Nokia Asha series
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Nokia Asha is a discontinued series of feature phones and low-end smartphones produced and marketed by Nokia. It was marketed from late 2011 until 2014, by which time it was under Microsoft Mobile ownership. The range consisted of QWERTY keyboard, full touchscreen, and hybrid 'touch and type' handsets. Most Asha phones run Series 40 while from 2013 full touch models run the derived Nokia Asha platform.
History
The Nokia Asha range was announced at Nokia World 2011 on 26 October 2011 alongside the Nokia Lumia. Asha was developed for emerging markets with the goal of connecting the "next billion" to the Internet, as cited by then Nokia CEO Stephen Elop. The name "Asha" comes from the Hindi word meaning "hope".
According to The Verge in September 2013, Nokia had a project referred to as Asha on Linux and also as "MView"—a reference to Mountain View. The project used a fork of Android on a low-end handset to maximize margins. The project resulted in the Nokia X family of devices, unveiled at MWC 2014. It was one of two known Android projects at the company, the other was running the OS on high-end Lumia hardware.
On 3 September 2013, Microsoft announced its purchase of Nokia's mobile device business, with the deal closing on 25 April 2014. The company previously announced an intent to use Asha as an "on-ramp" to the Windows Phone platform, but in a company memo released in July 2014, it was announced that as part of cutbacks, Microsoft would end the Asha and Android-based Nokia X range entirely, in favor of solely producing Lumia Windows Phones and Nokia-branded "feature phone" products.
On 11 January 2018, HMD Global acquired the Asha trademark. Also, in 2025, the HMD Touch 4G was released in India with the same design as the Asha, but running MOCOR OS based S30+ instead.
List of devices
Below are the mobile phones in the Asha range.
The Asha 305 and Asha 311 models are known as the first generation of Asha Full Touch phones; the second generation is the Asha 50x line. All devices up to the Asha 50x series run the Nokia domestic operating system with Series 40 UI platform, also known as S40. The Asha 501 (released in May 2013), Asha 500, Asha 502, Asha 503 and Asha 230 (announced on 14 February 2014) are powered by the Nokia Asha platform, which builds on S40 and Smarterphone.
| Model | Date announced | SIM config | Input method | Data bearers | Wi-Fi | Display size | RAM | Camera | Operating system | HERE Maps (note: none of the Asha devices have GPS) | Predecessor(s) or similar earlier models (if applicable) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asha 200 | 26 Oct 2011 | Dual | QWERTY | EDGE, GPRS | No | 2.4" | 32 MB | 2 MP | Series 40 | Nokia X1-01 Nokia X2-01 | |
| Asha 201 | 26 Oct 2011 | Single | QWERTY | EDGE, GPRS | No | 2.4" | 32 MB | 2 MP | Series 40 | Nokia X1-01 Nokia X2-01 | |
| Asha 202 | 27 Feb 2012 | Dual | Touch and type | EDGE, GPRS | No | 2.4" | 16 MB | 2 MP | Series 40 | Some markets | |
| Asha 203 | 27 Feb 2012 | Single | Touch and type | EDGE, GPRS | No | 2.4" | 16 MB | 2 MP | Series 40 | Some markets | |
| Asha 205 | 25 Nov 2012 | Single and dual | QWERTY | DTM (MSC 12), EDGE, GPRS | No | 2.4" | 16 MB | 0.3 MP | Series 40 | Nokia Asha 200 (dual SIM version) Nokia Asha 201 (single SIM version) | |
