Nokia Asha 306 review: Smartphone Ash-pirations

Nokia Asha 306 review: Smartphone Ash-pirations

Introduction

In a shrinking featurephone market, the Nokia Asha lineup is trying to deliver a near-smartphone experience with less complexity and, more crucially, at a more attractive price point. The Asha 306 slots just above the middle of the pack - delivering a touchscreen display and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Nokia Asha 306 official photos
The Nokia Asha 306 is aimed at those that value Wi-Fi connectivity over a second SIM slot (there's Asha 305 if that's not the case). Wi-Fi connectivity is the headline feature, but it's not everything the Asha 306 has going for it.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM, GPRS, EDGE
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
• S40-based Asha touch interface
• 3" WQVGA resistive touchscreen, ~155 pixel density
• Multi-touch in the gallery and Nokia Maps
• Display auto-rotation
• Nokia Browser 2.0
• Nokia store and 40 EA games for free
• 2 MP camera
• microSD card support (up to 32 GB)
• Complimentary 2 GB microSD card in the box
• Bluetooth v2.1
• Standard microUSB port, charging
• 1100 mAh Li-Ion battery
• Excellent loudspeaker performance

Main disadvantages

• Interface slows down at times, due to low RAM
• Poor screen quality
• Resistive touchscreen feels awkward
• Fixed-focus camera
• QCIF video recording
• No smart dialing

The Nokia Asha 306 is no powerhouse, but then again, the target user for this one isn't really obsessed with specs. The Asha 306 makes sense for people looking for a straightforward handset for calling other people or are just on the lookout for a secondary phone, which should complement their smartphone without breaking the bank.

The Nokia Asha 306 at HQ
A case can be made that touch and simple don't really mix in times when pixels and clockspeeds are what drives the industry forward. Why not simply get a regular phone with a keypad. You'll save a little money and still get basically the same functionality in a possibly smaller package. An Asha 201 would cost you significantly less too. So why go for a Nokia Asha 306?
This is where the new interface comes into play. It's not just a touchscreen you are getting here - you are actually purchasing something that enables even easier UI navigation. Web browsing is also way more intuitive on touchscreen devices and gaming benefits, too.
So can the Nokia Asha 306 deliver all it promises on such a tight budget? Read on to find out.

Unboxing and retail package

The retail box of the Nokia Asha 306 is quite modest, which shouldn't be surprising considering the price of the phone. The complimentary 2GB microSD card is in fact a nice surprise.

Nokia Asha 306 retail box
There's also a set of headphones and a charger in the bundle too. It ends up with the old-fashioned Nokia charger plug but the Asha 306 supports USB charging too. The headset has a built-in microphone for hands-free calling.

Nokia Asha 306 360-degree spin

The Asha 306 is identical in size to the dual-SIM Asha 305. It's a compact set at 110.3 x 53.8 x 12.8 mm and weighs just 96 g but there's just too much screen bezel which makes you wonder whether the Asha 306 could've been a lot smaller. We wouldn't call it a slim phone either. But let's not get too greedy here - edge-to-edge screens belong to a different market segment and for it price the Asha 306 is decently sized.

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Design and build quality

Design-wise the Asha 306 is an exact copy of the Asha 305. It comes in variety of colors including Silver White, Mid Blue, Dark Gray and Red (as in the case of our review unit). There are two glossy pieces of plastic above and under the display, while the back cover has matte finish, which we like because it isn't as prone to fingerprints. It also has e better feel to it.
There seems to be plenty of unused space above the 3" display, where the Nokia logo is. A thin strip underneath accommodates the call keys.
The display itself is not too bright and there's no brightness setting whatsoever. The low resolution gives icons a dot-matrix-printer look and scrolling is like a stop-motion cartoon. The screen is extremely reflective and colors look washed out. To be fair though, poor image quality was to be expected here.

The Asha 306 up front
If you are coming from a capacitive touchscreen device, you might find the resistive screen having poor response initially. Once you get the hang of it and start putting more pressure to your taps and swipes things start feeling better, though.

Display test	50% brightness			100% brightness
	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio
HTC Desire C	0.23	186	814	0.5	360	723
Nokia Asha 306	-	-	-	0.33	318	946
Nokia Asha 305	-	-	-	0.33	320	955
Sony Xperia go	0.30	282	928	0.63	541	859
Samsung Galaxy Pocket	0.31	238	774	0.62	468	753
Samsung Galaxy Y	0.40	247	624	0.72	471	625

Contrast ratio

• Sort by Label
• Sort by Value

• Nokia 808 PureView 4.698
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III 3.419
• Samsung Omnia W 3.301
• Samsung Galaxy S 3.155
• Nokia N9 3.069
• Samsung Galaxy Note 2.970
• HTC One S 2.901
• Samsung Galaxy S II 2.832
• Huawei Ascend P1 2.655
• Nokia Lumia 900 2.562
• Apple iPhone 4S 2.269
• HTC One X 2.158
• Nokia N8 2.144
• Apple iPhone 4 2.016
• Sony Ericsson Xperia ray 1.955
• Sony Xperia U 1.758
• LG Optimus 4X HD 1.691
• HTC One V 1.685
• LG Optimus Vu 1.680
• HTC Desire V 1.646
• LG Optimus 3D 1.542
• Nokia Asha 302 1.537
• Nokia Lumia 610 1.432
• Gigabyte GSmart G1355 1.361
• Sony Xperia miro 1.324
• HTC Desire C 1.300
• LG Optimus L7 1.269
• Meizu MX 1.221
• Samsung Galaxy Pocket 1.180
• Nokia Asha 305 1.178
• Nokia Asha 306 1.175
• Sony Xperia tipo 1.166
• Samsung Galaxy mini 2 1.114

