dim but persistent clock always kept on-screen – and in the Fastlane; Nokia will bundle a set of bright magenta wired headphones in the box, and audio quality from them and the the Asha 501′s speaker is surprisingly strong.
Given the affection many within Nokia had for the N9, and the frustration – inside and out of the company – at seeing the MeeGo project cancelled, we were curious as to whether Skillman felt the Asha 501 was cribbing from that OS as an homage or an insult. Letting go of MeeGo was tough, he told us, but the potential benefits from the new Asha platform, not to mention the potential audience, is considerably greater. In all, they amount to a “fit for purpose experience” he explained, which epitomizes Nokia’s ambitions with MeeGo but at a price point that opens the range up in ways the N9 could never have managed. Yet, even with cost as an ever-present consideration, Nokia still had room to call the Bratislava Symphony in to record a new batch of custom ringtones, and commission artists to create the preloaded wallpapers.
With many manufacturers, there’s a tendency to compare their cheap smartphones with their higher-tier models and find them very obviously lacking. Nokia’s Asha 501 somehow manages to escape that fate, even when placed next to a Lumia 820 or 920. The Windows Phone will undoubtedly be more flexible, and better specified, but the Asha gives none of the sluggish reminder with every swipe and tap that it’s a far cheaper phone, unlike many rivals might. With 3G, we could see it being a hit for those wanting the web and app experience of a smartphone, only without the bulk and expense one might traditionally entail. Similarly, as a second phone – for taking away on a weekend trip free from the tyranny of a charger, or to a festival where you wouldn’t risk an iPhone – it has obvious charms.
Subscribers in Africa, India, and Latin America will get the Asha 501 first, with Airtel, Telkomsel, America Movil, and MTN all confirming they’ll offer the phone. Expected to begin shipping in late June 2013, it will go on sale through as many as sixty operators across 90 countries; UK sales will begin in Q3. Rival phone manufacturers, Skillman pointed out to us, have effectively given up on the low-end of the market. “We still feel we have something to offer there,” he concluded.
Nokia Asha 501 hands-on is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Nokia has given its Series 40-based range of touchscreen Asha smartphones another push to try to keep up with the low end reach of Google’s Android platform today. The mobile maker has announced a new addition to the range — the Asha 501 (pictured left & below) — which also ushers in a new version of the Asha touch UI that’s designed to be quicker and slicker, and has a focus on swiping gestures to make it feel more fluid.
The three-inch capacitive screen Asha 501, which has Wi-Fi but no 3G and costs $99 before taxes & subsidies, is expected to start shipping in June, via some 60 carriers in more than 90 countries worldwide. Nokia’s Asha range typically targets emerging markets in Africa, Asia and South America but Asha devices have also been ranged in Europe.
Although Nokia has retired its other in-house platform Symbian, to concentrate its smartphone efforts on Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS, it has continued to expand its portfolio of low end Android alternative S40-based devices — adding in a variety of new hardware and software features to devices in the range, including full Qwerty keyboards; dedicated keys for Facebook/WhatsApp; refreshed industrial design; its Bluetooth sharing technology Slam; its Xpress browser to lighten the data consumption load; preloaded social networking apps; free games downloads; and a focus on long battery life.
But keeping up with low end Androids also means improving Asha’s usability — and that’s what its latest platform refresh is all about. The Asha 501 is in fact the first fruit of Nokia’s 2012 acquisition of Smarterphone, a Norwegian company that made mobile OSes for feature phones designed to give them smartphone looks and capabilities.
Nokia said the new Asha platform is faster and more responsive. It also introduces a touchscreen UI refresh — with a dual homescreen view: the Home screen is a “traditional icon-based view for launching individual apps or accessing a specific feature”, while the new Fastlane view changes based on device usage, showing things like “recently accessed contacts, social networks and apps”.
Fastlane “provides a record of how the phone is used, giving people a glimpse of their past, present and future activity, and helping them multi-task by providing easy access to their favorite features”, according to Nokia’s press release. The feature sounds a lot like certain portions of Motorola’s Android skinning software — such as the widgets deployed on 2012 devices like the Motorola Motosmart.
The overall idea of the design refresh is to make it easier for Asha users to get to the apps and features they’re after, according to Nokia – with the two main screens accessible by a “simple swipe”. ”Fastlane is integral to the whole Nokia Asha 501 experience, but so is the ‘swipe’ motion,” a spokeswoman told TechCrunch. “With swipe as you experience it on the device, we were able to make optimal use of screen space, so you see just what you need. You swipe to everything else, including pull-down menus and of course, Fastlane. The whole user experience is faster and more responsive.”
So what about apps? The new Asha platform does require developers to rework apps for it — either by writing them afresh or porting them over. Which does mean Nokia is pushing the reset button yet again, but the company would probably argue that at this price point with these price-conscious consumers, users aren’t expecting hoards of apps — just select key apps. It’s also added in-app purchases to the new Asha platform, offering developers a new way to monetise Asha apps, along with its Nokia Advertising Exchange and carrier billing network.
“A good percentage of existing apps can be ported to the new platform,” said Nokia’s spokeswoman. “We already have many developers working on this. Going forward and with the new Nokia Asha Software Development Kit, developers can write an app once, and it will be compatible with future devices also built on the new Asha platform, with no need to re-write code.”
Apps that are already available for the new Nokia Asha platform include CNN, eBuddy, ESPN, Facebook, Foursquare, Line, LinkedIn, Nimbuzz, Pictelligent, The Weather Channel, Twitter, WeChat, World of Red Bull and games from Electronic Arts, Gameloft, Indiagames, Namco Bandai and Reliance Games. Nokia said its HERE location software will also be available as a download, starting in Q3 this year — and will “initially include basic mapping services”.
Messaging giant WhatsApp is noticeably absent from the list but Nokia’s spokeswoman suggested that may change in future, noting: “WhatsApp and other key partners continue to explore new Asha.”
In select markets, certain carriers are also offering data-free access to apps including the Facebook app and mobile website on the 501 for a limited time, offering another hook for the target cost-conscious consumers.
The 501 comes preloaded with Nokia’s cloud-based data compressing Xpress browser. Nokia has also created a new web app, called Nokia Xpress Now, which ”recommends content based on location, preferences and trending topics”. It said this will be available via the Browser homepage or as a download from the Nokia Store.
“Nokia has surpassed expectations of what’s achievable in the sub-100 USD phone category with a new Asha handset that is unlike any other, with design cues from Lumia and a mix of features, services and affordability that is valued by price-conscious buyers,” said Neil Mawston, executive director, Global Wireless Practice, Strategy Analytics, in a supporting statement.
Commenting on the launch via Twitter, Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi added: “Asha 501 shows what you can achieve when you design bottom up rather than strip down features to hit the right price point.
“Asha 501 Dual SIM with hot swap very important to users but what is most striking on this device is the user interface.”
The full device specifications for the Asha 501 are as follows:
Dimensions: 99.2 x 58 x 12.1 mm; 98 grams
Camera: 3.2 MP
Single SIM standby time: up to 48 days
Dual SIM standby time: up to 26 days
Talk time: up to 17 hours
Additional memory of 4GB (card included in box), expandable up to 32GB
Forty free EA Games worth €75 downloadable from Nokia Store
Available colours: Bright Red, Bright Green, Cyan, Yellow, White and Black
Suggested pricing is 99 USD before taxes and subsidies.
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