Nokia has unveiled a simple £13 mobile phone that can last for 35 days on a single charge. It is aimed at emerging markets where electricity is rare, but could also be sold as a back-up phone.
The Nokia 105, which is set to go on sale
within weeks, has a colour screen, built-in
torch and an FM radio.
It’s now the cheapest phone in the Finnish
firm’s range, and was hailed as ‘the ultimate
festival phone’ at its launch.
A spokesman for Nokia said: ‘The phone was
created to offer the essentials – phone calls
and SMS – but also some desirable extras.
Nokia’s experience in optimizing phone
quality, combined with its global footprint
and economies of scale, is a major
contributor to being able to work to such a
low price.’
The firm also used the Mobile World
Congress in Barcelona to launch three other
low-cost devices, including a £120
smartphone, the Lumia 520.
Experts predict this will be a big year for
cheap smartphones, as firms try to attract
customers in the developing world.
The smartphone, which operates with
Windows 8, could be perfect for colder countries with its super-sensitive touch-
screen technology, meaning it can be used
while wearing gloves, the firm said.
But with experts predicting a big year for
cheap smartphones as developers try to
make inroads into the developing world, the
Lumia 520 could be seen in India or Africa
more than Scandinavia.
The phone also comes with a 5-megapixel
camera and access to the music streaming
service Nokia Music.
Those two phones were launched alongside
the Lumia 720, which Nokia is pitching at
‘socialites’, and the £56 ‘candybar’-style
301.
Nokia CEO Stephen Elop told the press :
‘Today we’re introducing the world’s most
innovative portfolio of products.
‘For Nokia the building blocks are in place
and now we have to make sure that all of
this capability, all of this beauty in design,
everything that we have done in terms of
great product making is put into the hands
of consumers and that’s what we’re focused
on today.’
Samsung will unveil the next generation of
its Galaxy smartphone in New York City next
month. It comes after Apple overtook
Samsung as the top mobile phone seller in
the US in the fourth quarter of 2012.
