The asha 309/3090 has nothing exceptionally different from the rest of its siblings and you’d equally have a hard time distinguishing it from other budget devices, however, beyond its reasonable price tag, it enjoys the reputation of Nokia’s hardware. The phone doesn’t have a 3G radio but surprisingly, there’s a built in Wi-Fi adaptor. I remember days when 3G functionality was regarded a luxury in this arena, only found on pricier handsets but times have changed ever since, it makes little sense to have a WiFi enabled phone minus a 3G radio and frankly it’s an isolated case. I’d presume the asha 309/3090 was built to fill up Nokia’s feature phone lineup where a WiFi adaptor just popped in as a value addition and a perfect marketing strategy, that would be sensible but it’s a scenario you’d not let go without questions. Internet connection is almost becoming a prerequisite on devices entering the market today and focus is shifting to an even a faster connection.
If you’re looking for a budget phone capable of effectively meeting basic telephony functions, then you’re probably looking at the best candidate right now, it’s a decent phone you’d better not rule out. Asha 309 has a single primary snapper at its back; it’s only 2Megapixels big which’s an obvious disappointment to photographers. We expected a slightly beefed up camera at least 3MP but still, you’d get decent shots of your mates taken on a broad daylight and at a closer range. It’ll be a good idea to factor in the price of a digital camera for those who’re into photography or save more and get a pricier device like Nokia 808 PureView altogether. Although there’s a video recording feature, for 176x144pixels @10fps video quality, it’s not something you’d proudly single out on this handset. On the front panel, there’s a 3.0inch capacitive display panel, it’s a perfect combination for a phone in its category. We’d expected a slightly larger screen given there’s no physical keyboard but at an almost rock bottom price tag we’ve no reason to complain, it’s as responsive as most capacitive panels on phones within its range.
There’s a lot of hype out there on how Nokia teamed up with Microsoft that anyone could easily mistake all phones coming from Nokia to be windows based. There are just as many series 40 cheaper devices such as asha 309 coming from Nokia. Earlier ashas were either Qwerty or Dual sim enabled, however, none of these features were utilized on asha 3090, its plain just like many budget handsets but with a little tweak on WLAN. Series 40 is obviously Nokia’s legacy for days gone by, but on asha 309, the software isn’t as old skool as it used to be, there’s lots of elements borrowed from smart operating systems like iOS and android. The likes of round edged icons and a tray that can be swiped down from the top screen never used to be Nokia’s style even on pricier phones in those days.
Nokia Asha 309/3090 Features/Specifications;
- Display : 3.0inch (240x400p) (155ppi) TFT Capacitive touch screen, 65k colors
- Primary Camera: 2.0 Megapixel (1600x1200p) Video: 176×144@10fps
- Storage: Up to 32GB MicroSD, 20MB storage, 128MB R0M, 64MB ROM
- Connectivity: WiFi 802.11/b/g/n, MicroUSB, Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP, EDR
- Internet: GPRS up to 85.6kbps, EDGE up to 236kbps
- Battery: Standard Lithium ion 1110mAh
- Other features: FM Radio with RDS, FM Recording
Nokia Asha 309/3090Price in Kenya: