Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

I recently bought an Android ICS tablet from Yinlips, GPS was an optional extra and the additional charge for including it was only USD 9 and that obviously includes their margin.

If NOKIA have compromised an otherwise excellent budget device for such a small sum of money then that sounds like a cost saving too far to me.

Given NOKIA's apparent determination to self-destruct though I guess it's not beyond them to do something that daft.

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

Actually that is a lot of money for phones in the price range of 60-120 euros. Also it doesn't give the total cost. On the hardware side Nokia would also need to make sure the battery is big enough for reasonable gps usage, and it also needs software. Navigation software isn't trivial and isn't cheap.

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

It's not a lot of money whichever end of the telescope you're looking down.

The 311 has the same battery as the 500 which does have GPS so I can't see that's a genuine issue here either.

As for the software don't NOKIA own that already?

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

The 311 does have better talk and standby times with the same battery.
Also the fact that nokia owns the software doesn't make it cheap.
The 311 is a lot lower cost device than the 500. Nokia 500 starting price was in the 170-180 euro range. Asha is 130 euro range. Big difference.

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

So we're agreed the battery isn't an issue?


If you've already invested in it and it's not cheap then you really need to find a way to profit from it don't you?

And don't bother with the cannibalising sales of other more expensive devices in their own range argument, that's only valid if their other devices are actually selling.

NOKIA desperately need a big hit right now.


So the 311 goes up very slightly by about EUR 7 but it's MUCH more desirable - sounds like a plan to me.

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

7Euros is a big amount for the target market where Asha will sell (emerging markets). For example, India, Pakistan etc where Asha (hope in Hindi, the national language of India) is going to sell 7euros is more than 500 indian rupees, a comparatively large amount.

Edit: with a 500rs gap you're enroaching into cheap androids which have more advantages. the reason nokia still moves in these markets is due to its past reputation, build quality, amazing battery life and reliability/durability of the phone.
also in countries like India and Pakistan those who will buy these phones intend it for their children or rough and tough use. if they need directions, the numerous people you can find at all places are much better help than taking 5mins to type, search and get the GPS signal. Don't forget in these markets you have frequent diversions, constructions etc. whereby the navigation feature is rendered inefficient.

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

Look at the availability page for the 311, NOKIA are planning on selling it right across Europe (although not the UK it seems) where EUR 7 is peanuts but where GPS on a budget device will be a big selling point.

311 Availability

Do NOKIA want to stuff it to budget Androids or not?

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

i agree with you however look at the bigger picture, majority of sales will come from emerging markets, Europe while a wide market won't have huge sales. Brazil, India, Bangladesh, Thailand will surely provide with more than whole of Europe combined. Like i mentioned earlier the branding of the device to Asha shows the true intention of the series. It would most probably sell as prepaid devices in Europe for people to use and discard but in emerging markets it will become people's primary device that they expect to last for quite some time.

on the other hand, they could have made a 312 with GPS...

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

...which would bring them where they were during the last years: a myriad of relatively similar devices where choice is not easy.

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

then if you've to choose one for markets where price is king, 311 without gps is the way to go.
the whole thing of hitting androids in Europe is quite suspect. i mean how do you expect Nokia to do so? this is the main reason they are falling behind...Android in Europe is cheap, established and now build qualities are increasing. Furthermore, small price differences in Europe, like the above-mentioned 7Euros don't make much of a difference whereas they decide the fate of a model in emerging markets.
Nokia has to hope and pray that WP in developed markets hits off with WP8 and Asha etc. do well in emerging markets otherwise its quite bleak.

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

No Meltemi, its Nkoia OS which is Symbian. Does it have Wifi Tethering?

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

I don't think it is. I like Android but in my experience it requires really decent hardware, Android on a budget device is agonising.

Numerous of my friends who have no real interest in smartphones beyond messaging, emails and checking the headlines have got low grade Android devices and they utterly detest them. They didn't consciously decide they wanted an Android device it was simply because that's what's offered on the low monthly tariff plans now.

I suspect there are a lot of these people about, they may have Android devices but are not true Android (or even smartphone) converts, it's just that's the best device on offer with the contract that suited them.


NOKIA are failing because Elop announced Symbian had been deprecated, which made carriers and retailers drop it.

I think this is related to my point above, the users that would previously have been offered Symbian phones on the low monthly tariff plans or subsidised carrier locked pay-as-you-go phones are now offered budget Androids instead. It seems to me as things stand Android will continue gaining market share by default simply because there's not much else in this market segment.

NOKIA need to produce something carriers and consumers want and quick.

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

NOKIA OS is not Symbian.

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

LOL so much false information in this thread that it's sooo funny...

Latest Asha phones run S40Touch - still a Java OS like any other S40.
It's not Meltemi and it's not Symbian FFS.

Meltemi will arrive when it's ready.

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

Yeah don't understand why people spread completely false info.
Meltemi is way cooler than this S40 touch, but it is not ready yet. Integration is ongoing and will take a few quarters to mature.

S40 touch however shows swipe elements that I think likely will be a common theme for Nokia's swipe UX.... (never see Meltemi SW so this is pure speculation.)

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

nokia is hell slow, the pace is too fast, hurry up nokia, i hope you can survive to updating my n9, :D

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

Complaining about the spreading of false info, and then spreading pure speculation in the same message is just genius!

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

for once that may be a good strategy cause those lowend Android devices really suck bigtime. Slow as hell and eating battery.

Also the "swipeUI" is promising. But so far swedish media has not got any attention to this device(s). Swedish Nokia is totally blinded by Microsoft crapphones.

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

The world is changing, here (Brazil), N 500 costs bit more expensive than C3 and here people want smartphones, no feature phone. We have cheap data plans for 3G. I dont know about India and China, but we are the third largest market for Nokia and everyone wants smartphone.
If Nokia does not, people go and buy a Samsung.

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

i can confirm indonesia also losing interest on nokia product now, yeah maybe its time to samsung to rule, dinosaurs has to die

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

that's the whole difference between "educated guess" and trolling / propaganda. :mad:

sony123 admits he doesn't know much of anything about Meltami, simply because it still is in a very early stage & nobody knows...
the rest is simply reporting facts

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

talking of speculation...:rolleyes:
most of NOKIA's patents are already "released" to a patent troll company

perfectly worthless & unfounded piece of information, but ppl simply don't care (or don't want to know any better)... and the shares rise...
bingo :cool:
and the page hits too :D
double whammy ¦-)))))))))))

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

NOKIA has to produce more Taliban phones, as no one else will buy them.

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

talking of trolling... ¦-))))))))))))))))))))

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

http://images.smh.com.au/ftsmh/ffxim..._470x382,0.jpg
Mullah Abdul Salaam Zaeef.

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

http://mobilernr.com/wp-content/uplo..._announced.jpg

lol

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

Series 40 is starting to get a web presence. Mainly because they wrongly classed it as Symbian, at least I'm not the only one who was confused.
http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_os...-200812-201206

Re: nokia NEW asha series 305, 306, 311 - meltemi?
 

I labeled it clearly so you could know what was real and what was speculation.

Anyway, it's all irrelevant now.