Design
In front of the machine is the capacitive touch screen 3-inch size and has only two buttons, green and red (call / end). The resolution is 320×240 pixels screen with orientation sensors. The sensor will rotate the screen orientation in portrait orientation to landscape and vice versa when you rotate the phone.
Equipped with Corning Gorilla Glass, so you do not have doubts about the durability of the screen, capacitive touch helps increase the smooth and handy. The display filter is polarized making the screen can be used under direct sunlight.
Lock / Unlock button with the volume control buttons on its side of the machine located in the left flank, the front has only two buttons call / end. And when you want to activate other features, just one fingertip on the touch screen to complete.
Display
The Nokia Asha 311 comes with a 3-inch capacitive LCD touch display, rated at 240 x 400 pixels, giving a pixel density around 155 PPI . To be fair the screen quality might look kinda modest compared to newer phones, but back in 2012 it was pretty reasonable for a budget kind of device. Going with a capacitive approach was kind of a step forward from the resistive screens you still saw on a lot of feature phones, and it generally felt more responsive, plus it supported multi-touch in the way people expected.
Brightness wise , it’s OK mostly for being inside, but once you’re in direct sunlight it turns into a visibility problem pretty quickly. The color output is decent, though it doesn’t feel as punchy or vivid as you’d get on higher-end smartphones. And because the resolution is limited, text and pictures don’t look as crisp, not as sharp as you might want ,but that compromise was something many users accepted without much arguing , especially since the price point was the whole point.
The user interface and experience
Asha 311 runs on the Series 40 interface, designed for touch-screen phone with Asha status notifications bar. The first good point, it is the touch interface and the second best point is status notifications bar, something we only found on Android and iOS devices.
Another good point is that the S40 interface does not support multitasking, so at least you can perform several functions using the status notification bar. Asha 311 can give you the same experience as on the expensive smartphone at a modest price.
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Connectivity and Networking
The Nokia Asha 311 shows up with a bunch of connectivity choices that felt pretty complete for a feature phone back then. It can work on 3G networks, which was kind of a big deal , since lots of those phones were stuck on 2G only. As a result you get smoother internet browsing, quicker downloads, and a bit better call quality too, not that it’s magic but it helps. On top of that, it has Wi‑Fi b/g/n so you can hop onto a nearby wireless network. That’s especially handy when you are doing more data kind of stuff, like downloading apps or streaming music, those tasks really benefit.
There’s also Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP for sending files without wires and for pairing up with Bluetooth headsets and speakers. And for charging + data the device uses a microUSB 2.0 port. Still, the Asha 311 skips GPS, so if you were hoping for maps or turn by turn navigation, it won’t really deliver.
One more thing, the phone can act like a modem when it’s plugged into a computer, so you can share the mobile data connection using USB tethering. It’s a pretty basic option, yes, but it does make the handset more flexible in everyday use.
Camera
The Nokia Asha 311 has a 3.2 MP fixed focus camera, which feels kinda basic, but it’s really enough for casual snapping. Since there’s no autofocus, shots that are near-ish can look slightly soft , and it also has no LED flash, so in darker scenes you’ll run into trouble. The camera menus are simple and quick to use, you can tweak things like white balance, exposure and such, but overall it’s a smaller toolset compared to what you get on more recent smartphones.
When the light is decent , the Asha 311 can pull off images that look fairly detailed, with color that stays mostly on point. Still, once you move to low-light it tends to get grainy, and the finer parts don’t hold up, not even close. On top of that the fixed-focus lens is a bit limiting, so it’s less flexible if you want tight close ups, or if the subject is moving.
For video, the phone supports 480p at 25fps, which is fine for simple clips, yet it’s behind the pace of current phone cameras. Because it doesn’t include more advanced video options, the Asha 311 isn’t really the go-to pick for people who care a lot about recording video.
Multimedia and Entertainment
Even with its modest specs, the Nokia Asha 311 sorta brings a solid chunk of multimedia stuff for daily boredom breaking. It comes with a handful of games already set up, including a full version of Angry Birds, which was kind of a big deal back then too. Nokia was basically aiming that at a younger kind of audience, the sort of folks who cared more about mobile playtime than almost anything else.
