MANILA, Philippines — Finnish phone brand Nokia on Tuesday announced the upcoming local availability of two touchscreen phones priced below P5,000 in continuation of its efforts to connect the next billion people to the Internet.
Amid a financial crisis besetting the company and the lukewarm reception of its high-end smartphone line, Nokia executives proudly trumpeted the achievements of its low-cost feature phone products during Tuesday’s launch as it announced overall device shipments of 453 million in 2011.
The two new phones, which are additions to Nokia’s Asha line of feature phones, are the Nokia Asha 306 and the Nokia Asha 311, which both feature a full touchscreen interface and powered by Nokia’s proprietary Series 40 operating system.
But what makes the new phones ideal for connecting the next billion people to the Internet, executives said, are the browser and apps that come pre-installed on the phone, which they claimed consume less data bandwidth than the high-powered smartphones of today.
This becomes critical in areas not yet reached by fixed-line Internet and are only given access to a 2G network, such as some far-flung areas in the Philippines.
“The Nokia browser, for example, compresses downloaded pages up to 90 percent,” said Mike Smith, device portfolio manager at Nokia Philippines. “It is guaranteed that you will not exceed your data [allocation] on an Asha device with a Nokia browser.”
Other apps, such as the Social app, which aggregates Facebook and Twitter feeds, are also not bandwidth-hungry because they combine the two social networks’ data into one feed, Smith added.
And even if they are considered the low-powered equivalents of Nokia’s Lumia line, executives still touted the contributions of the line in furthering the company’s app ecosystem, which they said now number to more than 120,000 apps available on the Nokia Store, about a fifth of which were made specifically for the Asha line.
“The more than 675 million S40 devices out there today are driving the more than 14 million download requests per day from the Nokia Store,” said Dharmesh Goshalla, general manager of Nokia Philippines. “It just means they are actually using it, and they are actually downloading [apps].”
Goshalla said that the new Asha phones are going to fuel the company’s strategy to reach more of the world’s population who have not yet experienced mobile Internet, either for entertainment or productive purposes. While a recent World Bank report indicates that as much as 75 percent of the world already possess a mobile phone, not all of them have access to the Internet.
“In terms of access to Internet and information, there’s still a huge opportunity to move people from basic services to more sophisticated ones. This is where we, as Nokia, plan to address this,” Goshalla stressed.
The two new Asha phones join the Asha 305, announced early last week, in Nokia’s family of full touchscreen phones aimed at the mass consumer market.
The Asha 306 features a capacitive toushcreen display with a 2-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi connectivity, and 2GB memory card. The Asha 311, meanwhile, sports a better 3.2-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi connectivity and a 2GB memory card. Both will be pre-loaded with 40 EA Games free upon purchase, aside from proprietary apps such as the Nokia Browser and Nokia Maps.
The Asha 306 is now available in local stores for P4,250, while the Asha 311 is still awaiting pricing and will be released in August.
source: interaksyon.com
