GSM Arena’s Nokia Asha 305 Review
Here’s GSM Arena’s review of the cheapest Asha full touch S40, Nokia Asha 305.
They’re impressed with the speed of progress Asha has undertaken and compares it to Symbian which they say has taken Symbian a few years to achieve the same.
In terms of price and value for money, GSM Arena finds it hard to find an equivalent in terms of price and features. At a budget, the 305 really is a performer.
Thank Vikas Patidar for the tip!
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Galaxy Y is better.
First sentence of the review:
“The Nokia Asha 305 is easily one of the cheapest phones with two SIMs and a touchscreen, the closest Android being almost twice as expensive”
Also from the review:
”
At the Asha 305 price point (70EUR) Android is out of reach, but if you need a smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Y Duos is the cheapest DualSIM option there is. It also beats the Asha 305 in terms of processing, imaging, video capture, display quality and just about everything else. But yes, at 130EUR, it does cost nearly double the price of the Asha 305.
“
As one would expect for double the price.
you are wrong check out micromax a50.and dont say low end android sucks ive used both 305 and A50,both are not so good.but obiviously A50 is better than 305.
http://www.flipkart.com/micromax-superfone-ninja-a50-mobile-phone/p/itmd93favz3jsbmj
I agree, although Micromax is not a mainstream device like Nokia. Still, it is a good performing entry level similar price Android alternative that is better than the Nokia Asha 305. Truth be told.
micromax has a better reputation than nokia these days.if you walk in to a cellphone retailer you’d find more micromax devices than nokia.
I wish that were true in all parts of the world. We do have several China Android phones similar to the Micromax that are similarly spec’d and priced. Build quality is at par or even better than the Nokia Asha 305.
Still, there are better Android devices that are comparable or better than the Nokia Asha 305.
True. Even phones from the Malaysian phone manufacturer, CSL, isn’t stocked by all phone retailers. Only some do, even up till the point of filling the entire display, which gives the impression of them being their agent. Not sure about its build quality, but they look decent.
And like the above, they also chose Android for their mid to high end devices. Probably not surprised since the OS itself is free, but not sure how well they’re doing in that area as they’re up against both Samsung and HTC.
http://www.cherrymobile.com.ph/sites/default/files/images/Poster_AndroidFlyer_12in_18in(1).jpg
The number of models in a retail showroom isn’t directly proportional to the reputation or quality of devices by a mfr.
Else, Apple would fall under the most inferior mfr.
So, open your eyes, Mr. Manu.
retailers stock the devices which has demand.other than some ultra lowend device nobody cares of nokia these days.samsung and other local players are enjoying and exploiting nokia’s absence in android arena.nowadays in india,a device is like already half way sold if there is a symbol of tiny green robot in the box.first obivious question from a consumer will be ‘is it android’if the answer is yes the device is almost sold.if no its very difficult to sell that device despite how good it is
microwhat ? never heard of it. (living in Slovakia)
Also, just because you played with 305 and A50 for few minutes, can’t justify one is better over another.
Everyone knows that Android phones(with any version < 4.0) gets slower and slower with days and keep crashing. So, the overall experience and bang for the buck over the life of the phone with 305 may be as good as A50, if not better.
Galaxy Y sucks!
its still far better than those s60v5 craps still in sale.and dont call me an android fanboy for telling this.its not that difficult for nokia to bring a belle based device to compete with galaxy y.ofcourse it may not outsold it but can give good competition than those wannabe smartphones s40 and uttercrap s60v5
Totally agree. Nokia Belle FP2 for the win!
Too bad they won’t sell these in Finland, I know there would be quite a few interested ( who currently carry work + private phones ).
how come microkia forgot to write skype for asha?
Is it available on other feature phone platforms?
If I correctly remember then I have used Skype software on my Nokia 5610 years back in 2010. It is available for many S40 5th edition devices and you can not make calls rather it has only chat option.
Check the link below:
http://handheld.softpedia.com/progDownload/Skype-Nokia-Download-62900.html
What’s the point? You can’t even use Wi-fi with this phone. Data connection? Don’t even think about it. I assume the countries where this phone is released are mostly developing countries and the people who use them will surely be prepaid users. So, who in their right mind would want to use data which will eat up a huge chunk of their balance?
I doubt they can make it happen on at-least Asha 311. I have seen developer specifications of the phone and it does support many VoIP codes:
G.711,G.726 ,G.729, iLBC
Check out multimedia section in the given below link:
http://www.developer.nokia.com/Devices/Device_specifications/Asha_311/
And I think this is the first device I have seen in Series 40 category which is having VoIP codes support. Correct me If I’m wrong.
311 has VoIP included, like some of the other Series40 phones. see, http://www.developer.nokia.com/Community/Wiki/VoIP_support_in_Nokia_devices#Support_in_Series_40_devices
how thrild wud u b if multi taskin comes to asha dont compare symbian jst say how thrild wud u b….
