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Microsoft Unveils $37 Nokia 216 Feature Phone (theverge.com)
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that it had sold Nokia's remaining feature phone business to FIH Mobile, a subsidiary of Foxconn, for $350 million. Today, Microsoft unveiled the Nokia 216 feature phone, dispelling rumors that it would stop making Nokia phones. The Verge reports: The new Nokia 216 is one of the most basic phones that Microsoft manufactures, and it will be available in India next month for around $37. It includes a 2.4-inch QVGA display, with 0.3-megapixel cameras at the front and rear, running on the Series 30 OS with the Opera mini browser. It even has a headphone jack. It's easy to understand why Microsoft continues to create feature phones, as the company still sells millions of them every month. Microsoft previously hoped that feature phone users would create a Microsoft account and become part of the Microsoft ecosystem, but it's not clear whether the millions of feature phone users ever actually did that. Microsoft hinted earlier this year that it's planning to kill off its Lumia smartphones, and recent rumors have suggested that the Lumia brand will die off toward the end of the year.
It even has a headphone jack
Really?? Hasn't this joke run its course yet?
Error reading device 'Signature'. (A)bort, (R)etry, (F)ail?
Amazing that the photo on the phone's web page shows someone with the phone up to their ear actually talking with it. Having a conversation on a phone? What a concept.
I keep reading here and there that they're stopping Nokia and Windows Phone, and what do you know... The entirety of the 12 people using Windows phone will be thrilled. That's for sure. As for the rest...
Write boring code, not shiny code!
Obviously a phone that is only going to be sold in developing markets.
They boast Internet connectivity with the Opera web browser but the phone has no wi-fi or even 3G connectivity, let alone 4G/LTE.
Specs page here, only shows GSM 900 and 1800 mhz band. Does not support AT&T legacy 850 or T-Mobile 1900 and isn't even reaching over a quarter megabit on EGPRS data rate.
One can buy used 4 year old used phone for less that is *full* featured phone with normal camera, etc. What is next? A phone with a rotary dial (aka. semi-feature)?
"Linux is worse than cancer"
-- Steve Ballmer
I am business customer with T-Mobile. Like most carriers they no longer advertise feature\flip phones on their website, but they still have them. Beginning soon and through Easter or so, I will be needing a single phone for CS calls. I need voice and voice only and only for a few hours a day. Sure, I could resurrect a no longer used smartphone or BlackBerry, but why pay for a full plan when I need just a few hours of voice a day? This type of phone is just what I need and the dirt cheap plan is just what I need.
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
For the same $37, I can get 9 Ringing Bells Freedom 251 smartphones and have $1 left to buy breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
I had a Windows phone and the OS was head and shoulders above its mobile OS competitors. Intuitive and fast interface, and amazing performance for the hardware. Unfortunately there was an astonishing lack of apps, so I had to switch back to android. It was kind of 1995 in reverse: I gave up a better Windows-based OS for an inferior Linux-based one because the Linux-based one had better commercial software support.
Is NOT an emulator.
Am I the only person who's starting to lose track of who owns the rights to what after Nokia sold off its phone business to Microsoft?
I was under the impression that the right to use the "Nokia" name (which MS got the right to after buying the phone division) was due to expire after some time (#) and that was why MS were phasing it out.
The previous story linked in the summary seems to imply that MS sold off the ex-Nokia feature phone business to FIH, but they're still apparently making feature phones as "new Nokia phones" [my emphasis]
Yet Nokia itself announced it was licensing its name to a (different) manufactuer- HMD Global for similar purposes.
So what's going on? Does MS still own the name- or have a license to it- for smartphone and tablet use. Or has Nokia got it back? I can't see either party signing an agreement that would let them both use it for competing products in the same field (i.e. phones and tablets) at the same time; that sounds unworkable.
(#) This seems to be fairly typical when another company Y buys out X's widget division; they get the right to use X's name for a while (and presumably a non-compete from X, not that X is usually concerned with re-entering the field they've just left). I assume (for example) this is why the "Samsung" M3 external USB hard drives have been rebranded as "Maxtor" but remained otherwise identical- Seagate (who have long owned the Maxtor brand) bought out Samsung's HDD business a while back.
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At that price, I'll buy one and install Android on it instead
I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J
If you wanted a cheap phone in India, why not get something like http://www.gadgetsnow.com/tech... for less than $14?
Or this for less than $4?
There's no shortage of cheap and/or government subsidised phones in India.
I don't think anyone would dare call the Lumia 'smart', and it has an OS UI that looks like it was made by a 2 year old - just a bunch of massive coloured square blocks that don't even have icons in them - yet for some reason was named 'Windows' in an ironic twist. It really harks back to an era where Microsoft became so frustrated with Apple's offerings that they decided to completely throw the towel in on any form of 'design' and 'aesthetics'. Their loss.
I use a Nokia 130 Dual SIM for work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
* microUSB charging port, which is great. Not many feature phones have that.
* lasts for 1-2 weeks
* cheap but reasonably solid construction
* fluid UI
* only about $30
8/10, would recommend.
It has Cortana installed and can't be turned of. Also, you can't make calls unless you're logged in with a Microsoft account.
Just when smartphones at that price are popping up. For a market expected to be dead and buried in three years time. Consider yourself middle-fingered, Microsoft.
Around 2006/7 I had a used Tmobile Dash with a voice/text plan and no data. At the time, my university ran a 28kbps dailup internet service that students could use for free. It was a relic of another time, but it was still there.
On the Dash/Excalibur (and presumably other Windows Mobile devices) you could dial into these services with the built-in modem, and since I rode the bus a lot (at least two/three hours a day), I used that service.
It was hilariously slow, but it worked. I could visit websites, read articles, and chat. By turning off the images, it could be done with reasonable comfort.
Don't underestimate the value of being able to log on at any speed.
But can it play Clash of Clans? Ironically besides text, and phone calls, that is the only other item that would be useful for this phone from an app level. Not bad for a nostalgic remake. Outside of this 2003 will want it's phone back.
n/t
What's the point in that when most providers are even starting to switch off their 3G networks now?