Nokia Asha 501 full touch phone with swipe UI announced

nokia-asha-501-homescreen

Nokia Asha 501, a new full touch device with swipe UI, and part of a whole new Asha series of devices has been announced at a global press conference here, in New Delhi. In an effort to revitalize the ever important budget low end smartphone market, which is currently inundated with Android phones, Nokia has released a tiny device that, they hope, can help them gain more traction in the highly competitive market. The Asha platform with touch UI. It initially debuted with the Asha 311 and the other full touch Asha phones, now it has been rehauled with more UX elements from the N9’s Meego user interface, complete with the double tap to wake gesture and the minimalistic homescreen setup. The device sports a 3 inch QVGA screen with hardened glass and is powered by a 1 GHz processor.

Having repeatedly leaked on Twitter, one of them revealed its six colourful shells in a leak last night. The available colours, which are also replaceable shells, come in Bright Red, Lemon Yellow, Parrot Green, Ice Blue, White and Black. The device has 128 MB of internal memory and comes with a 4GB micro SD card out of the box, with options of expanding the memory upto 32 GB. It also comes in single SIM variant. Priced at $99  (~Rs. 5,347) without taxes and subsidies, it is expected to shipping in June 2013 from approximately 60 operators and distributors in more than 90 countries worldwide.

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Watch this – Livestream of the Nokia Asha event in New Delhi

Nokia Asha Teaser

The Nokia Asha event at the Taj Palace hotel, New Delhi is about to get in full swing in a few moments, after which they might announce the Nokia Asha 501, which leaked last night, or may be more(?). Apparently, Nokia doesn’t want you to miss out on the action, so they have arranged for a live webcast on http://conversations.nokia.com. You can check out the post directly, if you want to, here. The live stream is scheduled to start at 12:00 p.m IST, with Nokia CEO Stephen Elop reportedly presiding over the keynote.

Here is the live stream direct link, go watch!

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Nokia Asha 501 picture leaks out along with rumoured specs just before official announcement

nokia-asha-501-rainbow

While we were pondering on what Nokia has up its sleeve for tomorrow, Evleaks, the master of leaks has done it again and has leaked out the upcoming Asha device slated to be launched in New Delhi tomorrow. According to the leak, the device is known as the Nokia Asha 501, which marches into the 5-series territory currently occupied only by the Lumia in the form of 510 and 520. While the picture doesn’t say much about the device, we expect it to be in line with previous leaks from the same Evleaks. The Asha refresh is a long time coming and with an impending launch tomorrow at New Delhi, Nokia is all set to compete with the low end Android devices with a better experience squarely in aim.

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Finland negotiates with India for the Nokia Tax case

Nokia and the Indian government have been at odds for quite a while regarding a purported Tax evasion by the Finnish company. A lot of multi-national companies like Vodafone and Shell too have been facing the heat regarding similar tax evasion cases. Nokia in particular had its Chennai Sri Perumbudur plant raided by the Income tax department. Finally, the Indian government decided to slap a tax demand of around Rs. 2000 crore for tax evasion, and a case was filed in the Delhi high court regarding the same. As of now, the case has been stayed and Finland has now come in aid of Nokia, with them proposing a mutual agreement procedure with the Indian Government based on a Tax treaty between the two countries.

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Opera ties up with 7 Indian OEMs to pre-install Opera Mini browser on Android devices


Opera has announced that that have signed up with seven Indian mobile OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) to preinstall Opera Mini browser on all their upcoming upcoming Android smartphone and Tablets. Opera partnered with Samsung last year to pre-install the Opera mini browser on their feature phones, the Samsung Star 3Star 3 Duos and the Champ Deluxe Duos. Continue reading “Opera ties up with 7 Indian OEMs to pre-install Opera Mini browser on Android devices”

LG Optimus L3 II and Optimus L5 II get priced at Rs. 7199 and Rs. 10499

LG Optimus L3 II and Optimus L5 II

LG Optimus L3 II and the Optimus L5 II have been priced at Rs.7199 and Rs.10499 on online retailer Infibeam. LG unveiled the Optimus L Series II devices, the Optimus L3 II, the Optimus L5 II and the Optimus L7 II and their dual SIM variants earlier this February. Last month LG launched the Optimus L3 II Dual and Optimus L7 II Dual officially, and the LG Optimus L5 II Dual went on sale recently. Continue reading “LG Optimus L3 II and Optimus L5 II get priced at Rs. 7199 and Rs. 10499”

What will Nokia launch at an International Press Event on May 9th in India ?

nokia-india-may9th

It has been while since Nokia has held any major press event in India especially an international press event which it is holding in New Delhi tomorrow May 9th. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop is expected to unveil new products at the event. The invite says “Time to Shift Gears” and does not mention anything else. Considering this event is taking place in India ,  it would be safe to assume that we could either see a low-end Lumia device or new member of the Asha family being announced. In fact Elop has confirmed that Nokia would launch new Asha devices at the company’s annual general meeting held recently. So new Asha phones are surely coming. Continue reading “What will Nokia launch at an International Press Event on May 9th in India ?”

