Nokia Asha 210 Gets Listed for India Release: Big Threat for Samsung Rex Lineup?

Last week, Nokia unveiled a low-end handset Asha 210 with a revolutionary feature - a dedicated WhatsApp button. The handset will come in two varaints - one with a WhatsApp button for consumers in Asia and Africa and the other with a Facebook button for the European and Latin American markets.

The main focus on Nokia is to tap the market flooded with social-centric consumers. The handset will be available in single and dual SIM variants and it will feature a QWERTY keypad as in few other Asha handsets. Also, there is a Wi-Fi On/Off button on the handset.

Click here for more Nokia Asha 210 handset images...

Click here for more Nokia Asha handset images...

At the time of launch, Asha 210 was claimed to be released in the second quarter and now, it seems like the Finnish tech firm is gearing up to roll out the handset in India. Asha 210 has been spotted on online retailers Saholic and Infibeam with 'Coming Soon' status. Further, the 'Tell me when available' button on the former shows that the handset will be available for purchase from May 31, 2013.

Asha 210 - Specs

Specwise, Asha 210 features a 2.4 inch TFT display with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels and a pixel density of 167 ppi approximately, 2MP rear camera, 64GB internal storage, micro SD card slot supporting up to 32GB additional storage, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, micro USB 2.0 and a 1,200 mAh battery offering up to 1104 hours standby and 12 hours talk time.

Asha 210 - Features

Asha 210 comes with the Nokia Slam feature for sharing images and videos through Bluetooth without paring. Also, the handset comes with Easy Swap Dual SIM, preloaded YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Gmail applications.

Asha 210 - Price & Availability

As of now, there is no information on the pricing or the release date of Asha 210, but the handset is estimated to be priced at Rs 4,000 approximately. Nokia Asha 210 will come in yellow, cyan, black, magenta and white color variants.

Nokia Asha 210 - Threat to Samsung

Samsung launched the Rex lineup of handsets to compete with the Nokia Asha handsets and the low cost Android smartphones. But, it has to be noted that the Samsung's Rex series may not pose a serious threat to the Asha lineup.

The Rex handsets face limited OS capabilities, but the Asha devices that are based on S40 platform support applications including WhatsApp and many others. Also, Nokia has managed to offer a variety of hardware options including attractive colors, single and dual SIM support, full touchscreen, QWERTY and touch and type handsets. But, Samsung offers only dual SIM handsets in the Rex 'smart feature phone' lineup.

Moreover, the Asha series handsets usually come with a plethora of freebies including EA game titles and more. At the same time, Rex handsets also have 10 Gameloft games for free. But, Nokia offers a full fledged app store called Ovi store for the Asha mobiles, which is impressive.