Not many folks know this, but Nokia actually has two dumbphone platforms. There’s Series 40, which has been powering most midrange dumbphones for at least a decade, and then there’s an even lower end OS called Series 30. That operating system has traditionally been used for ultra low end devices, the type that normally don’t get sold outside of emerging markets. Nokia’s famous 1100 for example, that’s a Series 30 device. Today Nokia is announcing two new phones, the 110 (pictured below) and the 112 (pictured above). They set the new baseline for what “low end” means, which is why we’re surprised to find out they both run Series 40. The both have a 1.8 inch screen, they both have a VGA camera, and they both support dual SIM. What makes them different? Their design and their price tag. The 110 is a bit more basic, whereas the 112 has a bit more flair. The former will go for 35 EUR when it ships this quarter, while the latter will sell for 38 EUR when it ships in Q3 2011.
Stop for a second and ask yourself this question: Who else makes phones at these price points? When was the last time you heard about Samsung’s new low end budget phone or LG’s phone for the masses? You don’t, because pretty much every other handset maker on the face of this planet has decided to move away from feature phones and focus on smartphones. Should we commend Nokia for “connecting people” by making such low end devices or should we scold them for not trying to build the perfect $100 smartphone? That’s a tough question to answer.
We’re not going to pretend for a second that the person who buys either of these phones is going to enjoy browsing the web on a 1.8 inch screen, but hey, at least that person will finally have access to the world wide web … assuming his or her operator doesn’t charge $1 per megabyte.
Update: More info, including details about single SIM variants, on Nokia Conversations.