The Nokia Asha 302 is here now available in India. This is a low cost smartphone with QWERTY keyboard that houses a single GSM SIM card. This handset comes loaded with some basic features and is reasonably priced.
It will not be fair to compare 302 with the BlackBerry curve 9220, but here is the phone that resembles somewhat like the BB handset and is even cheaper. Let’s have a look at what the Asha 302 handset has got.
Nokia Asha 302 features
This Nokia QWERTY Asha series phone is light weight (99 grams) and is 13.9 mm thin. The 302 supports 3G and does not come with built in GPS.
Processor, OS and Display
The 1 GHz processing power is more than enough to impress anyone especially when running on the Series 40 OS (5th edition). The processing is smooth and really fast. The display is simple (not a touchscreen) TFT LCD 2.4 inches supporting QVGA resolution of 320 by 240 pixels with 262K colours.
Memory
Now when you are already impressed with the processor a mere 128 MB RAM, 256 MB ROM and 100 MB internal memory, will disappoint you, well not exactly. The 1 GHz processor is way too much powerful for the Symbian 40 series OS, so it hardly matters the low memory is compensated by the ultra high speed processing. Also there is support for microSD cards up to 32 GB to put in all your favourite MP3, images and video files.
Camera
The 302 has got a single 3.2 MP camera placed at the rear, however the quality is just like a 2 MP camera. Add to it there is no flash and video recording is neither impressive (176 by 144 pixels at 15 fps). The camera does comes with many features like sequence mode, full focus, self time, image editor etc.
Connectivity
This Nokia handset supports 3G (14.4 Mbps HSDPA; 5.76 Mbps HSUPA), GPRS / EDGE, Wi-Fi, micro USB, Bluetooth 2.1 and WAP 2.0. You can use the 3G network for connecting with friends on social networks and in case of unavailability of 3G, GPRS or the EDGE networks is used.
Multimedia
The video and music player supports MP3, WAV, WMV, 3GPP, H.263, H.264, MIDI, MP4 and eAAC+ files. You can use the built in loudspeaker or use a headphone plugged into the 3.5 mm audio jack. Plus there is a built in FM radio.
Battery
The 1320 mAh Li-ion battery does a wonderful job by providing a standby time of over a month and a talktime of 5 to 9 hours depending on 2G or 3G networks.
Nokia Asha 302 price in India is Rs. 6,280 with 1 year manufacturer warranty. Available in Red, Grey and White colours.
Asha 302 review
The QWERTY keypad is no doubt very useful when using social networking sites like Facebook / twitter or chatting with your friends. The 1 GHz processor and S40 is the main highlight. The price is low but for a little more one can invest in the Samsung Galaxy series handsets which come with touchscreen and android OS.
A price of under Rs. 5,000 could have made it an excellent deal. The camera is just for the name sake and quality is not that good. For the price this is still a good deal if you ignore the camera part and if you are okay with the S40 OS and for some reason do not like the android OS.