Remember back when you could get a dirt-cheap phone anywhere, but could do virtually nothing with it?
Well, Nokia is back with a vengeance, with Microsoft Devices Group introducing their cheapest internet-ready phone ever – the Nokia 215. At an amazing price of US$29, it is marketed to “introduce first-time mobile phone buyers to the Internet and new digital experiences.”
The first impression you would get when you saw the phone was probably – wait, is that a real phone? And while it may look and cost the same as a toy phone, it’s definitely real.
According to the official release, the Nokia 215 comes with a Dual SIM option, which is incredible considering the small size at 116mm x 50mm x 12.9mm, and weighing a mere 78.7 grams. It even comes with a VGA camera, and supports a microSD memory of up to 32GB.
What would be surprising is the way it looks – with a 2.4 inch QVGA Display, the phone is mostly made up of buttons, a flashback to when phones were not touchscreen and were operated by squishy buttons.
Nonetheless, it operates at the bare minimum that you would expect for a phone, with talk time of up to 20 hours. It even has up to 29 days standby time, or 21 days if you’re a dual SIM user. It comes with internet essentials like an internet browser (Opera), search engine (Bing), weather app (MSN), Twitter and Facebook. It also comes with SLAM, allowing content to be shared between devices, and Bluetooth support for hands-free calls and headsets.
This isn’t the next revolution in phone technology, and with that kind of a pricetag, it doesn’t have to be. It’s a perfect phone for the outliers who don’t need a billion apps to get by. The first people that spring to mind would be your child who is learning to handle the responsibility of owning a phone for the first time, or a nomad who has no use for a 180g iPhone 6 Plus in the Himalayas but wants to Facebook message his family and friends.
Both the Nokia 215 (single and dual SIM) come in Bright Green, Black and White, and will roll out first in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe in Q1 2015. No clue yet if it’ll be released in Singapore, but it would be refreshing to see someone pick up a call on such a tiny phone.
And seriously, it’s the cost of taking a cab to and from work – that’s got to be worth something.