Yes, it’s very badly needed feature to attract young buyers and I think Nokia is again missing opportunity to challenge low end Android’s because they all are far better then this Asha family in terms of features and usability.
Still I wonder why don’t Nokia put a Call or SMS Blocking feature on their low end phones. They don’t have 3G / wifi feature phone / smart phone with dual sim options. None of their dual sim phone support YouTube streaming while their earlier devices which cost half of the current dual sim phones had those features.
How could they imagine their glory days again, if they don’t have enough competitive products at correct price points.
this phone is cheaper then the low end androids. and the low end androids have a shity quality,poor battery life,limited apps,a lot of bugs and crashes. for the price it’s a good phone. want more buy the asha 311. want more than that but anything else except low end androids(with less then 1ghz processor,512 mb ram and gingerbread on board)
agreed with some of it but low end android hasfar better browser,more customisation and tweaking option,far better apps,better mail client etc.and 99% people will opt for a galaxy y or htc explorer compared to 311 .
Off-course I know if you demand for better specs then price will be higher but just explain how Nokia can ignore such basic software feature’s like :
1) Call / SMS Blocker
2) Mobile Tracker.
3) Smart Dialer
4) Basic Document Reader
These features are available in every other phones compared to the Asha range priced phones.
I don’t think they have to put any rocket science here.
Just they are ignoring the market needs and underestimating it.
Look at Samsung, they have dual sim variant of all their galaxy successors. And ironically Nokia still don’t have any single dal SIM smartphone.
Hi Vikas, But many asha models do have 3G radio technologies includingnew ones like 311/ 300… Nokia Asha 306 is the most affordable nokia with wi fi technology.
HAve u noticed how quick in matter of months the series 40 has grown so hoot and attractive and symbian took months and years bugs after bug …. I am sure come this fall series 40 will push the boundary and many of your concerns will be addressed…as i said before we will have to look for newer definition for smartphones… Asha 305/306/311 are just start of something big coming stay tuned..
but dude unfortunately the world outside simply dont care about it.how good the s40 become it will always be considered as a dumbphone os,just like symbian is considered as a bad smartphone os.and android phones however bad it is will always be preferred over both.once they(nokia) should rename it and teach it some cool tricks and make it as good as bada os if not better.
I know friend that Asha series has Wifi and 3G but then need to bring more choices to the customers.
Also I have been using Series 40 Nokia Phones since 2008 and I haven’t seen any major changes apart from this latest one. Touch and type phones are just copy of the Series 40 5th editions. Many of those didn’t support for copy and paste etc. I don’t know why Nokia has made such mistakes at software front.
Nokia 2690 phone was announced in late 2009 and costs only 3000 INR has all such features like YouTube streaming. Text Marking , Copy and Paste. Voice Recognition etc.. And Now their phones which are having double price tags but still nothing.
are you implying you know it is coming?
Do u know something that we don’t know ?
I was just about to say the same thing. Haha seems like multitasking is possible for asha? I hope it’s swipe though.
A friend of mine claimed that limited multitasking a la iOS should not be difficult to have even on S40.
I think a few Indian or Asian sounding aliases (for the lack of a better word, sorry) have been dropping some Series 40/Smarterphone related hints here for weeks now, suggesting something big around the corner. Maybe there is something new cooking there for an early fall launch, something beyond Asha 305/306/311. Or maybe it is just hot air.
Having said that, to me it would seem natural that Nokia World (what’s left of it anyway) this year too would see significant Lumia and Asha news – those, after all, are now the two major product-lines at Nokia.
We still don’t quite know what those Smarterphone guys have been up to at Nokia…
Android is always best with best specs.Galaxy Y? I’ve used it for a while..yuck! most horrible Android n TW exp ever.S40 is good but i didnt used it yet.. GS3 gives best TW exp.Period.Am having GS3,808,iPhone4S.. Best of all worlds..
I think comparing asha 311 with galaxy y and other cheap androids wud be fair. But nokia need to price the 311 right , INR 6000-6500 wud be perfect.
And on a side note , i discovered a trick/hack to multitask in s40 phones. I don’t know it wud work on s40 touch or not but it works for s40 5th edition phones(like on my 2730c).
http://rajwin-aravind.blogspot.com/2011/08/minimize-java-applications-in-nokia-s40.html
http://7terabyte.blogspot.com/2012/02/nokia-s40-phones-java-apps-minimizing.html
It shud work with s40 touch with little or more modifications. Any dev/hacker/programmer here , please try.
Besides multitasking , s40(touch & non touch) phones also miss some common(but important) things like call/sms blocker , phone tracker , document viewer/editor , smart dialing etc. C’mon nokia , is that too hard to put these things in s40 phones? These little features are present on the cheapest of samsungs.