Nokia even found a way to enable multi-touch. It's limited to the gallery but pinch zooming works rather well. Here's a photo of the screen's RGB matrix under a microscope.
Above the display there's an earpiece and a brand logo. There're none of the usual sensors up there. There's no automatic screen brightness of course and no proximity sensor. The screen locks as soon as the call is connected and can be unlocked using the dedicated button. Only then can you access the onscreen in-call options.
Underneath the screen you'll find the mouthpiece on the thin strip of plastic that accommodates the call and end keys. The end key will exit any currently running app and take you back to the homescreen. It's a power button too.

Above and under the display
On the right side of the Nokia Asha 306 is the volume rocker and the lock button. Near the bottom you'll see a rather deep and wide slit for removing the back panel.

The volume rocker
Under a sealed plastic lid lies the MicroSD card on the left side of the phone.

The microSD card slot
The microUSB port is placed at the top of the device alongside a 3.5 mm headphones jack and the older standard charging port. The Asha 306 comes with one of those old-school Nokia chargers but can be charged off USB too.

Top and bottom
The back panel of the Nokia Asha 306 is the only place where a more conventional matte finish has been deployed. You'll find the 2 MP camera lens there, along with another engraved Nokia logo and the loudspeaker grille. The Asha 306 is powered by a 1110 mAh Li-Ion battery and inside the battery compartment is the SIM slot.

Under the hood
We can't say we're too fond of the Nokia Asha 306 in terms of design but the phone is certainly well put together. The handset looks like it's using parts of other Nokias and there's too much gloss. Fingerprints are too much of an issue but overall, it's the looks that raise doubts not durability.

The Nokia Asha 306 held in hand

S40 thinks it's MeeGo

We have decent experience with the new Asha Touch variation of the Series 40 software and we like what Nokia has done with its best-selling platform. The software takes a lot of design cues from its Symbian (or "Nokia OS" if you will) and MeeGo brothers, and as such the user interface structure is based on the MeeGo one.
All interactions are touch-based, except for the red receiver key which is a handy way to bring out the homescreen or close an app. Here's the Asha 306 in action:
The lockscreen offers a big clock with the date underneath. A familiar sideways swipe unlocks the phone. Before you do that, you must first wake up the screen, of course. To do that you need to press the hardware lock key; double tap like on the Nokia N9 doesn't work.

The lockscreen and the three homescreens
Beyond the lockscreen is an arrangement of three side-scrollable homescreens in MeeGo fashion. The default one is the app launcher - the new Asha Touch gets straight to business.

The app launcher • Settings menu
A swipe to the left will take you to the dialer. In fact, this screen can be customized to show either the music player or the radio, but having the dialer always a swipe away is probably the most useful of the three.
The third homescreen is what was previously known as Active Standby. It's now a pane to fill with shortcuts to frequently used apps or contacts. A tap and hold on that screen triggers Edit mode, so you can choose shortcuts and contacts to add.
As usual, the time and date are displayed too, which in turn serve as shortcuts to the alarm app and the calendar. There are no other widgets available here unfortunately, e.g. a music player widget.

The dialer and its replacement options • You can add shortcuts and contacts on the Active Standby screen
The status bar is visible on top of any of the three screens and you can either tap to expand it or pull it down. It displays notifications of missed events and quick toggles for mobile data, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and sound profiles.
Below you get shortcuts to the music player, the phone and messaging apps. While S40 Asha Touch doesn't really do multitasking, those three apps are almost always available to you, even inside Java apps (the only exception is full screen apps). You can change the track, send a message, make a call and go back to where you left your app.

The Notification area
Notifications are displayed on the lockscreen too. A convenient shortcut is swiping a notification, which will take you to the relevant app.

Lockscreen notifications • Notifications in the App Launcher
A tiny number icon on the Messaging icon in the app launcher shows the text messages you have received but not yet read. There are similar new email notifications.
In case of a missed call that requires your attention, the notification area drops down a bit to briefly display the number and then pulls back up. It leaves a small handle as a reminder, which you can pull to see who's been calling you.

The notification area behavior when you miss a call or receive a new message
These are minor but nice touches to a completely revamped interface, which is surprisingly feature-rich, yet beautifully simple. Soft keys are nowhere in sight - every app or screen you open has just a tiny back key instead.
We don't miss multitasking, which will never be a part of S40. The Asha 306 comes with all the essential functions as native apps, so they can receive notifications in the background, and the call/text/music functionality is always accessible. It's the most common use case - especially considering there aren't that many third-party apps to switch between (e.g. you're not going to use a third-party music player).
The Asha 306 uses the same hardware as the 305 and that doesn't quite have the processor power to run the complex UI as smooth as we would have liked. There's noticeable lag as you scroll through the interface.
To be fair, part of what ruins the experience is the resistive touch, which requires a stronger push to register a touch than a capacitive screen does and we often ended up hitting all sorts of icons unintentionally when we lightened the pressure of our fingers on the screen.

Source : www.gsmarena.com