cacklebolt
Ambassador of Buzz
Hello guys..
I am posting a review of my newly purchased standby phone, the Nokia Asha 311.
Background:
We had some old phones lying around at home which we wanted to dispose off.At the store , i liked the Karbonn A11 but my dad told me to avoid that.
So we decided to buy this instead, and I had already read good reviews about this phone so i agreed.
I got this phone for 6.1k with the bill.
Build Quality:
Nokia has built sturdy phones over the years and they didn't disappoint me this time around.This is a pretty sleek and light phone and looks great in black.
I got compliments from many friends about its looks.The grey accent on the bootom looks great.Between the main body and the grey chin is a silver coloured metallic strip on which the call and end buttons are located.
The back has the camera lens and the really,really loud loudspeaker.The back cover attracts fingerprints and has a glossy finish,which is the only part of the body I don't like.
UI:
The Asha 311 runs the new version of Nokia's S40 OS , called S40 Touch.It has many preinstalled apps like Whatsapp ,Facebook,Twitter,etc. and a decent if not excellent mail client.On unlocking the phone, you are taken directly to the menu.All your apps are listed in a vertical scroll-down list and the icons have changed now.They resemble Symbian and Meego now.
The lockscreen is simple.A swipe to the left or right unlocks the screen.
Unread notifications like missed calls and messages appear at the bottom of the screen.Swiping over the notification unlocks the phone and takes you to the respective application.
*www.gsmarena.com/showpic.php3?sImg=reviewsimg/nokia-asha-311/shots/gsmarena_110.jpg&idReview=813&idPage=4
The application to be accessed after swiping to the left can be customised.But you get only three options. i.e Dialer,Music,Radio.
In my case it is the dialer.
Telephony:
The important feature of a phone is the way it functions as an actual phone. And this phone is actually an excellent phone.Voice over the earpiece is loud and clear and unless you are out,you will not hear any ambient noise from both yours as well as the caller's end.To answer or reject calls, you have the standard green and red buttons as shown in the photos above, which has been standard Nokia fare right since their early days.
Messaging is also pretty decent and the messages are now displayed as threaded conversations,unlike Nokias of old, which had cluttered "Inbox"es and "Outbox"es.
There are two keyboard options, the standard 3x3 phone keypad and a QWERTY keyboard.The QWERTY keyboard looks cramped and though i did encounter occasional typos, it fares decently if aren't firing out texts at the speed of light.
Whatsapp,which is preloaded works well too, and the only niggle I found was that the smiley button only appears after you have swiped down your keyboard and the message has been sent.Also you will be able to see the keyboard typos in the following photo:
The Contacts app just works.You can add new contacts and details like email,photo,etc. Note that this is applicable only to contact stored in the phone memory.
Connectivity:
The phone features 2G,Wifi,3G,etc. Note that there is an "and" between those and not an "or",which implies that it features a full set of connectivity features like smartphones.Sad to see that it does not have a GPS sensor to go with that excellent Nokia Maps app.
Battery Life:
Its a Nokia!!! Need I comment more about battery life??
Music:
The Nokia Asha 311 is a capable music smartphone and has a relatively simple music player.It also features an equalizer which works well.Audio Output is relatively clean via earphones and a 60% volume is also really loud through the earphones.Another little feature is that if you increase the sound above a particular level,the phone warns you that listening to really loud music is harmful to the ears, but the volume can be increased beyond this warning level.The loudspeaker as mentioned before, is really loud but you can feel the distortion at full volume.
Web Browsing:
The Nokia Browser compresses the pages and displays them,Opera Mini style.A letdown is that you cannot open multiple tabs at once.i was also unable to open the desktop version of some sites.No flash support, but thats too much to ask for really.I downloaded Opera Mini from the Store and to be frank I found the Nokia Browser WAY better.Opera Mini comes with its own but TERRIBLE keypad.Touch response is awkward too.
Miscellaneous:
The Asha 311 comes with40 free EA games available for free but you it is valid for 60 days only.Also, it comes with subscription to Nokia Music.
PS: I did not get to test 3G speeds,so if anyone has this phone please post the numbers.Camera samples also welcome.
Conclusion and Final Words:
Brilliant job by Nokia.Highly recommended to people who still don't want a smartphone and and to whom battery life is crucial.
The Asha 311 is not a smartphone,mind you,but it is still better than the droids in the same price range(which lag like hell and run old hardware).This phone is relatively lag-free and is easy to use.Worth the price.A must-buy.
Please do let me know how you found this review as this is my first review ever.
I am posting a review of my newly purchased standby phone, the Nokia Asha 311.
Background:
We had some old phones lying around at home which we wanted to dispose off.At the store , i liked the Karbonn A11 but my dad told me to avoid that.
So we decided to buy this instead, and I had already read good reviews about this phone so i agreed.
I got this phone for 6.1k with the bill.
Build Quality:
Nokia has built sturdy phones over the years and they didn't disappoint me this time around.This is a pretty sleek and light phone and looks great in black.
I got compliments from many friends about its looks.The grey accent on the bootom looks great.Between the main body and the grey chin is a silver coloured metallic strip on which the call and end buttons are located.
The back has the camera lens and the really,really loud loudspeaker.The back cover attracts fingerprints and has a glossy finish,which is the only part of the body I don't like.
UI:
The Asha 311 runs the new version of Nokia's S40 OS , called S40 Touch.It has many preinstalled apps like Whatsapp ,Facebook,Twitter,etc. and a decent if not excellent mail client.On unlocking the phone, you are taken directly to the menu.All your apps are listed in a vertical scroll-down list and the icons have changed now.They resemble Symbian and Meego now.
The lockscreen is simple.A swipe to the left or right unlocks the screen.
Unread notifications like missed calls and messages appear at the bottom of the screen.Swiping over the notification unlocks the phone and takes you to the respective application.
*www.gsmarena.com/showpic.php3?sImg=reviewsimg/nokia-asha-311/shots/gsmarena_110.jpg&idReview=813&idPage=4
The application to be accessed after swiping to the left can be customised.But you get only three options. i.e Dialer,Music,Radio.
In my case it is the dialer.
Telephony:
The important feature of a phone is the way it functions as an actual phone. And this phone is actually an excellent phone.Voice over the earpiece is loud and clear and unless you are out,you will not hear any ambient noise from both yours as well as the caller's end.To answer or reject calls, you have the standard green and red buttons as shown in the photos above, which has been standard Nokia fare right since their early days.
Messaging is also pretty decent and the messages are now displayed as threaded conversations,unlike Nokias of old, which had cluttered "Inbox"es and "Outbox"es.
There are two keyboard options, the standard 3x3 phone keypad and a QWERTY keyboard.The QWERTY keyboard looks cramped and though i did encounter occasional typos, it fares decently if aren't firing out texts at the speed of light.
Whatsapp,which is preloaded works well too, and the only niggle I found was that the smiley button only appears after you have swiped down your keyboard and the message has been sent.Also you will be able to see the keyboard typos in the following photo:
The Contacts app just works.You can add new contacts and details like email,photo,etc. Note that this is applicable only to contact stored in the phone memory.
Connectivity:
The phone features 2G,Wifi,3G,etc. Note that there is an "and" between those and not an "or",which implies that it features a full set of connectivity features like smartphones.Sad to see that it does not have a GPS sensor to go with that excellent Nokia Maps app.
Battery Life:
Its a Nokia!!! Need I comment more about battery life??
Music:
The Nokia Asha 311 is a capable music smartphone and has a relatively simple music player.It also features an equalizer which works well.Audio Output is relatively clean via earphones and a 60% volume is also really loud through the earphones.Another little feature is that if you increase the sound above a particular level,the phone warns you that listening to really loud music is harmful to the ears, but the volume can be increased beyond this warning level.The loudspeaker as mentioned before, is really loud but you can feel the distortion at full volume.
Web Browsing:
The Nokia Browser compresses the pages and displays them,Opera Mini style.A letdown is that you cannot open multiple tabs at once.i was also unable to open the desktop version of some sites.No flash support, but thats too much to ask for really.I downloaded Opera Mini from the Store and to be frank I found the Nokia Browser WAY better.Opera Mini comes with its own but TERRIBLE keypad.Touch response is awkward too.
Miscellaneous:
The Asha 311 comes with40 free EA games available for free but you it is valid for 60 days only.Also, it comes with subscription to Nokia Music.
PS: I did not get to test 3G speeds,so if anyone has this phone please post the numbers.Camera samples also welcome.
Conclusion and Final Words:
Brilliant job by Nokia.Highly recommended to people who still don't want a smartphone and and to whom battery life is crucial.
The Asha 311 is not a smartphone,mind you,but it is still better than the droids in the same price range(which lag like hell and run old hardware).This phone is relatively lag-free and is easy to use.Worth the price.A must-buy.
Please do let me know how you found this review as this is my first review ever.
