Everyone and their mother complained when Apple started shipping the iPhone and it was discovered that the damn thing used microSIM cards. As soon as the fourth generation Jesus Phone landed in people’s hands, more videos demonstrating how to cut your SIM card to microSIM size were uploaded to YouTube than we care to count. So why go with a microSIM? Simple. It’s all about maximizing the amount of space the various components that make up a smartphone can use. With a microSIM you could throw in a larger camera sensor, solder an extra chip on your motherboard, or in Apple’s case, put in a larger battery. Besides the iPhone and the iPad, the only other devices that use microSIM cards are a few of Samsung’s Android tablets and Nokia’s dead in the water MeeGo running N9. That’s soon due to change according to a rumor from Unwired View that says Nokia is going to a Symbian device at Nokia World called the 603.
Said new smartphone will feature a 1 GHz processor (ARM 11, so don’t get your hopes up), 5 megapixel fixed focus camera, 640 x 360 pixel display (size unknown), support for Bluetooth, WiFi, 3G, and that’s it. Compared to the Nokia 600, the 603 lacks support for near field communication, FM radio, and GPS. Now remember, the 600 is supposed to retail for 180 Euros before tax, so we’re thinking the 603, assuming it’s the real deal, will sell for under 150 Euros, making it one of Nokia’s cheapest smartphones. In fact, we’d go far as to predict that Nokia will label this as their cheapest smartphone since the 600 is already called their loudest, the 700 their smallest, and the 701 their brightest. In other news, there are also rumors that suggest Nokia is going to start pushing out the Symbian Belle update at the end of this month.
We’ll actually be at Nokia World so stay tuned as we break the news from the event!