Nokia comes out with two bargain basement handsets

FINNISH PHONE MAKER Nokia has released a pair of affordable phones, trying to woo price conscious punters.

After suffering the ignominy of admitting a power management fault with its high-end N8 smartphone, Nokia has released two devices pitched at those who want to spend less than £100 on a device. The C2-01 and X2-01, priced at €70 and €80 respectively, offer features that the firm claims are "a fit for the needs of as many people as possible".

Nokia is very keen to point out the low price of its new handsets, using that has an excuse for the devices' missing features. In introducing the C2-01, the firm goes straight into Poundsaver mode, saying, "The most important thing to know about the Nokia C2-01 is that this is our most inexpensive new 3G phone." Surely a fact that will set the hearts of bargain hunters everywhere racing.

The candybar phone is indeed very good value for money. With a 2-inch screen, a 3.2 megapixel camera, FM radio and support for memory card capacities up to 16GB, there's little to moan about, given its €70 contract-free price. Nokia says the C2-01 will be available in the first quarter of 2011.

While the C2-01 will be seen by most as merely interesting because of its price, the X2-01 is nothing short of intriguing. The device is pitched to the text messaging crowd, having a Qwerty keyboard.

The device's hardware is uninspiring, with a 2.4-inch QVGA screen and a very basic VGA camera. Rather curiously, unlike the C2-01, the X2-01 supports only 8GB of external memory. There's no WiFi connectivity, with only GPRS and Edge, which Nokia says is "compensated for by the low price".

The idea of a messaging phone without 3G connectivity might sound like asking a politician to give a speech without lying, but given that 3G connectivity is still so hard to come by, especially outside of cities, Edge connectivity for simple emails and even social notworking updates is more than enough. It also brings the added advantage of significantly increasing battery life.

Priced at €80 without a contract, the X2-01 seems to be a very good low cost messaging phone. It is scheduled to tip up in the next few weeks.

Nokia has deservedly suffered at the high-end for its N-series devices being simply not up to scratch, but in the low cost phone market it shows great competency. If the firm continues to put out devices such as the C2-01 and X2-01, it might not head up the glamorous smartphone market, but it will continue to flog a large number of low cost units that should see it remain at the top of the mobile phone sales charts.

Both C2-01 and especially the X2-01 show just what the firm can do when it aggressively goes after a particular market. The criticisms leveled at the use of Symbian, the messy Ovi store and an overall lack of polish all but disappear when presented with the fact that these phones can be had for the cost of around two months line rental when plumping for a full on smartphone.

All this goes to show there might just be hope for Nokia yet, at least in the low cost mobile market. µ