First impression: Nokia Asha 501

After being directed to the demo zone, I had a trying time locating the handset. Then I saw it - a small, colourful plastic box suspended from the ceiling. The six bright colour options of the Nokia Asha 501 would guarantee a second glance.

The colourful interchangeable back cover makes it look similar to the Lumia 620; but thankfully, this one comes off more easily. The device accepts micro SIM cards and micro SD cards up to 32GB, with a bundled 4GB card.

The 501 comes with just one 'back' button on the front face, besides the on/off button and the volume rocker button on the right. On the standby mode, the device displays the time and notifications; the phone can be woken up by tapping the three-inch capacitive touchscreen twice.

The new interface sports two screens - Home, which lists the apps, and Fastlane, which displays the day's activities, coming events, etc. From Fastlane, one can also post directly on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Swiping through the screens is lag-free and using Nokia's Xpress Browser, browsing on WiFi is fast.

We weren't able to check calling. Typing text in portrait mode could be a pain for those with big hands. In landscape mode, the predictive text, much like on Lumia handsets, works well.

Reports say some mobile network operators might offer free access to Facebook. Also on offer are 40 free games from EA Games; one can download these from Facebook.

Even in the noisy venue, music playback on the phone seemed loud enough. However, without a flash, the 3.2-MP camera didn't take great shots in dimly-lit areas.

The 501 also features Nokia Slam, which allows one to share content with friends via Bluetooth by holding the phones next to each other, much like NFC on higher-end devices.

The device doesn't feature 3G, which could be a sore point. The phone's build seems rugged. Compared to Samsung's Rex series, the 501 seems smarter - a good entry-level phone, though a sub-Rs 5,000 price tag would have helped.