| Asha 210 | 24 Apr 2013 | Single and dual | QWERTY | DTM (MSC 12), EDGE, GPRS | Yes | 2.4" | 32 MB | 2 MP | Series 40 | Yes | |
| Asha 230 | 24 Feb 2014 | Single and dual | Capacitive touchscreen | EDGE, GPRS | No | 2.8" | 64 MB | 1.3 MP | Nokia Asha platform | ||
| Asha 300 | 26 Oct 2011 | Touch and type | HSDPA Cat9 (10.2 Mbit/s) HSUPA Cat5 (2.0 Mbit/s) | No | 2.4" | 128 MB | 5 MP | Series 40 | Nokia C3-01 | ||
| Asha 302 | 27 Feb 2012 | QWERTY | HSDPA Cat10 (14.4 Mbit/s) HSUPA Cat6 (5.76 Mbit/s) | Yes | 2.4" | 128 MB | 3.2 MP | Series 40 | Nokia C3-00 | ||
| Asha 303 | 26 Oct 2011 | QWERTY / Touch and type | HSDPA Cat10 (14.4 Mbit/s) HSUPA Cat6 (5.76 Mbit/s) | Yes | 2.6" | 128 MB | 3.2 MP | Series 40 | Yes | Nokia X3-02 | |
| Asha 305 | 6 Jun 2012 | Dual | Resistive touch screen | EDGE, GPRS | No | 3.0" | 32 MB | 2 MP | Series 40 | Yes | |
| Asha 306 | 6 Jun 2012 | Resistive touch screen | EDGE, GPRS | Yes | 3.0" | 32 MB | 2 MP | Series 40 | Yes | ||
| Asha 308 | 25 Sep 2012 | Dual | Capacitive touch screen | EDGE, GPRS | No | 3.0" | 64 MB | 2 MP | Series 40 | Yes | Nokia Asha 305 |
| Asha 309 | 25 Sep 2012 | Capacitive touch screen | EDGE, GPRS | Yes | 3.0" | 64 MB | 2 MP | Series 40 | Yes | Nokia Asha 306 | |
| Asha 310 | 13 Feb 2013 | Dual | Capacitive touch screen | EDGE, GPRS | Yes | 3.0" | 64 MB | 2 MP | Series 40 | Yes | |
| Asha 311 | 6 Jun 2012 | Capacitive touch screen w/ Gorilla Glass | HSDPA Cat10 (14.4 Mbit/s) HSUPA Cat6 (5.76 Mbit/s) | Yes | 3.0" | 128 MB | 3.2 MP | Series 40 | Yes | Nokia 5250 | |
| Asha 500 | 22 Oct 2013 | Single and dual | Capacitive touch screen | GPRS, EDGE | Yes | 2.8" | 64 MB | 2 MP | Nokia Asha platform | ||
| Asha 501 | 9 May 2013 | Single and dual | Capacitive multi-point touch display | EDGE, GPRS | Yes | 3.0" | 64 MB | 3.2 MP | Nokia Asha platform | Yes | |
| Asha 502 | 22 Oct 2013 | Dual | Capacitive touch screen | GPRS, EDGE | Yes | 3.0" | 64 MB | 5 MP+LED flash | Nokia Asha platform | ||
| Asha 503 | 22 Oct 2013 | Single and dual | Capacitive touch screen w/ Gorilla Glass 2 | HSDPA Cat7 (7.2 Mbit/s) HSUPA Cat6 (5.76 Mbit/s) | Yes | 3.0" | 128 MB | 5 MP+LED flash | Nokia Asha platform |
Feature phones without the Asha name powered by S30+/S40
The Nokia 206, 207, 208, 301 and Touch 4G were not part of the Asha series as they do not carry the "Asha" branding, despite mistakenly being marketed as such by some carriers and retailers.
| Model | Date announced | SIM config | Input method | Data bearers | Wi-Fi | Camera | HERE maps | Predecessor(s) or similar earlier models (if applicable) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nokia 206 | 25 Nov 2012 | Dual | Keypad | EDGE, GPRS | 1.3 MP | Yes | ||
| Nokia 207 | 3 Jul 2013 | Keypad | HSDPA Cat10 (14.4 Mbit/s) HSUPA Cat6 (5.76 Mbit/s) | Yes | ||||
| Nokia 208 | 3 Jul 2013 | Single and dual | Keypad | HSDPA Cat10 (14.4 Mbit/s) HSUPA Cat6 (5.76 Mbit/s) | 1.3 MP | Yes | ||
| Nokia 301 | 24 Feb 2013 | Dual | Keypad | HSDPA Cat10 (14.4 Mbit/s) HSUPA Cat6 (5.76 Mbit/s) | 3.15 MP | Yes | ||
| HMD Touch 4G | 19 Oct 2025 | Dual | Touch | yes | 3.15 MP | N/A |
See also
External links
Media related to Nokia Asha mobile phones at Wikimedia Commons