Mobile Phone Review Nokia Asha 502 503

So, what is the Nokia Asha 502. Let me introduce the phone first , it’s a phone which is an upgraded version of the Asha 501. Let’s look at the basic comparison between the two phones, as always I will make use of a table to illustrate it for clarity

Design

This is where the Asha 502 is different, it looks completely different from the 501 . The 501 is curve, and Nokia has taken off the curves from the 502 and added a layer of transparent plastic to it . Of course the advertisement says that the difference is crystal clear , but its plastic , sad jokes apart . The plastic does give the phone a very elegant and classy finish. The finishing and the build quality feels good as well. And, in spite of the additional layer of plastic the 502 is slimmer than the 501. The 501 is 12.1 mm thick while the 502 is 11.1 mm. Well, its slimmer but it definitely heavier than the 501 and feels better when you hold it. Sometimes, weight does add an air of solidity to phones , is it , or is it me who feels so.

The navigation button of the 501 which is a physical button under the screen is replaced by a touch sensitive button. The phone has a 305m audio port and a micro USB port at the top. The power and Volume buttons are placed at the right.

The screen is 3 inches , which is the same as the 501 and the operating system is Asha 1.1 while the 501 had Asha 1.0 The micro SD card is already inserted into the slot , but it’s just 4 GB , what did I expect 32 GB , that would have been like a dream come true. The 3 inch screen has a 320x240 resolution and the touch is pretty responsive, yes but with the screen size , if you have bigger or fatter fingers it could become a little difficult.  Accelerometer and proximity sensors are in built in the phone and like the 501 the 502 also supports 2 point multi touch. 

Performance

The 64MB memory in the phone is enough to support it , and the extendable memory up to 32GB is enough storage. The Asha is a dual SIM phone and you need micro SIM’s , the same as the 501. Anyway, everyone is shifting to Micro SIMS, the iPhone started it all.  This is a 2G ( GPRS/EDGE) handset, no 3G supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It runs pretty smooth and comes pre installed with Facebook and Twitter, and yes Whatsapp. After, Whatsapp came for the 501 the phone suddenly felt like it already got an upgrade.

Yes performance wise do remember, this is a budget phone, and comes with some basic games, if you want more performance , spend more money.  Don’t expect the Asha to be an iPhone competitor. 

Camera
This is an upgrade over the 501, the 501 had a 3.2MP camera and the 502 sports a 5MP camera and yes it has a flash , I mean the Lumia 525 doesn’t have one, so the Asha can keep clicking pictures even after sunset. The pictures come out pretty nice, again not a Lumia 1020 remember. The video quality , well how do I put it sucks, reminded me of the age old phones when camera phones just began. That’s it just one camera and no front camera, so all you selfie addicts , turn your phone and click. 

Battery

The 1010 mAh battery is a downgrade over the 1200 mAh battery of the 501 , now you know why the phone is slimmer, with the 501 you can talk for 17 hours and with the 502 the limit is set at 13 hours , so talk a little less. Anyway, with Whatsapp running constantly I don’t know how long your battery will last anyway. Yes you can play music up to around 40 hours. 

Verdict
If you ask me the 502 definitely looks better than the 501 with the transparent plastic , and the camera is better . If you want a budget handset then the 502 is a great option. You get 6 bright and brilliant colours too and with the price difference being about  Rs 1000 it is definitely better than the 501. 

A Note about Asha 503

The Nokia Asha 503 is a smart phone similar to the 502 in look and design , but it supports 3G , so if you want a Asha with 3G capabilities then the 503 is the phone for you, further the 503 has a battery which is 1200mah, slightly more than the 502, but with 3G the batterey won’t make such a big difference. The price difference between 502 and 503 is almost Rs 1500 and I don’t think that it’s that big an upgrade to pay 1500 for a 3G capable Asha. The rest is left to you.

