Nokia Asha 302: Worth its weight in gold
Payton Wilmot, Youthlink Writer
I have been told on numerous occasions that I only cater to the high class, aka rich people because, and I quote, "I only review expensive phones and gadgets". After revisiting articles from the last six months, I must admit that the items do seem a bit high-maintenance.
With this in mind, I have found for you a simple Nokia phone that comes with most of the bells and whistles of a high-end phone for less than half the cost. The phone we are talking about is the Nokia Asha 302, which is ideal for conservative consumers.
What is it?
The Nokia Asha 302 brings excellent connectivity with practical processing power without the needlessly complicated user interface that most persons fear from a smartphone. This phone features both 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, which makes it easy to access email, Facebook and Twitter accounts, as well as stay connected.
Display
The Asha 302 screen measures 2.4 inches and has a resolution of 320x240 pixels. The display is OK but it isn't anything to brag or boast about. Texts and icons are very visible in sunlight but the viewing angles are horrible. Although, given the fact that this phone is priced for the conservative consumer, this 2.4 inch screen and its quality are more than what anyone could ask for.
Operating System (OS)
The Nokia Asha 302 uses the Series 40 feature phone platform which is ancient technology in my book, but it still gets the job done. Nokia has, however, done some neat additions like a homescreen social widget which lets you update your Facebook status and so on. There's also a customisable row of shortcuts at the bottom of the screen to play with. Additionally, this device has a social, integration feature built into it from the get-go. There is, too, a social app which lets you log in with Facebook, Twitter, Flickr accounts, giving the user vast, convenient social-networking capabilities.
Camera
This phone has a 3MP fixed-focus camera that produces photos with maximum resolution of 2048 x 1536. The camera on screen displays a column on the bottom with the virtual shutter key in the centre and the options and back keys beside it. The Asha 302 is also capable of capturing VGA@15fps and QVGA@30fps video. When it's all said and done, the camera is more than acceptable for the price at which the phone is being purchased.
Final Thoughts
The Nokia Asha 302 is a basic phone that doesn'thave a touchscreen but has done a remarkable job of working around that shortcoming. Also, there aren't many phones at this price point that can offer so many features to the consumer, not to mention the build quality. I personally liked how the loudspeaker sounded. It was powerful and didn't sound badly when it was set to the highest volume level. I would recommend this phone to persons who want a decent phone without the complications and the high price tag.
The Nokia Asha 302 retails at about $10,000 and is worth it if you can't afford a Samsung Galaxy S3.
