Nokia has taken covers off three new budget handsets from its Asha range earlier today. The new handsets to be introduced are named the Asha 305, Asha 306 and the Asha 311. All the three devices are targeted at emerging markets and were announced in Malaysia.
Let’s take a look at what these phones have on offer for you. We start with the Asha 305.
As made obvious by the model number, the Asha 305 is the cheapest of the lot announced today. It is a dual SIM handset and features a 3.0 inch display with a resolution of 400*240 pixels. It weighs just 98 grams and therefore is quite lightweight. The phone is based on Nokia’s S40 platform and features a built in App Store from where users can download apps and games from. It also comes preloaded with a bunch of games.
Taking care of the imaging part is a 2 megapixel camera at the rear which we believe shold be more than capable of handling basic photography tasks. The phone features a 3.5mm jack as well as micro USB port for charging. It also gets a Nokia standard 2.0mm charging port which we believe is a pretty good idea. The Asha 305 only supports 2G networks.
There is 64MB of built in memory which can of course be expanded to 32 GB with the use of Micro SD cards.
Asha 306
Next up is the Asha 306 which is a slight upgrade over the 305. Looks wise, it is identical to the 305. In fact, most of the features too remain the same – including the display size, camera resolution. It also skips the 305’s dual SIM capability. What it gets however is support for WLAN. There is still no sign of 3G, though on the Asha 306.
Asha 311
The Asha 311 is the priciest of the handsets announced today. The 311 sports a different look as compared to the 305 and the 306. While the screen size remains unchanged, the display resolution (amazingly!) sees a downgrade with this sporting a 320*240 pixel display. Also, unlike the other two devices which get resistive displays, the 311 boasts of a capacitive one. Apart from support for WLAN, the 311 also supports 3G networks. The internal memory capacity too sees an upgrade and has gone up to 256 MB. You can of course expand this to 32 GB using micro SD cards.
The camera megapixel count on the Asha 311 also sees an upgrade too over the other two models. This one gets a 3.2 megapixel camera. The 311 also comes preloaded with Nokia Maps as well as a 15-level version of Angry Birds. All three handsets comes with Nokia Browser 2.0 and a social network client for accessing Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks.
The Asha 305 would be launched before the other two handsets in Q2 2012 at an estimated retail price of EUR 63. As for the Asha 306, it is expected to be priced at EUR 68. The Nokia Asha 311 will be priced at EUR 92. Both these phones would arrive only by Q3, 2012.
