Gadgetory

I'm under halter CNET and now taking a first look at the Nokia Asha 501 Nokia Asha 501 is part of Nokia's budget range of phones aimed at emerging markets like India and Latin America it'll be available in Europe but naki has said that it definitely won't be shipping to North America anytime soon if ever it has a low resolution capacitive touchscreen uses 2g data networks only but it has a fun vibrant plastic design and a super cheap price tag of 99 dollars if you spend time with any of Nokia's recent phones the 501 will be quite familiar it's got a one-piece polycarbonate back that's very reminiscent of the Lumia 520 the back panel is made from one single sheet so the only seam you'll find on a phone is around the edge of the screen that help makes it feel very solid and secure I wasn't able to put it through CNET's usual brutal set of stress tests but it certainly felt like it could take a knock or two it's available in a rainbow of garish colors to suit your mood or more likely your outfit it's comfortable to hold as its three-inch screen doesn't require you to stretch your palms out the display has a 320 by 240 pixel resolution which compared to the full HD smartphones around is pretty poor you really can't expect that sort of quality for such a cut-down price though icons and larger texts are all perfectly readable it's not particularly bright nor does it have great colors but again it does the job adequately for the money it runs on Nokia's own Asha software rather than the swanky Windows Phone 8 software you'll find on the more premium Lumia range it looks fairly simple and has a couple of neat tricks up its sleeve but it won't appeal to those of you after a more refined feature-rich smartphone experience unlock the phone and you'll be taken to a grid of apps similar to what you'd expect to see in iOS swipe either side of the apps and you'll see a scrolling activity log displaying recent apps activities or recently called contacts it's pretty easy to operate so shouldn't scare off the technophobes among you but it doesn't have the sort of slick multitasking features crucial to any top-end smartphone doesn't have a well-stocked App Store either although some essentials like whatsapp Facebook Twitter and plan most zombies are available it's really not going to be a huge issue that a lot of data hungry apps aren't available as the 501 only uses 2g networks you won't be ultimate use of faster 3G data and the lightning-fast 4G speeds will only be a fevered dream for 501 owners sending a quick tweet will just about be doable but don't try and attach photos or videos unless you want a long wait nokia explained that 2g networks are still the most used in countries like India where the 501 is aimed so it's perhaps not as big a deal as it first seems storage comes in the form of a 4 gigabyte SD card which you can swap out for a bigger one if you like it'll also be available in either a single all dual SIM version if you want to keep two SIM cards onboard for easier data roaming lucky you wouldn't say what processor is onboard we know it's not going to be anything impressive but it seemed just about capable of providing fairly smooth navigation through the azure software with its low end specs cut down price and only 2g connectivity the Nokia Asha 501 really isn't aimed at smartphone purists instead it's aimed squarely at emerging markets like India and Latin America it's cheap price and sturdy build quality might make it a reasonable option to pick up as an emergency festival phone though I'm Andrew Hoyle for CNET and this is the Nokia Asha 501