Everyone is focusing on Nokia’s entry into the Android market. Besides the Nokia X family of droids, there were other devices that Nokia was showcasing today meant for the same market as the Nokia X but a slightly lower price point. The Nokia 220 and Asha 230 will be the phones that will work behind the scenes to bring on board the next one billion mobile phone users. That has been the main focus of the Ashas and other Nokia feature phones in their entire lifetime and the two new additions simply join the cause to that effect.
Nokia 220
The Nokia 220 is supposed to build on the success of the popular Nokia 110 according to Nokia and is the company’s most affordable data phone at the moment.
The 220 has a Nokia Xpress Browser with built in Microsoft Bing search and has Facebook and Twitter apps preloaded alongside an MP3 player, FM radio, video player and six game titles from Gameloft including Asphalt 6 Adrenaline and Modern Combat 2.
Nokia cites 13-hour talk time and upto 51 hours on media playback with 29 days of battery standby for the single SIM model and 24 days on the dual-SIM model.
The specs of the Nokia 220 are as follows:
- A 2.4 inch coloured screen
- 2 MP camera
- Support for a microSD card (upto 32 GB)
- Others: microUSB port for data transfer and charging, Bluetooth 2.1 (with Nokia SLAM), Dual-band GSM (900/1800MHz) and GPRS data connectivity flashlight
The Nokia 220 will be available in red, black, white, yellow and cyan colours with keypads in the same colours in select markets from today at a price of $39 (pre-tax).
Asha 230
Like the Nokia 220, the Asha 230 has a Nokia Xpress Browser with built in Microsoft Bing search and Twitter and Facebook apps. But there’s more. There’s Fastlane, the notification feature Nokia introduced with its Android device lineup for easy access to calendar, to lists and the like. Other social networking apps like Whatsapp, LINE and WeChat are also preloaded. Nokia promises that an update that will be coming to the entire Nokia Asha platform soon will bring Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage services to this device too. There’s a Swype keyboard in there too. Oh, and you can download HERE Maps from the Nokia Store on this device. Instead of the six game titles that buyers of the Nokia 220 will get, those who will go for the Asha 230 will get access to ten free games worth 20 Euros on the Nokia Store.
The Nokia Asha 230 touted as the cheapest Asha device in the world packs the following specs:
- Display: 2.8-inch QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) capacitive display
- Memory: support for a microSD card (up to 32 GB), 64 MB RAM
- Canera: 1.3 MP
- Battery: 1020 mAh that Nokia cites will give up to 12 hours of battery life on the dual-SIM model and up to a whole month on the mono-SIM version.
- Others: Bluetooth 3.0 (with Nokia SLAM), Quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz)
The device is available in select markets starting today at a price of $59 (pre-tax) in several colours: Bright Red, Yellow, Bright Green, White, Cyan and Black.
