Nokia Asha 210 Gets New Hard-Key Functions

Nokia, rapidly becoming known for its lineup of Windows Phone hardware, has plenty of other devices in its product line, including the Asha portfolio. Geared to compete with the legion of low-cost Android devices proliferating the world stage, as well as the lower-tier BlackBerry devices, Nokia has recently added some extra functions to the devices, though the exact nature of these functions may vary a bit by region.

One of the biggest additions to the Asha 210 line is a physical QWERTY keyboard, along with a wide variety of new and potent colors, including such standards for the Nokia line as cyan, yellow and magenta. But while such a fundamental structural change is a big deal, there's an even bigger improvement made by adding of a button that activates the WhatsApp messaging service with just one press.

What's more, Nokia is making it a lot easier for Asha 210 buyers to not only get started with WhatsApp on the strength of a physical key, but also make it easier for buyers to keep using the service. Nokia is throwing in a free subscription to WhatsApp for the lifetime of the device, normally free for a year but going to $0.99 a year afterward. Nokia is referring to the WhatsApp key as a "world first," though indeed, Nokia and several other makers have included physical buttons keyed to a service before, such as the popular Facebook button.

This move may do some damage for Nokia; while admittedly, the Asha 210 isn't exactly selling in a wide area, Nokia turning its back on Facebook to bring in another social app might be seen as the kind of snub that neither company can really afford. However, there is some consolation here, as Nokia is also offering a version of the Asha 210 with a Facebook button, so Nokia is really just offering customers another choice as opposed to snubbing a partner.

There's another layer of choice involved here, as the Asha 210s – in both Facebook and WhatsApp – will reportedly also come in single SIM or dual SIM versions, and will likely have some availability issues as the devices will vary by region. For instance, no version of the Asha 210 will be sold in North America, and the WhatsApp version will likely be mostly an Asia-Pacific region with a side of the Middle East and Africa. The Facebook version, meanwhile, will be looking to European shores as well as those of Latin America. There's even some talk about a specifically Chinese version to target the home-grown equivalents of things like Twitter, and given that Nokia's been losing quite a bit of ground in China of late, making a special overture to the Chinese buyer may prove useful in the end.

It's clear that Nokia is looking to take advantage of the various differences in region to power some of its future releases, and give itself a chance to properly fight back against the stranglehold that iOS and Android have on the marketplace. More competition in a market is seldom a bad thing, especially for consumers who get the benefit of companies bringing out better devices with more functionality at lower prices in an attempt to draw business. While Nokia has a fine presence in Windows Phone devices, it needs to shore up its worldwide offerings as well, and some region-specific features may be just what that market needs.