Nokia Asha 201 Qwerty phone

When Nokia announced its three new Asha budget phones in October they didn’t attract much attention alongside the WinPho 7 handsets that were punted by the company at the same time. Nokia Asha 201 Keeping it simple: Nokia's Asha 201 That’s a shame, because the Ashas look like being very good mobile phones, perfect for …

[Anonymous Coward]

Proof that

There is no budget Windows Phone coming anytime soon.

Symbian at the entry level.

Crap Windows Phone at the "high" end (High is really an insult to proper high end phones).

[Ye Gads]

Re: Proof that

Um, no.

Microsoft are about to release WP7 Tango, the budget version of the OS. Nokia will be following this with release of the Nokia Lumia 610, which is their "budget" Windows Phone. Rumour has it that the 610 will bring WP7 to pre-pay and should cost under £100.

And by "about", I mean expect all these announcements officially at MWC 2012 (in about a weeks time) with Nokia bringing these phones to market in April or May this year.

[EddieD]

A few other features

You forgot the FM radio, which is a must have for me...

Not a huge fan of qwerty phones, I have to say, but if I was looking for a replacement dumb phone (which technically I am, my 6610i is now held together with insulating tape*), this would be high on the list.

*Gaffa tape is too wide, so I had to improvise

[Martin Huizing]

Seems Nokia is back to basics.

'Basics' meaning providing a quality phone for a good price. Nokia 3310 anyone? The missus still got one and is working fine.

[Tapeador]

Re: Seems Nokia is back to basics.

Made from fucking girders, those 3310s. My 6-year-old E61 still outshines anything going in terms of call quality and robustness.

[James Hughes 1]

Confused

Hardly any bad things to say in the review, and it still only got 80%???

Wuh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Confused

Agreed - it seems like a pretty flawless device for the extremely modest outlay. The build quality gets no complaints (the verdict at the end contradicts the main article regarding the keyboard), the software is praised, yet only 80%? Why, maybe because it's a Nokia?

I'd have thought north of 90% would have been a fairer score considering the praise that the main article heaped on this little fella.

[Dave Fox]

Re: Confused

What about the lack of USB charging?

I was considering getting the dual-sim version for when I travel overseas for business, but this *essential* feature put a kybosh on that - bad move Nokia!

Unacceptable in this day and age, and as such I wouldn't even give the phone 80%!

[Dave 126]

No USB charge... Grrr!

It used to be that us Nokia users could charge their phone in any almost any location- odds were that there would be a (old size ) Nokia charger (or 6) to hand... Not that we would need a charge more than twice a week.

I haven't had a Nokia for some years now, and have got quite used to recharging my gadgets from either Mini- or Micro-USB cables. Having a car stereo with a USB socket is handy for this, or a nearby PC, games console, LCD picture frame or TV.

[Dave Harris]

Re: No USB charge... Grrr!

"It used to be that us Nokia users could charge their phone in any almost any location- odds were that there would be a (old size ) Nokia charger (or 6) to hand."

Still is the case - every bar near me (that isn't playing "thwup-thwup" music) has a Nokia charger behind the bar, normally next to the can of lighter gas or petrol.

[armyknife]

re; Confused @James Hughes1

Yes, apparently the camera and video recording isn't very good, but that's offset by some minor features:

"The 2Mp auto-focus camera is a very basic affair and will only record video at 175 x 144 @ 15fps but to counter that the call quality, rear speaker and signal reception are all excellent."

I guess it's good that it's functionality as a phone even got mentioned, but why can't call quality and signal strength be discussed near the top of, your know all PHONE reviews ?

[Anonymous Coward 101]

Re: re; Confused @James Hughes1

Video recording will not even be close to a priority for anyone in the market for a £40-£50 phone. Texting, phoning and battery life are the priorities, which this phone appears to succeed at with aplomb.

It's like faulting a Vauxhall Astra because it doesn't handle like a Ferrari.

[Andus McCoatover]

No 3G?

OK, cost-saving, but 2G has limited life. According to a presentation we were subject to in 2006 or so for the Nokia masses, it was envisaged that it would be dead in 2010...

[Anna Logg]

Re: No 3G?

LOL (through gritted teeth) I recall being subjected to a death by PPT in 2003 (Feb 12 to be accurate) about how nobody would be buying GSM infrastrusture by 2005, hence there as no more need for the site I worked at. They got that well and truly wrong.

[Anonymous Coward]

Correction

Before anyone gets too excited.

This is NOT a Symbian phone. It's S40.

[Dan 55]

Correction to your correction

The review says it's S40 with Belle's visual styling.

[Anonymous Coward]

Correction to your correction to my correction

'The review says it's S40 with Belle's visual styling.'

(a) I can make a Metro UI for my Android phone, but that doesn't make it a Windows Phone.

(b) My correction doesn't need a correction anyway. http://regmedia.co.uk/2012/02/20/nokia_asha_201_8.png - says 'OS: Symbian'.

Ner ner neh nerrr ner.

[Dan 55]

Re: Correction to your correction to my correction

a) Indeed.

b) I stand corrected, I didn't notice that. I thought you were talking about the main text which does say it's S40 in a roundabout way.

[Andus McCoatover]

Re: Correction: "You can put lipstick on a pig..."

"...but it's still a pig!"

[Lamont Cranston]

Shame this wasn't out when my better half was in the market for a new phone.

Her Xperia Mini Pro is more phone than she really needs. Still, kudos to Nokia for continuing to make this sort of thing.

[Dan 55]

Re: Shame this wasn't out when my better half was in the market for a new phone.

Even Elop realised it's profitable and still worth doing, especially after the rest charged headlong onto Android then realised they're not making that much of a profit after all.

[cpage]

Only 2-band - how stupid.

This might have been useful, but how can they produce it supporting only 2 bands, so it won't work in many places around the world, especially north and south america. I couldn't possibly consider it.

[min]

Re: Only 2-band - how stupid.

...yes.

But since it is more reasonably aimed at a *large* group of people who aren't temporal tech jet-setters who travel to these new and strange lands every other week, it would seem that dual band is not so stupid an idea after all, since it is only a comparatively small market they will have limited themselves from.

What you find stupid sounds like pretty smart cost-saving thinking to me.

the only criticism i can think of is the charging port, but with a claimed battery life as long as that? not a problem really. As it is I have to carry a spare battery for my current phone(i really hate how HTC have different sized batteries for their phones that have similarish dimensions!), so the thought of carrying a tiny adapter that'll allow me to charge off the now ubiquitous microUSB chargers lying about is no greater headache..

and for £45? flipping hell. nice deal.

[The New Turtle]

Now if they could do the same phone for £65 with quad band, 3G and WiFi plus USB charging that would be a winner. I'll happily give up my Android phone in another year for something with this mix of capabilities and a 2 week standby battery life.

[Graham Bartlett]

No 90s alt-rock reference?

"Brimful of Asha" - cool song. And would have made a nice subheading too.

[John 62]

Re: No 90s alt-rock reference?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asha_(disambiguation)

[M7S]

Yay - a dual sim version is also due

I wish more phones had this capability.

[jrd]

Different opinion

C|Net don't like the phone much...

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/mobile-phones/nokia-asha-201-review-50005823/

In particular, that reviewer hated the keyboard and the menu interface. And wasn't much impressed with the call quality either ("muffled").

[Anonymous Coward]

90%

Reviews like a 90% phone. Knocked down I suspect, because it isn't for the trendy. Give it an Apple badge and Aluminium back plate and it's 100% and even then it would be nowhere near £45.