Nokia unveils trio of classic handsets

by Stevie Smith - Jan 29 2009, 13:00

With much of current mobile phone focus centred on highly desirable smartphones such as Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry line, you’d think other manufacturers would bow to the pressures of the economic downturn and hold back more ‘conventional’ products. Evidently Nokia has other plans.

Specifically, the world’s leading mobile phone maker has this week whipped the covers off a trio of new handsets which, while unlikely to attract the smartphone demographic, could well find purchase with pennywise tech buyers as they strive to tighten their belts without compromising too heavily on the things they want.

First up are the Nokia 6700 classic and Nokia 6303 classic handsets, which arrive sporting refined ‘classic’ lines and a modest selection of appealing features in return for a contract-free 235 Euros and 135 Euros respectively.

Heading the bunch, the 6700 is described as providing, “a new benchmark for mid-range devices,” and comes complete with a 5.0 mega pixel camera, A-GPS with Nokia Maps, High-Speed Packet Access (10Mbps download/2Mbps upload) via 3G, and a full-metallic keypad.

“The beautifully premium design and expert functionality of the 6700 [which is the successor to Nokia’s popular 6300] makes us confident this will be one of out best-selling devices in 2009,” enthused Nokia UK managing director Mark Loughran.

The somewhat cheaper 6303 classic offers up a 3.2 mega pixel camera, Nokia Maps, a 2.2-inch display screen, a MicroSD memory card slot, and a standard 3.5mm audio jack – but no HSPA connectivity or on-board GPS.

If times are so tight that the 6700 and 6303 fall outside of your pricing comfort zone, then perhaps the functional Nokia 2700 classic and its meagre 65 Euro price tag will help cover the basics thanks to a 2.0 mega pixel camera, up to 2GBs of memory expansion via an onboard slot, and a built-in music player.

All of Nokia’s new classic variants are expected to slip (probably unnoticed) down the retail chain in the second quarter of 2009.

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