How can u expect to sell well when u don’t give a complete experience?
I am amazed and pleased by the new asha touch UI but why don’t u do things perfectly. Why u always do things after samsung have already done it(dual sim phone , low end full touch phones). Nokia its not the time to break it , its time to make it. So make it like no else.
S40 touch will be in dead OS list very soon. S40 is only for classic phones with T9 1-2 models per year as long as those makes any sales. After classic phone buyers are too low S40 will be dead for good.
But @dsmobile that has already startd the core of the platform is now moving from ISA to a real kernel architecture so technically they are already breaking out but would they drop the branding may be that i don’t know do u think they will… really interested to know that how going forth they will market it as they have huge investments going arnd… so the old core supporting T9 that u said may die but wat will be new marketing and branding arnd the new core.
Nokia will not make own OS for mobile phones. It’s too costly for their new strategy they only will use OS from outside companies.
dsmobile: What in your view Nokia acquired Smarterphone for?
Maybe for their own protection, just imagine Smarterphone OS competing agains S40, Android, Bada… S40 will be at the botton… Just thinking…
Is not now?
Piss-off with your rude necroing. What’s with all these Indian posters who keep necro-posting all over the place.
The core is very capable java inherently supports multi threading nad the new core is moving out from ISA to something better so u can ofcourse hope for bigger better things….
Could this be what Smaterphone guys were for?
I’m still thinking it is possible we are missing what else Nokia had planned for Asha… maybe there was more to it than Meltemi. Maybe Smarterphone acquisition was more than just hiring hands.
Whatever they have planned but multitasking is badly needed if they are just telling that we are going against cheap androids. Then this phones are nothing and no where near to them. I know how good the quality of their hardware and camera but still people are looking for real cheap smartphone from Nokia and for the time being they have nothing. Windows Phones cant be further down anything less then $185 – $200. Still Nokia needs to cover the price range $120-$200 with something which is different and better then others. Asha is very good attempt but still they are ignoring dual sim market where peoples are demanding Wi-Fi, 3G based variants.
It was never about just hiring hands, pretty sure you know that.
The post you’re addressing is unintelligible mumbo jumbo…
Given the the majority of his posts, why even place credence/weight on it?
For lack of any better sources. Same with the “hiring hands” rumor.
One considers what one has. It doesn’t mean I am considering it likely or accurate.
Just pondering and thinking out loud. That’s all.
Righto then.
Dualsim is just a common standard, Nokia has introduced it very very very late! And Ashas seems to me to be +25% of price with comparable models. IMHO. If quality will be reasonable it can work, but if it is designed and manufactured to be alive 2 years only – this will be on quite OK. And Nokia will have bad PR of “shitty devices” again. IMHO.
Nokia Asha 305 is a great smartphone with dual sim and touchscreen also has a feature of fastest music download
That’s a cool story bro.
I bought Nokia Asha 305 as per my budget.
Following features I liked very much
1. Touch navigation is very fast compared to models like C6, Nokia 5800 etc.
2. Sound quality is very good. I am very much satisfied.
3. Email with google works very good but it is slow due to 2G
4. The contacts look and design is too good and comfortable and need less effort to navigate to call log, dialler and contacts.
5. Radio quality is very good.
6. Calendar has all features except snoozer
7. Battery appears to be good minimum 2 days it would last though I used to attend daily conf calls, listening music, checking emails etc. for long time (around 8 hrs).
8. Dual SIM option is comfortable to use. One can personalize each SIM what action you want to do.
9. Secondary SIM is easy to remove and replace without removing back lid and battery.
10. Speaker is too good for listening music, radio and not for incoming calls. Somehow incoming calls are having less volume on speaker compared to music. Music quality is excellent with hands free and with speaker.
11. Camera quality is good with 2 MP. Video feature can be ignored not at all impressive.
12. Maps feature is available with GPS. I have not yet explored in
12. Initially I hesitated to buy Nokia it has no Android and not doing good in the market. I heard from my colleagues Samsung galaxy Y and Galaxy Y duo are giving less battery life as they are currently using samsung. AS I bought at a price of Rs 4600/- with touch features, quality of music and camera, I am happy and it is worth spending that much.
the worst thing of the mobile asha 305 is we cannot do copy and paste of text….their is no option in msg as well as in notes….extremely disappointed.
The Nokia Dual SIM Mobile Phone 305 supports dual SIMs allowing you to stay connected with two networks from one phone. With one internal SIM slot and an external SIM slot, you get to choose one SIM card as the primary card while the outer SIM card slot performs the role of a secondary card which can be swapped with another card without shutting the mobile phone down. An inbuilt MP3 player allows you to enjoy enhanced music experience anytime, anywhere.