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Microsoft Unveils $37 Nokia 216 Feature Phone (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the back-from-the-dead dept.

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.

4 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Really?? by bobbied · · Score: 5, Funny

    It even has a headphone jack

    Really?? Hasn't this joke run its course yet?

    No, Jack, it hasn't.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  2. I'm actually about to buy a feature\flip phone by wjcofkc · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.
    1. Re:I'm actually about to buy a feature\flip phone by chihowa · · Score: 4, Funny

      Dude. I did not mean that exact phone.

      Good, because that chick holding it is in the middle of a call and probably doesn't want to give it up. Plus, she's over in India, which complicates things...

      --
      If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
  3. ah well by nomadic · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.