Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Nokia Asha series
Discontinued feature phone and smartphone series From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Nokia Asha is a discontinued series of feature phones and low-end smartphones produced and marketed by Nokia. It was marketed from late 2011 until 2014, by which time it was under Microsoft Mobile ownership. The range consisted of QWERTY keyboard, full touchscreen, and hybrid 'touch and type' handsets. Most Asha phones run Series 40 while from 2013 full touch models run the derived Nokia Asha platform.
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2013) |
Remove ads
Remove ads
History
Summarize
Perspective
The Nokia Asha range was announced at Nokia World 2011 on 26 October 2011 alongside the Nokia Lumia. Asha was developed for emerging markets with the goal of connecting the "next billion" to the Internet, as cited by then Nokia CEO Stephen Elop.[1][2] The name "Asha" comes from the Hindi word meaning "hope".[3]
According to The Verge in September 2013, Nokia had a project referred to as Asha on Linux and also as "MView"—a reference to Mountain View. The project used a fork of Android on a low-end handset to maximize margins. The project resulted in the Nokia X family of devices, unveiled at MWC 2014. It was one of two known Android projects at the company, the other was running the OS on high-end Lumia hardware.[4]
On 3 September 2013, Microsoft announced its purchase of Nokia's mobile device business, with the deal closing on 25 April 2014. The company previously announced an intent to use Asha as an "on-ramp" to the Windows Phone platform,[5][6] but in a company memo released in July 2014, it was announced that as part of cutbacks, Microsoft would end the Asha and Android-based Nokia X range entirely, in favor of solely producing Lumia Windows Phones and Nokia-branded "feature phone" products.[7]
On 11 January 2018, HMD Global acquired the Asha trademark.[8][9]
Remove ads
List of devices
Summarize
Perspective
Below are the mobile phones in the Asha range.
The Asha 305 and Asha 311 models are known as the first generation of Asha Full Touch phones; the second generation is the Asha 50x line. All devices up to the Asha 50x series run the Nokia domestic operating system with Series 40 UI platform, also known as S40. The Asha 501 (released in May 2013), Asha 500, Asha 502, Asha 503 and Asha 230 (announced on 14 February 2014) are powered by the Nokia Asha platform, which builds on S40 and Smarterphone.[10][11]
- Feature phones without the Asha name powered by S40
The Nokia 206, 207, 208, and 301 were not part of the Asha series as they do not carry the "Asha" branding, despite mistakenly being marketed as such by some carriers and retailers.
Remove ads
See also
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads