Consolidated Gulf Co (CGC), the distributor for Nokia mobile phones in Qatar has announced the local availability of the Asha 305 and 306 from its Asha Touch family of mobile devices, taking the full touch experience to new price points. The two new phone models - the Nokia Asha 305 and Nokia Asha 306 – further expand the successful Asha family, first introduced in October 2011. Today, there are 10 Asha devices available in more than 130 markets, providing young, social consumers with a choice of phones to match their own lifestyle. The affordable Asha 305 and 306 touch smartphones are now available across all CGC outlets and dealer stores at an introductory price of QR 345 and QR 370 respectively.

These latest phones have been designed to provide an incredibly rich, smartphone-like experience to consumers who want to be set free from excessive data consumption costs and short battery life. The Nokia Asha 305 and Asha 306 offer a new, fully re-designed touch user interface, combining the proven ease-of-use from Nokia’s heritage with digital design innovations specifically fit for the purpose. The bright and edgy Nokia Asha 305 is a fun and affordable phone, featuring the exclusive Easy Swap dual SIM. Its sister, the Nokia Asha 306, is a single SIM model, and becomes Nokia’s most affordable Wi-Fi handset to date.

“By introducing the Asha Touch phones to the market, we’re accelerating our commitment to connect the next billion consumers,” said Vithesh Reddy, General Manager, Nokia Lower Gulf. “These phones deliver on what young, urban people value most - a great-looking device; and an intuitive and affordable experience for connecting to the internet, to their friends, and to a world of entertainment, web apps and content.”

Commenting on the launch, Anil Mahajan, COO, CGC, said, “Following the success of the launch of the Asha QWERTY range, we are delighted to launch the Asha Touch range enabling consumers to have a premium smartphone experience at an affordable cost. Easy-to-use dual-SIM, 40 premium EA games, attractive and colorful designs and the superior user experience for which Nokia phones are known for are all features which consumers will enjoy with the launch of Asha Touch.”
Great for fast, affordable mobile internet and gaming entertainment

The new devices take full advantage of the Nokia Browser 2.0, a major recent update which uses Nokia’s cloud technology to reduce data consumption by up to 90%, meaning that consumers can enjoy faster and cheaper internet access. Web sites load up to three times faster in comparison to devices without cloud-accelerated browsing, making it simple for users to find and select from more than 10,000 web apps available for download. They deliver a richer and more interactive consumer experience whilst using less data than a stand-alone internet connected app.

Consumers can easily stay connected with friends and family at the touch of a button as well as share files and links across their social networks. Furthermore, the Nokia Browser’s Download Manager feature helps consumers to manage external content easily, saving music, video or pictures on a memory card, while surfing the internet.

The Asha family is also getting positive support from developers and consumers. Nokia Store has just broken the 5 billion downloads landmark. From January to April, 42% of all content downloaded from Nokia Store was delivered to Asha and other Nokia devices based on the Java ecosystem. Just one year ago, that number was 10%. Also, there are 410 Nokia developers with apps which have achieved more than 1 million downloads. India Games and Pico Brothers just passed 100 million.

As well as providing a great, social online experience, the Nokia Asha 305 and Asha 306 have been created with entertainment in mind. All users will receive an exclusive gift of 40 EA games to download for free* and keep forever. These games range across action, arcade and sports, and include titles such as Tetris, Bejeweled, Need for Speed: The Run and Fifa 2012

Product details

The Nokia Asha 305 is a fun and entertaining Easy Swap dual SIM phone, helping users make the most of their phone while retaining control of their costs. The phone features a bright and colorful 3” WQVGA resistive touch screen along with Bluetooth and Dual Band connectivity. Forty EA games are available for download with every phone as well as a 2MP camera, Nokia Maps and the revolutionary Nokia Browser which helps significantly lower data costs.

The Nokia Asha 306 is the sister device to the Nokia Asha 305. Along with all the great features that come with its sister, such as bright and colorful, 3” WQVGA resistive touch screen and 40 EA games for download – a Nokia exclusive offer, the Nokia Asha 306 also provides WLAN, enabling users to stay connected while on the move. It also supports video streaming through both GPRS and WLAN, meaning this handset truly is a fun way to stay in touch.

*Data costs may apply.