CTIA 2007 is a little more than 2 weeks away.
Will the Barracuda come out?
The Nokia Barracuda is something we first heard about at Nokia World 2006. It is supposed to be the low end phone that will compete with Motorola’s Motofone in India. Let us exam past CTIA shows:
CTIA 2006: 2365i, 2865/2865i, Nokia 6175i are all CDMA. For GSM users we got the Nokia 6126. Cingular announced the E62.
CTIA 2005: 2115i, 3155, 6155. All low end phones, all CDMA.
CTIA 2004: 3205, 6012, 6015i, 6255. All CDMA, all relatively low end.
CTIA 2003: 2200, 3586i, 6585 were all CDMA phones; we also got 2 GSM models: 3300, 3600.
Based on that data I’m going to say that the odds are looking good we will see this phone named after a fish. It is a low end product after all.
What about the Nokia 5700?
If you extrapolate the data then you’re left with the conclusion that we won’t be seeing any significant GSM devices; especially higher budget models. The 5700 has specs that don’t really scream cheap.
Anything else Stefan?
A whole bunch of new, cheap, CDMA phones. I know that sounds horrible to bear, but it’s what I’m sticking with.
We might get a GSM phone, but don’t expect it to rahzel and dazzle you if you’re used to drooling over devices like the 5300, N76 and N95.
I hope I’m wrong and Nokia "wows" me, but I’m just being a realist here.