Nokia announced the Asha 501, the company’s latest full touch phone with the new phone in the Asha range earlier today. It runs on Nokia Asha software platform with Swipe UI, has a 3-inch QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) display and a 3.2-megapixel fixed focus rear camera. We got some hands-on time with the device at the launch event. Check out the photo gallery below.
There is only one physical back button on the bottom of the display.
There is a volume rocker and power button on the right side.
There is nothing on the other side, but you can remove the back cover easily to view the micro SD and SIM card slots.
The 3.5 mm audio jack, micro USB slot and a 2mm charger port. It also lets you charge via micro USB.
The phone has a sturdy build quality. There is a 3.2-megapixel fixed focus camera on the back and a speaker grill.
Here you can see the slots clearly. The SIM 2 slot supports hotswap. The primary SIM card slot is underneath the battery. The 1200 mAh battery would offer up to 17 hours of talktime and up to 48 days of standby (Dual SIM standby time: up to 26 days).
The Swipe interface is intuitive and offers a seamless transition between different screens.
It comes with lot of pre-loaded applications inlcuding Facebook, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Nimbuzz, Twitter and more. You can download 40 Electronic Arts games and games from Gameloft, Indiagames, Namco-Bandai, Reliance Games and more from the Nokia Store.
The Nokia Fast lane is multi tasking screen that brings all the recent activities together.
The phone comes in Bright Red, Bright Green, Cyan, Yellow, White and Black colors. It is priced at $99 (~Rs. 5,347) before taxes and subsidies and is expected to shipping starting from June 2013
Check out the complete photo gallery below. Also check out our Asha 501 hands-on and the interview with Peter Skillman from Nokia about phone.
Srivatsan contributed to this report