Nokia has announced another handset in its Series 40-based Asha portfolio of low end mobiles which compete with the budget end of Android and cheap BlackBerrys. The 2G-plus-Wi-Fi Asha 210, due to ship before the end of Q2, packs a physical Qwerty keyboard and comes painted in Nokia’s now trademark eye-popping colours (yellow, cyan, magenta), plus black and white. But the most notable addition to this BlackBerry-esque device is a hardware key on the front that short-cuts to messaging app WhatsApp — which, extending the BlackBerry comparison, is the phone’s BBM replacement.
As well as the ability to fire up WhatsApp by long pressing on this dedicated key, Nokia said Asha 210 buyers will get a free subscription to the messaging service for the lifetime of the device. On the Series 40 platform, WhatsApp normally charges a $ 0.99 annual fee after a first year of free use. Last week the messaging service said it now has north of 200 million monthly active users (this compares to BBM’s more modest 60 million). Tapping into the hugely popular social messaging craze is clearly Nokia’s aim here.
Nokia describes the Asha 210′s WhatsApp hardware key as a “world first”, although we’ve seen the mobile maker (and others) stick a Facebook button on a phone before. But before you start wondering how displeased Facebook is going to be with Nokia for two-timing it with a deadly messaging rival, the handset actually comes in two social messaging flavours, with a second variant having a dedicated Facebook key (shown below, on the black handset) instead of a WhatsApp button.
The two Asha 210 social flavours — which also each come in single SIM/dual SIM variants – won’t be offered together in the same market but will rather be region specific, presumably corresponding to where the respective services are most popular. Neil Broadley, marketing director for Nokia’s mobile phones division, told TechCrunch the WhatsApp device will generally target Asia-Pac and Middle East & Africa, while the Facebook flavour will mostly be heading to Europe and Latin America. He also confirmed that neither device will be sold in North American.
Both of our partners are hugely successful around the world.“On a market by market basis we will have either WhatsApp or Facebook,” said Broadley. “Both of our partners are hugely successful around the world and as we go on a market by market basis, some of our market teams would like to have the WhatsApp variant, some would like to have the Facebook variant. And of course we already have the Nokia Asha 205 on a global basis with the Facebook hard key there as well.”
Broadley added that Nokia is looking at the possibility of making a third variant of the Asha 210 — specifically targeting the Chinese market — with another, as yet undetermined social service loaded on the hard key (China has a variety of homegrown social services that outstrip the popularity of global offerings, such as microblogging service Sina Weibo vs Twitter). Nokia certainly has work to do to win back buyers in China. In its Q1 results last week, China saw the biggest drop of any of Nokia’s regions in terms of sales by value and volume, with $ 334 million in sales in Greater China, down 56% on the year ago quarter.
Low end hardware + social softwareAside from differing social shortcuts, the Asha 210 variants have identical hardware and software, with a sub-1Ghz chip; 2 megapixel rear camera plus a dedicated camera key on the front of the device (in addition to the WhatsApp/Facebook key plus standard nav/call keys); Nokia’s Slam Bluetooth-sharing data transfer tech and its hot-swap SIM system; plus a rubberised full Qwerty keyboard which recycles the pillowed keys of 2008′s Nokia E71. The keyboard also includes shortcut keys for turning on/off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
On the software front, the device comes with Whatsapp, Facebook and Twitter preloaded; support for YouTube streaming and web apps; a ‘Games Gift’ of 15 free downloadable “premium” games & apps from the Nokia Store; plus Nokia’s neat voice-guided self-portrait feature, which gets around the lack of a front-facing lens by helping users align a self-portrait when they can’t see the screen.
Nokia’s earlier Facebook-button-packing phone, the full Qwerty Asha 205, was announced in November last year. At the time, the company’s decision to introduce a phone with a dedicated Fb button revived a 2011 trend which, for the majority of last year, appeared to have run its course — without, apparently, covering any of the device maker particpants (including HTC, Orange and Vodafone) in huge heaps of gold.
Asked about sales of the Asha 205, Nokia said it has not broken out any numbers for the model but added that the number of Facebook activations for the device is “significantly higher” than for the average Asha family device. Whatever the sales figures, Nokia clearly believes there is more gold to be mined from low end mobiles by associating its hardware with the biggest brands of the social messaging space.
Asha vs Android: Show me the moneyThe Asha 210 — along with the entire Nokia Asha range — targets developing markets and cost-conscious consumers, which explains its focus on seeking ways to reduce not just the initial outlay but also the total cost of ownership, while simultaneously amping up its core social offering by making sure it can provide access to big name apps and allow for easy social photo-sharing, as Android does.
The Asha 210 will have a $ 72 price-tag (before taxes and subsidies). The price-tag puts it in touching distance of budget Androids and while the S40 platform is not as user friendly, flexible or as app-rich as Android, Nokia has been working to strength its competitiveness against Android’s low end with additions such as its cloud-based data-compressing Xpress Browser, which ekes out up to three times as much data as non-compression browsers to help keep the user’s data costs down, plus offers such as ‘Games Gift’ and the free Whatsapp subscription.
