Nokia Unveils New Asha Platform With Swipe UI For Feature Phones

At an even held at New Delhi in India, Nokia unveiled an new feature phone Asha 501. The new Asha 501 comes with the newly revamped Asha software platform. The new device and its UI reminds us the Nokia N9 and its MeeGo platform. As you can see in the image above, Nokia Lumia hardware designs has clearly inspired this new Asha device design. Even though it has a feature phone OS, it has lots of nifty features that makes it feel like a modern smartphone OS.

The Nokia Asha 501 is built to make it easier for people to access everything they love, with a simple swipe and a choice of two main screens: Home and Fastlane. Home is a traditional, icon-based view for launching individual apps or accessing a specific feature, like the dialler or phone settings. The new Fastlane view was inspired by how people really use their phone. Recently accessed contacts, social networks and apps, unique to each person, are stored and presented in Fastlane. It provides a record of how the phone is used, giving people a glimpse of their past, present and future activity, and helping them multi-task by providing easy access to their favorite features.

With the presence of high profile apps like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc, Nokia is also planning to bring HERE Maps to this new device later this year.

Check out the product page here and see a hands-on video after the break.