Nokia gets social times three

THE FINNISH mobile phone company Nokia has launched three new handsets designed to make it easier to keep up to date with your Facebook status, oh, and do some occasional work.

The trio of handsets includes a range of features and should appeal to anyone who has pretended to be listening to a real person, when what they were actually doing was poking at a sheep on a virtual farm wall or something.

Making it easier for virtual friends to keep in touch as quickly as possible, the Nokia C3, C6 and E5 all offer QWERTY keyboards and fast access to email accounts, instant messaging applications and social notworking sites.

Responding to a question that no one asked, Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia's head of markets, said,"Our messaging device range is very successful. People want the best messaging and social networking experience on an affordable device, whether it's sending a simple text or instant message, an email, or a direct message from their Twitter account."

The Nokia C3 is expected to cost €90 and will let its users view, comment, update their status and share pictures on social networks including Facebook and Twitter. It also comes with quick access to Nokia's own Ovi Mail and Ovi Chat applications.

The Nokia C6 is a Symbian-based smartphone with a 3.2-inch touchscreen and a slider keyboard. A Facebook feed is available straight from the homescreen, and again, Nokia has added quick access to its own Ovi apps, including email and mapping tools. The C6 also grants access to the Ovi store and its many downloadable applications.

Third is the Nokia E5, which is the most serious phone and could win favour with business users. Again the E5 is Symbian-based, and Nokia said that it combines business features with access to entertainment sites. The E5 has a number of productivity features and will let the user access Mail for Exchange, or Lotus Notes Traveller, for example. It is expected to cost about €180. µ