Nokia offiically announced the new Nokia Asha 501, a touch-based smartphone with a $99 price. It’s the first in its lineup to run a refreshed operating system bearing close resemblance to the canceled MeeGo OS and comes with a 3-inch screen and a 3.2-megapixel rear camera.

The most notable feature is its standby battery life, which the Finnish company guarantees to last an incredible 48 days for the single-SIM configuration. The dual-SIM model, on the other hand, can last as long as 26 days.

Nokia considers the Asha 501 to be a smartphone. However, specs such as 2G connectivity and a less sophisticated operating system might dissuade some people to think of the phone as “smart.” If anything, the Asha 501 should be labeled as a smart feature phone.

Nokia-Asha-501-Philippines

Related: Nokia Lumia 520 now available in the Philippines for only Php7,990

The Asha (which means “hope” in Hindi) product lineup was launched last year and contributed to Nokia getting back some share that it lost to the likes of smartphone giants, such as Samsung and Apple, in emerging markets. To keep such momentum, Nokia launched the new Nokia Asha 501 in India to introduce features that are quite valued in smartphones such as social network integration, while setting the price at an affordable $99 without contract.

Nokia Asha 501 Specs

  • Nokia Asha Platform

  • 3-inch QVGA (240×320)TFT Capacitive Display

  • 64MB RAM

  • 128MB internal memory

  • microSD card support up to 32GB

  • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g

  • 3.15-megapixel camera

  • QVGA video recording at 15fps

  • Bluetooth

  • microUSB

  • FM Radio

  • 3.5mm audio jack

  • Dimensions: 99.2 x 59 x 12.1 mm

  • Weight: 98g

  • Battery: 1200mAh

http://youtu.be/_3d8xzeNoJY

UPDATE: Official price is Php4,490.

Considered to be another emerging market, the Philippines might just receive its own 501 launch as well in the coming months. In fact, the phone is slated to ship in June in over 90 countries all over the Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America. We’ll let you know once it hit our local stores. If converted directly, the Nokia Asha 501 will be priced for around Php4,000 without taxes and subsidies.

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13 Comments

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  1. – walang cut-copy-paste
    – 10 alarms lang ang kayang i-set ng app na Alarms
    – mahina ang tunog para sa alarms
    – di kayang i-group ang contacts para sa group texting
    – may multiple select sa texting, pero di ka ibabalik sa huling pinili mong contact; ibabalik ka dun sa unahan ng contact list, kaya magpa-pan down ka na naman at dadaanan mo na naman ung mga napili mo na
    – walang timer; ung app na nada-download galing sa apps store nya e di compatible ang input mode specifically sa hours and minutes
    – Micro SIM, kaya ipapa-cut mo pa ung regularly available na SIM dito sa Pilipinas

  2. MAY I JUST ASK, DOES PDF WORKS IN THIS PHONE? ALL MY EBOOKS WAS CONVERTED TO PDF AND I’M PLANNING TO READ THEM ALL USING THIS NOKIA ASHA 501.. PLEASE I HOPE SOMEONE COULD ANSWER ME.. THANK YOU.. xoxo

  3. ok ang phone as a basic phone
    – good call quality, ok din ang volume, 50% palang rinig mo na kausap mo, pero kung hindi pa sapat, pede mong gawing 100% pero parang naka loudspeaker kana by that time
    – threaded SMS, parang mga android at iPhone, mas ok ito compared sa conventional Inbox at Outbox, para tanda mo kung ano ang pinaguusapan nyo
    – good keyboard, QWERTY is para sa mga small to medium size hand, pag mejo malaki ang kamay mo, sa landscape qwerty kana aasa, or, make it a numpad (kagaya ko)
    – ok din naman ang camera, pero dont expect too much
    – ok ang radio, working as normal
    – ok ang FAST PANE, parang TASK LOG siya ng mga ginagawa mo sa phone mo
    ..Pero meron din naman mga negative sakin, pero ill try to check this is nokia care..
    – iba ang tunog ng SMS alert kesa sa naka set sa Tone Settings, minsan tama ang maririnig mo pag merong nagtext, minsan mali, minsan wala, tumawag nako sa nokia care and sabi nila “re-program daw”
    – mahina ang alarm, mas malakas pa ang max volume ng ringtone kesa sa alarm, note na walang alarm volume, so siguro, kung ano ang volume ng ringtone / sms tone mo, ay sya nading volume ng alarm mo, pero ipapacheck ko din ito sa nokia care
    – yung “additional option” na ang itsura ay parang sa samsung na kelangan mong mag slide down ng daliri sa screen para mag open, navigation panel ata ang tawag dito, ok sana ito sa nokia asha 501, pero pag nasa message composition kana, nasa baba na ito, at mejo sagabal kasi minsan bigla nalang itong aangat pag parang nagregister sa phone na nag slide up gesture ka.

  4. yay! I’ve been waiting for this! a smartphone with a long battery life! must buy this one for backup…^_^ available na po ba ito dito sa mindanao?