Nokia Asha 305 review: Redefining the feature-smartphone market

Reviews Natasha Garyali 16:54, 30 Aug 2012

We go hands-on with the Nokia Asha 305— the latest touchscreen dual-SIM smartphone in the Nokia Asha family

The Lumia range of devices were meant to revive the Nokia's image as well as its coffers. However much to the disappointment of CEO Stephen Elop, the Lumia-branded handsets didn't payoff as anticipated. Luckily for the company though, its investment in the feature-smartphone market has resulted in success.

Capitalizing on the popularity, the Finnish giant recently unveiled another low-cost, low-spec, pseudo-feature phone in the Asha family. Dubbed Asha 305, the feature-rich smartphone aims at 'delivering an aspirational smartphone experience' and 'accelerate consumers journey to mobile market.'

 

The device measures 110.3x53.8x12.8 mm in dimensions and weighs just 98g. The compact device features a small 3-inch resistive touchscreen with 240x320-pixel resolution.

The small screen coupled with the poor resolution cripples the overall experience - but then that's something we have to come to be accustomed to in 'budget' devices.

Powered by the series 40 interface, the device brings a concoction of Android drop done menu and Meego's three swipeable home screens- creating a more lively interface.

The there swappable home panel constitute of a app drawer, shortcuts, with the third open to customization e.g as a radio or dialer etc.

To pull down the drop down menu, Asha 305 users simply need to swipe down from the top. This menu allows users to perform a host of activities like open play music player and set the settings of your dual SIM cards to your preference.

For the text addicts, the device's full QWERTY keyboard aides in typing effortlessly.

The keyboard can also be switched to landscape orientation. We tried typing and texting on the device and found it to be quite hassle free despite the small screen.

The main USP of the device is that it lets you download any song in one minute. In fact Nokia has announced a 'One Minute Songstar' competition where Nokia Asha 305 users can sing their way for one minute and the winner gets to become Nokia's One Minute Songstar.

The loud speakers coupled with rich media player options in fact makes for a great pick for music aficionados.

Apart from being another budget candidate, Nokia Asha 305's dual-SIM functionality makes it a lucrative option in the Android dual-SIM space. The first SIM card is placed under the battery while the second one is  hot swappable and is placed on a side tray.

 

This eliminates the need to remove the battery cover and battery each time you need to change the SIM. Users can also assign a function to the particular SIM card, choosing from calls, SMS and data.

You can also save your contacts directly on phone memory or on either of SIM cards. The call quality on Nokia Asha 305 is relatively good. We didn't spot any major issues, except occasional voice distortion on the other end.

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