Nokia Asha 300

“The new Asha series shared the spotlight with Lumia and this should be indicative enough of how important the new budget line is. It's obvious that S40 will be playing second fiddle to Windows Phone but Nokia are in no mood to share the low end with anyone.And while Windows Phone is Nokia's hope of clawing back lost ground in the smartphone game, Asha (Hindi for hope) should serve emerging markets where changes are no less dramatic. The four models in the Asha series are obviously aware of the priorities of their target audience.Touchscreen is slowly creeping up the agenda but nothing still beats the basics. Limited budgets make things like messaging and dual SIM almost mandatory. Everything else is optional. And while the developing markets may be ripe already for the optional stuff, the Asha series don’t force a hard choice on potential customers.There's a strong sense of hierarchy in the lineup. And no overlapping of features. With the Asha 303 clearly on top, the Asha 300 is for those who don't need a QWERTY keyboard. Saying no to QWERTY means you need to make do without WLAN too. But you get a better camera. Not that fixed focus is anything exciting, but it doesn't get any better in the price range.Nokia are breaking down the entry level segment into smaller chunks and that's a good way for them to present themselves as the unchallenged leader, the one without alternatives. As for the Asha 300, it has a few but most of them are fellow Nokias.With a price tag hovering well below the €100 mark, the Asha 300 is among the cheapest phones to offer a touchscreen.To wrap up, the Asha 300 is the most likely first upgrade for someone coming from some of the most basic S30 Nokia phones. It can adequately fill in as a backup or temporary handset too. It would've been a lot better with Wi-Fi, but that would've pushed the price up. On the other hand, a 3.5G-capable phone without WLAN must be more attractive to carriers. A carrier-subsidized Asha 300 with a solid data plan sounds like great value for money.”

“The Nokia Asha is available for a street price of Rs.7,000, although you can find it for a bit cheaper, if you look online. This is just a ridiculously high price for this phone, all the more, when you can get some very good Android handsets at this price range. The Samsung Galaxy Y, Spice Mi-350n and even the Samsung Wave Y (which is based on Bada 2.0) are all much better alternatives to the Asha 300. Honestly, when the phone first came to our labs, we thought it was under Rs.5,000, since it looks like that sort of handset. Rs.3,000 would be the ideal price for this phone. It may have a 1GHz CPU, but the fact is that power is never fully harnessed and how can you, when you’re using an old Operating System. We guess, even if it was running a 600MHz CPU, you would hardly tell the difference.The Asha 300 is put together very well and we applaud Nokia for their craftsmanship. 3G support is also a bonus, but besides that there really isn’t anything going for this phone that would make you shell out seven large ones. Like we said, if it drops to 3K, then pick it up without thinking twice.”

“The Asha 300 does have a 1 GHz CPU, but its potential hasn't been exploited wisely. The Angry Birds experience isn't good enough to sell this device. Priced at around Rs 6200, the handset isn't a good deal since you can easily get an entry-level Android handset at this price point. If the Finns want to take on cheap Android phones, it should slap Symbian OS on every affordable handset that crosses the Rs 6000 mark.”