Nokia on 8 May 2013 announced Asha 501, a smart phone to beat the low-cost Android phones in developing markets like India.



The company had been very impressed by the way Asha phones performed so far and they want to restore the platform. The Series 5 Asha phones had been made purposely for consumers in countries like India.



The Asha 501 will cost around99 Dollars plus taxes in India. The Phone will be made available in June in India. The device supports only 2G connection and Wi-Fi. The 3G version is planned to be launched later.



Specifications of the Asha 501



• The Asha 501 runs on a revamped Asha operating system.

• The device has a design similar to that of low-end Lumia phones. It will be available in six colours.

• It has a 3-inch touchscreen and a 3.2MP camera. It will come with a 4GB microSD card.

• Asha 501 will not run on the old Symbian S40 operating system, but an entirely new one.

• The Asha 501 will be available in two variants - single SIM and dual SIM. The dual SIM variant will have two slots for micro SIM, of which one will be hot swappable.

• Inspired by the Lumia design, the Asha 501 will be available in six colours - bright red, bright green, cyan, yellow, white and black.

• It has 17 hours of talktime with 48 days of stand-by for the single SIM variant and 26 days for the dual-SIM model.



Nokia also announced a global partnership with Facebook, with this the Asha 501 users on Airtel and MTNL will get free access to the social networking site.