Reference Auto

Nokia, which had once captured almost 50 per cent of India’s mobile phones market but has seen its share dwindle substantially to the likes of Samsung, LG and a slew of home-grown budget handset makers, has unwrapped a litany of handsets — the Nokia C2-03 and Nokia C2-06, which are dual-SIM phones, and the Nokia C2-02, a single-SIM handset.

All three models are built on the Symbian operating system S 40.

Nokia’s C2-02 and C2-03 will most likely come for $105 (nearly Rs 4,800) while the C2-06 is expected to be priced around $80 (Rs 5,000).

The C2 series phones are touch-and-type interface devices combining touchscreen as well as keyboard.

With these launches, Nokia wants to tap new phone users in developing markets like India, China and countries in South East Asia.

Nokia’s executive vice-president in charge of low-end mobile phones, Mary McDowell, said the dual-SIM phones will be “affordably priced” and come with maps and location-based services.

Speaking at a function in Singapore, McDowell said the phones will not need a data plan and its location will be transmitted through wireless towers.

The new C2 series handsets will have Nokia Maps for Series 40, which also has an offline version and hence lets users use it without data connection. The phones also come with radio and music player.

All the three devices look almost alike but the C2-06 apparently has a smoother finish and is available in more colours.

The three phones have a 2 megapixel camera on the back and a 10 MB built-in memory, which can be expanded to 32 GB through a microSD card.

The standby time of the C2 series phones is a whopping 400 hours, while talk time is five hours. The screens have 240 x 320 resolution and are compliant with up to 65K colours.

The C2 series phones also have a slot on the side which permits users to change SIMs without rebooting the system. The phones can memorise settings of five different SIM cards. That’s phenomenal!

The C2 series phones could be available in the next few months. The company has also revealed that, “From July, we will start shipping Nokia N8, E7, C7 and C6-01 with the new Symbian Anna software update.”

By the end of August, existing owners of these devices can also download the Symbian Anna.

Nokia said that over the next one year, it plans to launch up to 10 new Symbian-based smartphones in the market.

Nokia also unveiled its latest smartphone, the Nokia N9, which is an all-screen device that will allow users to navigate by swiping on the screen.

So, with the new C2 series touchscreen phones and a string of planned launches, Nokia could attempt to recapture a minuscule portion of the market provided it keeps its prices low, especially in price-sensitive markets like India.