Celkon A119Q Signature HD with 5-inch HD display, quad-core processor, Android 4.2 launched for Rs. 12499

Celkon A119Q Signature HD

Celkon has launched the A119Q Signature HD, successor of the A119 Signature HD that was launched back in March. We reviewed the phone last month, and found that it would be better Celkon had launched it with a quad-core processor. The company has finally launched a worthy contender to the Micromax A116 Canvas HD. The A119Q comes with a similar 5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) touch screen display and comes with a 12-megapixel auto focus rear camera with LED Flash and a 3-megapixel front-facing camera. This one is powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6589 processor with PowerVR SGX 544MP GPU and runs on Android 4.2.1 (Jelly Bean). Continue reading “Celkon A119Q Signature HD with 5-inch HD display, quad-core processor, Android 4.2 launched for Rs. 12499”

iBall Andi 4.5d Quadro with quad-core processor, Android 4.2 spotted on official website

iBall Andi 4.5d Quadro

Looks like iBall is getting ready to launch the company’s flagship Android smartphone, the Android 4.5d Quadro. The phone was spotted on the official website. It packs a 4.5-inch (960 x 540 pixels) capacitive touch screen IPS display, powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor and runs on Android 4.2.1 (Jelly Bean). It comes with a 12-megapixel auto focus rear camera with dual LED flash and a 3-megapixel front-facing camera. It also has dual microphones for noise reduction. The iBall Andi 5L went on sale last week and the Andi 5Li with Android 4.1 is expected to launch soon. Xolo is expected to launch the Q700 with a similar display, quad-core processor and Android 4.2 later this week. Continue reading “iBall Andi 4.5d Quadro with quad-core processor, Android 4.2 spotted on official website”

Huawei Ascend Y210D Review

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Huawei launched the Ascend Y210D, a budget Android smartphone earlier this year. It has a 3.5-inch (480 x 320 pixels) capacitive touch screen display and is powered by a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM7225A processor. The Sony Xperia tipo and the tipo dual that we reviewed last year uses the same chip clocked at 800 MHz. Can this budget phone beat the other budget Android smartphones ? Read on to find out. Continue reading “Huawei Ascend Y210D Review”

Swipe 9X with 4.7-inch display, 1 GHz dual-core processor launched for Rs. 8999

Swipe 9X

Swipe Telecom has launched the Swipe 9X, the company’s latest Android smartphone. It has a 4.7-inch FWVGA (854 x 480 Pixels) Capacitive multi-touch Touch display, powered by a 1 GHz dual-core MediaTek MT6577 processor and runs on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandiwich) OS. It has a 8-megapixel auto focus camera with LED flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It comes with dual SIM support with dual standby similar to the Swipe Fablet F3 and Fablet F2 Android smartphones that were launched back in February. Continue reading “Swipe 9X with 4.7-inch display, 1 GHz dual-core processor launched for Rs. 8999”

Google Nexus 7 32GB WiFi + 3G now available from Snapdeal for Rs. 21999


Google Nexus 7 16GB version went on sale in India from the Google Play Store back in March at a price tag of Rs. 15,999, and the 32GB version went on sale from the Google Play last month at Rs. 18,999. Asus launched the 32GB WiFi and 32GB 3G versions of the tablet in India last  month. The 3G version went on sale only from select retail shops such as Reliance, but it didn’t show up on Google Play. Now online retailer Snapdeal has started selling the Nexus 7 32GB WiFi + 3G version along with the 32 GB WiFi version. Continue reading “Google Nexus 7 32GB WiFi + 3G now available from Snapdeal for Rs. 21999”

HTC One vs Samsung Galaxy S4 Photo Gallery

galaxy-S4-vs-htc-one-7

The HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 are 2 high-end smartphones with some very impressive specs.The HTC One has a very premium feel to it and is made of metal and packs a 4.7  inch Super LCD 1080p HD display. The  Galaxy S4 on the other hand is fully made of plastic and is extremely thin and light and packs a 5 inch SuperAMOLED 1080p HD display. Both phones are priced relatively the same worldwide. Let us see which one looks better in front of the camera in this photo gallery.

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Hike Messenger to come pre-loaded on select Nokia Lumia and Asha phones

Hike

Bharti Softbank (BSB), a joint-venture between Bharti Enterprises and SoftBank Corp have announced that they have partnered with Nokia to pre-load its Hike cross-platform messaging app app on its phones, according to a report. The Hike app is available for AndroidiPhoneWindows Phone and for Nokia S40 devices from the respective app stores. It launched talk-time rewards for customers earlier this year, and released a Beta version of the application for BlackBerry last month. Continue reading “Hike Messenger to come pre-loaded on select Nokia Lumia and Asha phones”

Samsung Galaxy Star Duos running Android 4.1 launching in India soon

Samsung Galaxy Star Duos

Samsung Galaxy Star Duos (GT-S5282), an entry-level Android smartphone has been spotted on Samsung India website. It was announced last month along with the Galaxy Pocket Neo. The Galaxy Star Duos has a 3-inch (320 x 240 pixels) capacitive touch screen display, powered by a 1 GHz  processor and runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). It has a 2-megapixel rear camera and comes with 2G (EDGE) support. It has Dual SIM support with Always On feature that would forward calls to the other SIM. Continue reading “Samsung Galaxy Star Duos running Android 4.1 launching in India soon”