The Nokia Asha 311 has been here since many months and now Samsung brought up its new REX series phones to take on Nokia’s Asha series. The REX90 is a close competitor of the Asha 311 and besides having almost the same set of features, falls in almost the same price range too. Here we take a close look at their features and which phone phone should be preferred.
Contents
Display and Design
The Nokia Asha 311 has got fairly different looks than the other Asha Touch devices. The phone measures 106 x 52 x 12.9 mm and comes with a 3 Inch (240×400) LCD Capacitive touchscreen which is protected from scratches by Corning Gorilla Glass. The other hardware aspects to note are the dedicated Calling keys (red key also works as power key) and a Volume Rocker and a Lock button at the right of the phone.
Samsung REX 90 isn’t able to distinguish itself much from its other cousins in the REX lineup. The phone measures 113 x 61.9 x 11.9 mm which makes it slightly slimmer than the 311. REX90 boasts a bigger 3.5″ (320×480) HVGA capacitive touchscreen but unlike the Asha 311, there’s no protection from scratches. There is also a volume controller on the left side while the power button is at its right.
Bottom Line: In the display department REX90 can be called a winner as it comes with a bigger and better display, but that comes at a price too. There are not many applications and games available for its unique screensize. It also doesn’t include any scratch protection on its screen.
Camera
Asha 311 comes with a 3.2 MP camera which captures pretty good photos as per the number of megapixels it has got. There is flash available to help you in clicking pictures at night, but that can be expected from a phone in this price range. There’s no front camera either.
REX 90 also comes with a 3.2 MP camera which is equally powerful and capable as the Asha 311. There’s again no flash and front camera available.
Bottom Line: Both the phones stand equally in the camera department.
Connectivity
REX 90 has got plenty of connectivity options. It comes with Dual SIM card slots and has got WiFi and Edge connectivity to connect and browse the internet. The phone also comes with a standard 3.5mm audio jack and Bluetooth 3.0 which is a welcome addition to feature phones. There is a MicroUSB port to charge your phone or to connect with PC for synchronization and copying new content.
Asha 311 is a single SIM phone which is powered by a 1ghz processor. It also includes various connectivity options. It has got 3G, WiFi and Edge to surf and browse the internet. The phone also comes with Nokia Xpress Browser preloaded which is said to compress data and save on data costs. The other features include Bluetooth, 3.5mm headphone jack and a standard MicroUSB port which also supports USB OTG partially. The phone can be charged either via the standard Nokia charger of a MicroUSB cable.
Bottom Line: If you’re not up for dual sim phone, the Asha 311 clearly wins in the connectivity department. The inclusion of 3G is a major win for the phone. USB OTG also seems to be a handy feature.
Battery
The REX90 comes with a 1000 mAh battery whereas Asha 311 includes a slightly bigger 1110 mAh battery.
Bottom Line: The Asha 311 wins this round too. REX90 has a smaller battery yet a bigger and better screen which will have a direct impact on the backup of the battery. However, there won’t be a too big of difference considering Asha 311 runs a 1ghz processor which requires more of power.
Applications and Games
Samsung REX comes pre-installed with social applications such as Facebook and Twitter. The phone also comes with 10 paid games which you can enjoy for free. But that’s all. Samsung does not have a dedicated App Store for its java based phones, so finding applications is a big hassle. You need to browse other 3rd party repositories t find games and applications for Samsung phones. The phone also comes with a quite uncommon screen resolution which will reduce the number of available games even further.
Nokia has managed to create a dedicated store to provide applications and games for its Asha and Symbian phones. The phone firstly comes pre-installed with the favorite game of everyone – Angry Birds. There are also 40 free games from EA (but only a few 5-6 are worth playing). Next you have plenty of games available on Nokia Store which are also offered as a trial in which you can play for sometime before you actually purchase. There are plenty of games available for the Asha 311’s 240×400 resolution from big companies such as Gameloft.
Bottom Line: Nokia Asha 311 really stands out here. Its all about having a dedicated store or not. Besides the Nokia Store, Asha 311 boasts a quite common screen resolution of 240×400, which will make sure that the phone will get a variant of every new game/app which a known company will launch.
Looking at the success of Asha lineup, Samsung is trying to get more share of the feature phone market and the newly launched REX series is its tool to take over Nokia. But, REX phones doesn’t seem to have any stand in front of what their competitors from Nokia offer.
Asha 311 although has a smaller and less attractive screen than the REX90, but other aspects of the phone clearly win over the REX. The Asha 311 has got 3G, Nokia Store, Nokia Maps, USB OTG and a larger battery. These are some of the many features which give a clear win to the Asha 311. REX 90 doesn’t have anything to disappoint, but it just gets overshadowed by the Asha 311.
Our verdict : If you are looking for a good feature phone with Dual SIM, go with the REX 90. If dual SIM is not your need, you should go with the Nokia Asha 311.
