Nokia announces three affordable S40 phones

Nokia has annouced 3 new Symbian S40 series phones - C2. First of all, don’t get confused by the names, Nokia has this weird terminology to name few of its phone same and then give them a number to distinguish. All three phones have exact same features except that:

C2-02 : Single SIM card slot
C2-03 : Dual SIM device (SIM slots at the side panel, and can be inserted without reboot)
C2-06 : Dual SIM phone with a range of colors to choose from

Lets dig into the detail now.

It has been a while since we have seen quality slider devices for the mass market. And it looks like we finally have a decent slider handset. C2-03 is a slider phone and is part of the new Touch-n-Type series (TnT), features a 2.6” 240x320 pixel 65k color resistive touch screen and a traditional keypad. These devices weight 118g and are 17mm thick which should be good but it would’ve been great if they had the dimensions and weight of X3-02, which was just perfect.

These devices are powered by re-designed Symbian S40 OS. The most notable feature in this new version of S40 OS is ‘Nokia Maps’. Yes, finally, S40 users can enjoy the hugely popular navigation software in their devices. Another interesting feature is the new browser for S40. Nokia says that this new browser compresses the data before it reached the phone and it is done by using localized server pages and proxy server facility that reduces the size by up to 90% and also optimizes the pages to look great on S40. With heavy download caps on data plans in India, this can be a very useful feature.

Battery life is rated at 5 hours of talk time and 35 hours of music playback.

There is an internal memory of 10MB (which we think is too less in 2011, given that the OS now has maps and improved internet browser) but can be expanded to 32GB using microSD card.

Mary McDowell, the head of Nokia’s Mobile Phones business unit, explains why all these features have been included in the Nokia C2-03:

The Nokia C2-03 makes managing multiple SIMs simpler, without compromising on any other features. Why should consumers have to choose between touch and keypad, or forego a great web, map, entertainment or email experience? With the Nokia C2-03 we have made it all available on one affordable device.

These three devices will be released in parts of China, India and few other Asian markets in Q3’11 and will cost around 77 euro (prices may vary).