One of the key reasons why Asha Touch devices are now considered smartphones is because of the fantastic range of apps that are available for them in the Nokia Store. 

They are beautiful devices that are easy to use, that keep you socially connected and there’s a model to suit everyone’s needs and budgets. But we know a lot of the magic is in the apps.

With this in mind, we want to introduce an occasional series where we throw the spotlight on a particular app that we believe is worth championing.

Whatever happens from here on in, and no matter how many great apps we feature in the future, no one will ever be able to change the fact that the honour of being the very first app in the series is… 

Soundtracker Radio (free)

Soundtracker Radio is a music player with a difference. You discover and play new music by seeing what your friends and the people around you are listening to. Think of it as a musical discovery through a social network.

The app has an impressive archive of over 22m songs, where you can listen by artist or by genre, create your own radio stations and share them with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or email.

Alternatively, just have a listen to the current most popular artists in your city.

Tuning up

The first thing you’ll need to do after installing Soundtracker Radio is to sign in. You can do so using your Twitter account, which is very handy, or alternatively you can register a Soundtracker Radio account.

Once you’ve signed up you’ll see the choices on the main screen:

• Create station
• My Stations
• Station by location
• Trending Stations
• Liked Stations
• Settings 

When you first create a station, you enter an artist you like and the app will create a radio station that streams songs by this artist and similar ones.

For example, I entered Radiohead and as well their songs, I also heard songs from other indie bands such as Interpol and The Pixies.

Once it’s set up, you can rename this station to anything you like and also share it with your friends by posting a tweet.

This station will now appear in the My Stations list.

For music discovery and seeing what other people are listening to, you can try searching for other stations by location, or the stations that currently are trending. If you’ve found a station you like, tap the star icon and it’ll appear in your Liked Stations list.

This is an extremely easy app to get to grips with. I found the streaming on my Nokia Asha 311 to be loud and clear and there was never any buffering. Best of all, you could even skip tracks!

I was using WiFi, so you may want to be careful if you’re using mobile data, but otherwise Soundtracker Radio gets a definite thumbs up!