As with other Asha devices, the 210 also boasts a long battery life — of up to 46 days on standby, and around 12 hours talk time. Nokia noted that it is using push notification technology to reduce battery drain caused by the Asha 210 checking for Whatsapp/Facebook updates. Update checking is done by Nokia in the cloud, with any new info pushed out to the user’s phone when it arrives.
One more thing…
Nokia and WhatsApp are about to hold an online Q&A about the launch of the Asha 2010 so we’ll be checking for any interesting tidbits that come out of the discussion to add as an update below. Currently, around the world, there is still plenty of regional diversity across messaging and social services – messaging apps are especially fragmented. Many of these apps inevitably compete with and come into conflict with social networking giant Facebook, which wants to own all the world’s chatter. And with Facebook having just launched its app-sidelining Android skin, social challengers such as WhatsApp are likely to be keen to find ways to increase their own visibility on mobile. Having your brand stamped on the outside of a phone sounds like a great place to start.
Updates from the Q&A, with Nokia’s Broadley and Neeraj Arora, business development, at WhatsApp:
On whose idea the WhatsApp hard key was, Nokia’s or Whatsapp’s… Broadley: “We have an ongoing relationship with WhatsApp that spans a range of Nokia Asha and other Nokia products. We are both really excited about this opportunity.”
On whether the WhatsApp hard key will be exclusive to Nokia devices… Arora & Broadley: “We are very excited to bring a dedicated WhatsApp button to Asha 210 and we will take consumer feedback for future consideration.”
On the differences between the Asha 210 and Nokia’s earlier Facebook button phone, the Asha 205… Arora & Broadley: “There is WhatsApp deep linking into social share gallery and there is more to come.”
On Nokia’s approach to phone design… Broadley: ”Starting with the Nokia 206 announced just before Christmas we’ve been progressively uniting the Nokia portfolio under a single, coherent design language… We have one stunning design approach across the Nokia range.”
On whether Nokia could introduce a Lumia product with a physical Qwerty to differentiate its smartphones from rivals… Broadley: “We don’t comment on future plans.”
- QWERTY|Tech Meets Blog
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This is Smash Mute, a giant $ 25 mute button to punch when those loud-ass local commercials come on during a football game. Although allegedly in December the FCC will require commercials be the same volume as the programming they so rudely interrupt, so it might become obsolete pretty quick. Of course, if you’re the kind of human being who would actually buy a giant novelty mute button, what the hell do you care? You’re already a crazy person.
Hit the jump for a couple more shots in case you’re having trouble grasping the concept. It’s a tricky one.
Earlier this month, rumors emerged about potential native screenshot functionality in Windows Phone 8. While existing Windows Phone 7 devices do not include a basic screenshot feature, Microsoft is building this minor, but useful, function into Windows Phone 8. WP7App.de managed to activate the screenshot part of Windows Phone 8 in the recently leaked SDK, revealing that Microsoft will use the Windows and Camera button combination to take screenshots natively.
Although the execution is similar to rival platforms like iOS, Windows Phone 8 will store the screenshots in a separate album within the Photos hub — not in the camera roll. This serves to separate screenshots from photos taken on the phone’s Camera. While this is a minor…
Question by : Is there anyway I could make a physical camera button on my android x2? I know from the first android there was a button to take pictures but on the new android there isn’t now. Is there anyway I could make a physical button for the camera? Like assigning a button or something? It would make taking pictures a lot easier.
Best answer:
Answer by Jackno,because now most of phones use the screen to take photos
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120227014951AALsbwm
Give your answer to this question below!
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Question by lalaladedum: What is a button sensor, limit switch, and sonar sensor when you are talking about robotics? What are they? What do they do? How many of them should you have in your robot? Where should you place them in your robot?
Best answer:
Answer by MarkGButton switch is a push button which activates when pressed. A limit switch is a type of switch that activates when an item reaches a desiginated point in its mechanical movement. To prevent an arm from being over extended a limit switch would be used to signal when the arm is fully extended. This limit switch could be a button switch
A sonar sensor is used to determine how far away an object is.
How many you have on your robot depends upon a number of factors such as the function of the robot and how much money you are willing to spend.
Where they are placed depends on how they are going to be used and how they work.
What do you think? Answer below!
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This is a fridge magnet that you press to automatically order your favorite pizza combo from Red Tomato Pizza in Dubai. Don’t live in Dubai? Then you’re stuck ordering online or calling LIKE SOME F***ING CAVEMAN HOBO. The device works via Bluetooth and is synced to your smartphone to order the predetermined pizza of your choice BUT IT BETTER HAVE MUSHROOMS. A confirmation is then sent to your phone as your pizza begins its journey to your pie-hole. Simple! Is Pizza Hut going to steal the idea and run with it here in the U.S.? Absolutely. Am I going to push the button every time I come over to your place? Yes, multiple times. Am I gonna chip in a couple bucks when the food arrives? Not a snowcone’s chance in the devil’s b-hole. *opening fridge* There better be a 2-liter of Dew in here.
Hit the jump for a commercial.
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