Phone Review Nokia Lumia 525

The Nokia Lumia 525 is here , so what’s new in it. The Lumia 520 is without doubt one of the best selling Smartphone’s of the Lumia range. Other than being the best selling smartphone, the 520 has also been working as a gateway to the windows phone platform because of its affordability. Let’s, try and compare the Lumia 520 and the Lumia 525 

 I mentioned in my earlier talk about the windows operating system that as far as the OS is concerned it tends to run very smoothly even with the some decent processors and does not require too much RAM. About, 512MB RAM is enough to make it run pretty well. Well with 512, the windows operating system runs pretty well, but it’s the graphic intensive games that become a problem as they simply refuse to run on the 512MB RAM, so that’s where Nokia decided to upgrade the hardware , so that graphic intensive games will be able to run smoothly on the 525. 

Build and Design

The Lumia 525 doesn’t differ much when it comes to design from the 520. The only difference is maybe the back panel which is of matte finish in the 520 and of glossy finish in the 525 . The panels are however interchangeable, and  you can attach a glossy panel to your 520 if you wish to. Apart from this, the screen size is same 4 inches, with a 800x480p resolution, which does make the pictures and text appear a little bit pixelated, but if you go and look at the other phones in the similar price range you will find the 525 to be a better choice. The phone weighs the same as the 520 and does feel pretty strong and durable if you hold it. On the right edge of the phone you will find the lock/power, camera and the volume control keys. And like all windows phones you will find the capacitive keys for home, back and search right below the screen.  

Hardware

The Lumia 525 is powered by the same 1GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 which powers the Lumia 520 , but the difference is the RAM which is 1GB , which is almost double that of the 520 which sports 512MB RAM. The internal storage is 8GB and you can extend the storeage upto 64GB using a SD card. Like all windows devices you get Skydrive storage. The connective is same as the Lumia 520 that is 2G, 3G and Wi-Fi and the battery is same as well.  

Software

Software is Windows Phone 8 with the usual custom made look from Nokia with Nokia specific apps like Here Maps, Nokia Misic, Smart Shoot and Cinemagraph. The Windows Phone 8 OS is the updated version with the Black Update already installed. It does come with some of the features of the black update like better multitasking ability and double tap to wake up , but there is no glance screen . Wondering what the Black Update is , here follow this link and let Nokia tell you.

http://www.nokia.com/global/windows-phone-black-update/

Apps like Flipkart and BigFlix come preloaded and Gameloft games are available for free download with your 525 and better still the 525 because of the 1GB RAM is able to run the graphic intensive games. So, now you can play Assassin’s Creed and Asphalt 8 effortlessly. A lot of India specific apps like M-Indicator and various bank apps are now available on the windows phone platform so the selection of apps are pretty decent. The App market of the Windows Phone universe is still growing and will take some more time to be as comprehensive like the Google Store and IOS app market.  

Performance

Windows Phone as an Operating system is something which does not require too many resources to run smoothly and while navigating the menus you find it to be pretty fluid and smooth. As far as games like Temple Run 2  go they run pretty smoothly because of the upgraded RAM and Nokia’s Gamble of keeping the same processor seemed to have paid off.  At the price point at which you will be able to buy this phone, no Android phone will come close when it come to performance.

Camera

 The camera is the same as the 520 and is able to take good or should I say decent images in outdoor and sunlight filled places. It’s in low light conditions that you will get grainy pictures. I seriously feel that an LED flash would have been a pretty good enhancement to the camera. What the 520 lacked in terms of camera was a Flash , which sadly is same for the 525. A Flash would have made it possible to click pictures in low light and in the night. So here once the sun sets the picture quality goes for a toss. No front camera is again a drawback and reduces the usability of Skype. The Nokia Camera app app is part of the standard features of this phone, I just wish the camera would have complimented it.

Verdict

I would say that the entry level Windows phone got better with the 1GB RAM upgrade, which allows you to play more games than before. The latest build of the Windows OS also improves the user experience a bit. The pricing is a little above Rs 10000 which is tad bit more expensive than the 520 which is priced somewhere between Rs 7000 to Rs 8000, but if you miss the gaming experience in the 520 then it’s time to upgrade to the 525. Well if gaming is not your thing then the 520 is also a pretty decent phone with almost all the other apps and functions remaining the same.