Nokia Asha 501 disappoints consumers

Asha platform, touted as a stunning device with extended battery life and seamless Web 2.0 experience, the $99 Nokia Asha 501 feature phone fell short of expectations. It is squarely aimed at third-world countries such as Indonesia, India, and Brazil.

Despite much hoopla, the new device has conceivably failed to woo consumers. With regular specs, ironically Nokia Asha 501 does not run on 3G networks that would lead consumers to breathlessly wait to get their tweets or view even Facebook snaps.

With an eye on growing data consumption in emerging economies, the Finnish firm has designed Asha 501 with varied features for internet savvies. Fastlane allows a look into recently used apps while corner box display kilobytes of download. But, all these have 2G speed constraint.

The Nokia Asha platform though, is not scary, but not smooth either. The average consumers, are however yet to accustom with it, while Android-based mobility devices are readily available in the market and that too well below $99.

With 320x240-pixel resolution (low density) and LCD display, the newly launched Asha 501 may not conform to high-quality video content. The device also fell deficient in multi-tasking capabilities which are being offered by many of its competitors.

Business&Market founder-analyst Deepak Kumar believes that Nokia Asha 501 is clearly targeted at the budget youth buyers who would be happy to have access to popular apps and the internet. "The device lacks 3G support, but then that also helps achieve the longer battery life," added Kumar.

Nokia India did not respond to CIOL query, despite reminders. The company has also declined to share the number of Asha 501 units it pre-booked during the first week, after launch.

First Published in CIOL http://www.ciol.com/ciol/news/189156/nokia-asha-501-disappoint-consumers