Nokia Asha 501: 10 Things You Need to Know About New Software Platform Based Handset Announced

Today, that is May 9, on the Indian grounds, the Finnish tech firm Nokia has announced its new revamped range of colorful budget Asha series - Asha 501. Stephen Elop, CEO, Nokia was also present at the event and unwrapped Nokia Asha 501 - the first handset introduced, based on the newly designed Asha platform touting many attractive and interesting features.

Speaking of the availability, Asha 501 will debut for sale in India starting from June at a price of Rs 5,000 approximately ($99 plus taxes). Further, the handset will be coming in dual SIM variant. Talking about the specifications, the Asha 501 is equipped with a 3 inch QVGA capacitive touchscreen display with 320 x 240 pixels, 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB internal storage, micro SD card slot supporting up to 32GB, 3.2MP main camera, Wi-Fi, 2G, Bluetooth 3.0 and a 1,200 mAh battery offering up to 17 hours of talk time and 48 days of standby.

The Nokia Asha 501 has been designed with the inspiration of Lumia smartphones and it is also the first step in the next chapter of Asha series. It has been launched with an aim to strengthen Nokia's grounds in the global market and definitely, the new series looks vivid and powerfully at the same time to kill the competition. Let's take a look at 10 key aspects of the newly launched Asha 501 family.

Asha Platform

Asha 501 is the first device to run on the new Asha platform, which is designed to make the experience faster and more responsive. The Asha platform also helps developers to create, publish and make more money from apps made specifically for the new generation of Asha devices.

Colorful Design

The new Asha 501 carries the durable design of Nokia and will be available in six striking color options including White, Black, Red, Green, Yellow and Blue. Further, there are two features which maked the newly launched series strong and handy - the scratch resistant glass display and a durable, removable back cover.

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Color Range of Asha 501

Asha 501 comes in White, Red, Black, Yellow, Blue and Green colors.

Nokia Asha Fastlane

Fastlane feature in Asha platform helps in multi-tasking.

Nokia Asha 501 Red Front

Asha 501 Red Back

Front View of Asha 501 Yellow

Yellow Back of Asha 501

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Swipe Gesture

The new Asha platform brings in the swipe based UI features to the Asha 501. With the new aspect, users can simply swipe at the notifications. For instance, one can swipe over a text message to reply or read, control the music player without entering the app. Also, swiping inwards will take users to the homescreen, swiping upwards will open the app menus, dragging downwards will open the quick settings and notifications list.

Fastlane

Asha 501 has two main screens - Home and Fastlane. Home offers a traditional and inconic view for launching apps or accessing a specific feature such as dialler or phone settings. Fastlane view is new and is inspired by how people really use their phones. It displays recently accessed contacts, social networks and apps and provides a record of how the phone is used. Also, Fastlane helps in multitasking by offering easy access to favorite features.

Nokia Xpress Now

Asha 501 comes with Nokia Xpress browser pre-loaded, which compresses Internet data by up to 90%. This is aimed at making mobile browsing faster and more affordable. Nokia also announced the availability of Nokia Xpress Now, a new Web application that recommends content based on location, preferences and trending topics. It will be available via the Browser homepage or as a download from Nokia Store.

India Language Support

Nokia Asha 501 will support a number of India languages including Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil and more with its virtual keyboard in order to allow the consumers enjoy communicating in their own language.

Airtel and Facebook Partnership

Nokia Asha family is popular for the innovative approaches to bundled mobile services. In order to retain the same, Nokia has partnered with Facebook and Airtel to offer unlimited data access for free via the the standalone Facebook app and the mobile site m.facebook.com as well.

Preloaded Features

Asha 501 is preloaded with 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. WhatsApp and other key partners.

Freebies

Likewise the other Asha handsets, Asha 501 will also come with 40 free EA Games that can be downloaded from Nokia Store.

Nokia HERE

The HERE experience, based on Nokia's leading location-based platform, will also be available as a download for the Nokia Asha 501, starting in Q3 2013 and will initially include basic mapping services.

TECHNICAL PROFILE

• System: GSM 900/1800 + WLAN; GSM 850/1900 + WLAN
• User Interface: Nokia Asha Software Platform
• Dimensions: 99.2 x 58 x 12.1 mm
(H x W x T)
• Weight: 98 g
• Display: 3.0" QVGA TFT Capacitive Display
• Memory: 128 MB Flash, 4 GB MMC included
expandable up to 32GB
• Connectivity: Micro USB connector and charging,
3.5 mm AV jack, 2 mm Charger connector