On the Asha 311, the music player is fairly plain but it works in practice. It supports a bunch of audio formats like MP3, WAV, WMA, and AAC. The interface feels straightforward, letting you organize your library by artist, album, and playlist, or whatever you are into that day. Through the phone’s loudspeaker the sound quality is just average , but once you plug in headphones it gets a lot better. There’s also an FM radio with RDS, so you can listen to your favorite stations while you are out and about.
For video, the player handles familiar formats such as MP4 and H.264, though the screen resolution and overall display size keep it from being the best choice for real watching marathons. The device can play video in a basic way, but if the file gets more demanding, playback may not stay perfectly smooth.
Apps and Software
So the Nokia Asha 311 kind of ships with a handful of pre-installed apps, and honestly a lot of them are tuned for social stuff and day to day messaging. You get apps for Facebook, Twitter , and WhatsApp too, which back in the early 2010s were basically the way people kept in touch without going too far out of their routine. WhatsApp is especially worth mentioning, because it lets you do quick instant chats without having a smartphone in your pocket, or at least not necessarily.
Then there is the Nokia Store, which gives access to more apps and games , although the catalog feels more restrained than what you’d see on Android or iOS style stores. A decent share of what’s there are slimmed-down or lightweight editions, made to behave on the Asha 311’s not-so-powerful hardware. Think utilities, little productivity tools, and extra games, the kind that add some extra value but don’t really push the limits of the device.
Also, Nokia Maps is present, so you get basic routes and map viewing, but it’s not a perfect experience. The main catch is that there’s no built in GPS, so the results can be less accurate, and overall it won’t compare very well to modern navigation apps on smartphones, where location services do most of the heavy lifting.
Battery Life
Battery life is one of the Asha 311’s stronger points. It uses a removable 1110 mAh Li-Ion battery, so it’s not tied in forever. Because the internals are fairly modest, and power draw stays low, the phone can typically stretch to a full day with moderate use. With lighter use it may go even further, sometimes noticeably.
Nokia quoted performance that sounded pretty bold for the era: up to 14 hours of talk time on 2G , around 6 hours on 3G, and as much as 744 hours in standby. For that time, those numbers were pretty impressive, and they match the general experience people had with budget feature phones.
Charging is done with a microUSB port, and it usually takes about 2-3 hours to top the battery off. Having a removable battery is also a practical little advantage, you can bring a spare battery for longer hours away from a charger, or swap the cell out later if it starts to weaken or degrade.
Applications and Features
Another good point that you will experience with Asha 311 is the ability to support 3.5G and WiFi access. Certainly browsing on Asha 311 will make you forget the preconceptions about Asha phones.
Asha 311 is also equipped with a decent quality camera, 3.2 MP camera with 256MB storage space, which can be expanded up to 32GB via microSD card if you need more memory. The app includes Facebook and Twitter are pre-loaded with the Nokia browser, has been updated to use cloud computing technology. Updated browser will save 90% of the transfer of data to accelerate and bring a better experience when surfing the web.
Performance and energy
Processor clocked at 1GHz is large enough for the high-performance requirements of you, play games and use applications completely without delay. Asha 311 is equipped with 1110mAh BL-4U battery provides talk time up to 7.5 hours on 2G and 4.5 hours connection over 3G, standby time of 711 hours / 3G and 781 hours / 2G. You can listen to music continuous to 40 hours per charge battery.
Conclude
Touchscreen phone Asha 311 is a great choice if you are looking for a mobile device affordable, full-featured and useful. Status notification bar and great touch experience is enough to bring about advantages for the Asha 311.
The only thing Asha 311 can not make you satisfied that the operating system does not support multitasking but you absolutely can listen to music in the background while performing other work. Additional, you also can check new messages via the notification bar.
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Tech Reviewer & Product Analyst
Định Bia has spent over 10 years testing consumer electronics with a focus on smart technology. He work as a product advisor at Biareview where he helped customers find the right devices for their needs. He personally tests every product featured on this site using a consistent evaluation framework covering quality, durability, and value. All reviews are based on experience, not influenced by the manufacturer.