Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
Belle view?
The four-row Qwerty keyboard is hard to fault too. Actually I can’t fault it. The texture, size and action of the 37 keys are all near perfect and make no concessions to the handset’s rock-bottom price. It’s not all good news though. Despite the MicroUSB port you still have to use the traditional 2mm charge port to juice the 201 up. Also there are no physical volume keys which is a bit irksome and you have to unclip the back to open the side cover of the MicroSD slot.
Having a 2Mp snapper is a case of you get what you pay for
The Nokia OS (read S40) menu structure has been given a wash and brush-up to make it resemble the latest Belle version of what used to be called Symbian. And a very successful face-lift its been too. I’d go as far so say that it is now the most attractive and intuitive dumb-phone interfaces there is.
The trusty S40 mail client works a treat and is very easy to set up and even though there’s no 3G or Wi-Fi you do get Bluetooth 2.1. Surfing the web with the preinstalled Opera Mini browser isn’t too much of a chore and the social network aggregation app (called Social) is competent enough.
The 2Mp auto-focus camera is a very basic affair and will only record video at 175 x 144 @ 15fps but to counter that the call quality, rear speaker and signal reception are all excellent.
Plug a decent pair of earphones into the 201’s 3.5mm audio socket and it makes a surprisingly good, if basic, music player. Swapping back and forth between my HTC Desire HD, her indoors’ iPhone 4 and the 201 saw it more than hold its own in the sound quality stakes.
Colourful choices to suit varied tastes
Nokia says a full charge of the 201 will support standby for 37 days. That may or may not be true but after four days of heavy use it only dropped from an indicated 50% to 25% of charge remaining at the last moment so it gets top marks from me on this front too.
Verdict
If your main requirements are making voice calls and keeping on top of your e-mails and texts then the Asha 201 is an easy recommendation. The screen is sharp and bright, the keyboard nearly faultless and the new-look S40 interface a joy to behold. If you want a phone that can handle data then the 3G and Wi-Fi-less 201 is clearly not for you but if all you want are the telephonic and communication basics covered it’s well worth the limited outlay. ®
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Nokia Asha
COMMENTS
Re: re; Confused @James Hughes1
Video recording will not even be close to a priority for anyone in the market for a £40-£50 phone. Texting, phoning and battery life are the priorities, which this phone appears to succeed at with aplomb.
It's like faulting a Vauxhall Astra because it doesn't handle like a Ferrari.
re; Confused @James Hughes1
Yes, apparently the camera and video recording isn't very good, but that's offset by some minor features:
"The 2Mp auto-focus camera is a very basic affair and will only record video at 175 x 144 @ 15fps but to counter that the call quality, rear speaker and signal reception are all excellent."
I guess it's good that it's functionality as a phone even got mentioned, but why can't call quality and signal strength be discussed near the top of, your know all PHONE reviews ?
No USB charge... Grrr!
It used to be that us Nokia users could charge their phone in any almost any location- odds were that there would be a (old size ) Nokia charger (or 6) to hand... Not that we would need a charge more than twice a week.
I haven't had a Nokia for some years now, and have got quite used to recharging my gadgets from either Mini- or Micro-USB cables. Having a car stereo with a USB socket is handy for this, or a nearby PC, games console, LCD picture frame or TV.
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