Nokia VP Interview: Asha's Poorer Screen is Due to Cost Control
On October 22, 2013, Beijing time, the 2013 Nokia World Conference was held in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Although this might be the last Nokia World Conference, Nokia unveiled its first tablet product, the Lumia 2520, a 6-inch phablet, the Lumia 1520 and Lumia 1320. Also introduced were three new Asha series phones: the Asha 500, Asha 502, and Asha 503. Following the product launches, we conducted an exclusive interview with Dirk Didascalou, Senior Vice President of Mobile Phone R&D at Nokia. Dirk Didascalou oversees global R&D for Nokia's feature phone division, and our questions focused on the newly launched Asha series.
As is widely known, Microsoft acquired Nokia’s mobile phone business last month, with the entire transaction expected to close in the first quarter of next year. According to Dirk Didascalou, Microsoft has also acquired the Asha product line in addition to the Lumia series. In the future, more Microsoft services will be integrated into Asha products, providing better service to users and benefiting more people.
Regarding the question many have about whether the Asha series is positioned as smartphones or feature phones, Dirk Didascalou clarified today that all Asha series products are smartphones. The difference lies in that Asha targets the lower-end market within the overall smartphone lineup. Despite not having higher hardware configurations, the Asha series is designed with a full-touchscreen experience, complete with an app store, internet access, and download capabilities, fully integrating the functions of a smartphone into the Asha series.
During the interview, Dirk Didascalou specifically highlighted the three most important aspects of Nokia products. First is design. Whether it's the Lumia series or the Asha series, all products feature unibody design. However, the back cover of Asha phones can be removed, and he demonstrated this with the three new models released today: the Asha 500, Asha 502, and Asha 503. The design of these three models gives the impression of a phone encased in ice. Moreover, Nokia treats both its mid-to-high-end Lumia series and low-end Asha series equally in terms of design investment. At this event, Nokia launched a green-colored phone for the first time, and interestingly, it wasn't directly applied to the Lumia series but appeared in the Asha series, demonstrating that Nokia does not follow a top-down approach in product design. In terms of materials, whether high-end or low-end phones, they provide the same tactile feel.
In addition to design, imaging is another key feature emphasized by Nokia. The newly launched Asha series has seen improvements in camera configuration and functionality. For instance, with the Asha 503, users can simply touch the screen to take a photo after entering the camera interface, making it very convenient. The phone also comes with various photo filters, ensuring that users, regardless of whether they own a high-end or low-end phone, can capture satisfying photos through Nokia's technical means. Most crucially, the user experience is streamlined: users can slide their finger to enter the camera interface, long-press an image to open the social sharing interface, meaning they can complete the process of taking photos, editing images, and sharing them through simple gestures like sliding, touching, and long-pressing. The essence of the experience revolves around speed, fluidity, and ease of use, while also enhancing life through different apps.
However, the screen resolution of Asha series phones has always been a point of criticism. In response to this issue, Dirk Didascalou stated that you get what you pay for. If the resolution is increased, the price of the phone would naturally rise. Conversely, maintaining the current resolution allows for cost control. Of course, there is no ruling out the possibility of launching high-resolution Asha products in the future, though details cannot be disclosed at this time.
