Nokia Asha 501 Offers Free Facebook Access. Price $99.

Nokia’s new mid-range phone, the Nokia Asha 501, marries affordability and smartness as it hits the market for a meager $99, and is a good choice for people wishing to upgrade from their basic devices. It’s the first device running on the new Asha platform, which as per Nokia renders a faster and responsive feel. The phone has a 3-inch QVGA TFT capacitive display, 128MB inbuilt flash memory, 4GB external memory (expendable upto 32GB). In another first, it’s the first handset in this price range to use a micro-SIM. The power-packed battery offers 48 days in standby and 17 hours of talk time.

The mounted camera on the Asha 501 is a decent 3.2MP, and for connectivity the handset supports Wi-Fi, 2G, but doesn’t support 3G. The mobile company even announced that Nokia Asha users could access Facebook via a standalone app for free on partner operator networks. Also, Nokia Xpress Browser come pre-loaded in this device, thus offering a faster mobile browsing experience. Nokia Xpress Now, a new Web application that prompts content based on location, trending topics and preferences is also made available, and could be downloaded from Nokia Store.

The Nokia Asha 501 is available in both single-SIM and dual-SIM variants, and would be available in India from June for Rs 5,500/-. 60 operators shall be launching the phone in 90 countries.