Say what you will about Nokia’s smartphone strategy, and how much damage the N97 and N900 have done to the Finnish brand, because when it comes to the low end market, no one compares. Nokia is all about connecting the next billion, and a feature that those next billion people in emerging markets have been clamoring for is dual SIM card phones.
Now some of you may not understand the reasoning behind this. Many of us have only one mobile phone. Some of us have a work phone and a personal phone, and often carry the both of them, and even enjoy the fact that they’re two separate devices. I can’t even begin to count the number of people I know who carry an iPhone and a BlackBerry. Anyway, this isn’t about the rich, this is about the poor, and they’re looking to squeeze the absolute most out of their salary. That often means that in order to call a friend on network ABC, the rates are cheaper if they too have a SIM card issued by network ABC. If another friend is on network XYZ, it will again be cheaper to contact them using a SIM card issued by network XYZ.
This is why there are devices on the market today with two SIM card slots. The crazy Chinese even have mobile phones with 3 SIM card slots.
Let’s get to the meat of the news: Nokia announced 4 mobile phones today. The Nokia C1-00 is a 30 EUR phone that is Nokia’s first dual SIM handset. It’s fairly compact at only 107.1 mm x 45 mm x 15 mm, weighing 72.9 grams. It’s dual band (900/1800 MHz), has a 3.5 mm headphone jack, supports FM radio, has a flashlight, and most importantly it has massive battery life. Nokia claim this thing does 48 days on standby and has 13 hours of talk time. Now there’s a small catch. Both SIM cards are not active at the same time. Users will have to hold down a button that switches between the two SIM cards the device holds. This saves time from having to power down a mobile phone, take it apart, swap SIM cards, and then power it on again.
The Nokia C2 is the more advanced dual SIM card mobile phone. With the C2 both SIM cards are active at the same time. One SIM is under the battery, and another is hot swappable so you don’t even have to power your device down and take it apart to swap SIM cards! You’ll have to pony up 45 EUR for that model, and I’m predicting it’s going to be a wild success. It’s roughly the same size as the C1, coming in at 108 mm x 45 mm x 14.65 mm and weighing 74 grams. Battery life is much less than the C1, which makes sense since two SIM cards are active. We’re talking “only” 16.5 days of standby time, and 4 hours of talk time. You also get a 3.5 mm headphone jack, Bluetooth, microSD card slot, VGA camera, and GPRS support. That’s right, Wikipedia in your pocket!
Anyway, next two devices are single SIM devices, and they’re the C1-01 and C1-02. I’m not making this up. Those are quite possibly the worst model names ever, and people will probably just end up calling the C1 the C100, the C1-01 the C101, and the C1-01 the C102. The first device, the C1-01, will cost 39 EUR and offers Bluetooth, microUSB support, VGA camera, 3.5 mm jack, and everything you’d expect from a low end feature phone. These features used to cost around 70 EUR, now Nokia is brining this stuff down to less than 40 EUR. Color me impressed. Size: 108 mm x 45 mm x 14 mm, weight: 78.7 grams, battery: 21 days standby, 10.6 hours talk time.
The C1-02 is my favorite of the 4 devices announced today. It has such an iconic Nokia look that I’m hoping it’ll come to Finland just so I can have it as a weekend phone, or for when I go to the woods for extended periods of time. It’s got the exact same features as the C1-01, except it lacks the camera. How low will the price tag go if you slash the VGA camera? Just 4 EUR, brining the C1-02 to a total price of 35 EUR.
Nokia also announced a bicycle mobile phone charger. You know how you can have a light on the front of your bike that’s powered by your own two feet? Same concept, but for mobile phones. They say it’ll be out by the end of the year, price was not announced. Photo after the jump.
Update: The BBC says that the Nokia Bicycle charger will cost around 15 EUR.
So what do you think about the devices Nokia announced today? Are they awesome, or are you simply jaded and constantly checking Android fanboi forums for hacked ROMs you can flash to your device?
[Via: Nokia Press Room]
