Nokia Asha 501

In terms of design, you know how Nokia is designing the devices lately. Yes, colours. Lots of them. This Asha device comes in bright red, bright green, cyan, yellow, white and black. Plus, the back panels can be changed easily. Thus, if you change your mind after buying the phone - just change the back panel not the whole device (unlike the ... you know).                   As you can see, there are no hardware buttons (Goodbye, keys!); Except a volume, power and back key. The display is 3-inch QVGA (320 x 240, 133 ppi) LCD with capacitive two-point touch capability. The display is at par with entry-level Android smartphones.

It comes in two variants - single-SIM and dual-SIM, both micro SIM slots. Of course, it has GPRS connectivity to stay connected to internet whenever you want, but unfortunately no 3G support. A 3G variant is also expected to be launched. Nonetheless, you get WiFi (IEEE 802.11 b / g) to access internet at high speed.

Software part is completely revamped too. There are two home screens, one the default app drawer and second Fastlane. What Fastlane actually does is, when you swipe down it shows the activities you've done on the phone recently, with quick controls for ease of access. When you swipe up, it shows the upcoming stuff you've scheduled to remember.

The lock screen shows notifications, which can be opened or removed with just a swipe. Does the swipe thing remind you of MeeGo in Nokia N9? Apart from the user-interface improvements there is also the new Nokia Xpress Browser, to save data usage up to 90%. The swipe functionality comes at different areas when you use the device, even while typing. Just a swipe, and you switch from one keyboard to another.