Nokia Asha 306 Review - Pros and Cons
Get the full review of Nokia Asha 306 mobile phone launched in India on June 2012.I have added all the benefits and the problems faced by this mobile phone. Just look and the pros and cons to know whether you can buy this phone or not.
Nokia Asha 306 review: I bought my Nokia Asha 306 at Madurai, Tamilnadu on July 2012. By carrying this mobile I felt lightly and I came to know that this mobile weighs only 96g. This mobile fits correctly in shirt pocket. While carrying this mobile it makes me proud that I am carrying a smart phone with me. I switch on my phone and the interface looks the combination of Symbian and Android OS. Swipe navigation, notification made a feel that it looks like Android mobile. All the other things icons, settings and all options remembers me 5800 music xpress symbian mobile. Still in India many users were using and satisfied much with this symbian mobile. So using Asha 306 mobile is easy and simple. I used this mobile for nearly 20 days so I will list out the problems faced and disadvantage of Asha 306.
Messaging in Asha 306
First thing we need to know about texting is the keypad. Typing in Asha 306 looks hard at the starting stage as it got resistive touchscreen. Later after 3 days I felt typing is easy in Asha 306. Options like groups / caller groups to send message to list of contacts were available. Groups were limited upto 30 contacts. Means you can have only 30 friends in a single group. But you can have many groups in your mobile. You have both alpha numeric and qwerty keyboard options in this mobile phone. By turning this mobile it will automatically turn to qwerty keyboard by using accelerometer. Already I have said about notification options available in Asha 306. Using notification you can easily get your unread message details. As like all Nokia mobiles there is dictionary options while typing SMS. There is no options to change the font size. MMS text were also available in this mobile. I am not so familiar with MMS. I found options such as inserting images, text, videos in Multimedia message. You can store upto 1000 contacts in this mobile. Apps in Asha 306
This mobile has got Nokia OS and Only Series 40 Web Apps and Java apps were supported. You cannot install Android or .sis apps in this mobile. This mobile may look like symbian but simbian apps (.sis) can't be installed in this mobile. To download apps for Asha 306 you should go OVI store. Third party apps can be downloaded from other sites too. Basic apps available in this mobile are Dictionary, Digital clock, Alarm clock with ring tones, Recorder, Calculator, Calendar, Fixed dialling number, Notes and Reminders. There is also a whether apps really good with animations.
Games in Asha 306
Asha 306 allows you to install 40 EA games for free. This is the offer available in this mobile. For this you should access Nokia store and download it. This apps were not pre-installed in this mobile. The 40 EA games in Asha 306 are Need For Sped, Monopoly, Tetris, EA Cricket 11, Sim City, Bejeweled, Fifa 12, Marble Madness, Sims 3, Medal Of Honour etc. I found most of the games available were SIM city with different versions. All the games were not full versions. Only few games were full versions. Most of them were trail version. Better you can download as 3rd party apps (from other sites). I usually play Need for speed in this mobile. Accelerometer were disabled while playing games. You need to to use touch screen for navigation. After searching for long time I found a game "amazing cowboy" that works on Asha. Gaming experience is not so good. It makes a feel that it lags sometime.
Chatting in Asha 306
Asha 306 has pre-installed IM facility like gtalk, FB chat, Yahoo chat. I tried installing Nimbuzz and e-buddy that works fine in this mobile. You can also minimize this apps. To maximize you need to click the Nimbuzz or e-buddy icon again. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Orkut and Flickr were already available in this mobile. Really this apps impressed me. Google Plus is not available but you can download as 3rd party. Most impressed whatsapp app works well in Asha 306 too. I felt happy when I spotted Whatsapp application in Nokia store itself. Unfortunately you cannot install Skype in this mobile. I am tired of searching for Skype apps for Asha 306. Any how we need front cam to use Skype, Asha 306 doesn't have front camera. Apps such as Opera Mini, UC Browser works well in this mobile phone.
Youtube in Asha 306
I will say the main drawback of this mobile is no Youtube video buffering. You can access the youtube site but you cannot play youtube video. When I tried to play youtube video it displays a message "no response try again". I tried even using Wi-Fi but it showed same message. There should be third party apps to play this youtube video. Soon I will provide you details about Youtube player for Asha 306. I am sure that Youtube streaming is possible in Asha 306.Asha 306 Wiki
Camera quality in Asha 306
The photos taken through camera can be used for profile photos. Low resolution pictures were good. If you need to use this picture for wallpaper then it falls under average type. Images supported by this mobile were JPEG, DCF, BMP, GIF89a, EXIF, PNG, WBMP and GIF87a. Video quality is average and quality is high at low resolution only. There is no special features in camera such as flash. No importance is given to camera. You can play 3GP, AVI, 3GPP, WMV, midi and MP4 videos in this mobile phone. Pinch and Zoom facility is available. So you can zoom your captured images.
Music Player and FM in Asha 306
Music player is available with features sucha as Music Player Media Player, Loudness, Audio Streaming and Audio Equalizer. Voice recording is possible in this phone. Support many music format. Radio is available in this mobile with features such as Stereo FM radio, Radio recording, FM Radio and FM Radio with RDS.
Pros of Ahsa 306
Here you can find all the advantages of this mobile phone.
(1) Battery backup is unbelievable. I text frequently and this battery lasts for more than one day sometimes two day.
(2) Pre-installed application in this mobile were really benefit. Usually I will download dictionary apps but this mobile has pre-installed dictionary apps.
(3) Nokia web browser is updated and easy to use than the previous one. It is faster than before.
(4) Good mobile for messaging. It looks rough at starting because you may used capacitive touchscreens. You will feel easy after practice.
(5) Checking social networking, sharing and reading mails were easy.
(6) Fun while playing games, listening music and wathcing vidoes.
Cons of Asha 306
(1) Battery charging takes much time. I charge nearly for 30 min and I have never seen battery full.
(2) Phones looks slow. Response is not up to the expectation.
(3) Resistive touchscreen is one of the major drawback.
(4) Youtube and skype not available.
(5) Phone becomes slow while installing apps with more than 10MB.
Price of Nokia Asha 306 is Rs. 4714
Great work dear:-D