Nokia Unveils Two New 3G Slider Phones

Nokia has taken the wraps off two new 3G slider phones, the 6700 Slide and the 7230, which are set to arrive in early 2010.

The square-edged, aluminum-framed 6700 Slide features a 2.2-inch QVGA screen above dedicated navigation buttons, all of which slides up to reveal a keypad. The navigation menu is ringed in black, and the frames come in rich shades of pink, petrol-blue, lime, purple or aluminium.

There’s a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, dual LED flash and a dedicated camera button, and uers can edit images on the phone and directly upload them to the web. There’s also an FM radio and a music player, 29 hours of audio playback time, 12 hours of standby and four hours of talk time.

The 6700 Slide supports WCDMA 900/1900/2100 networks, as well as WCDA 850/1900/2100 and GSM 850/900/1800 and 1900. It has a Symbian interface, support for email and Ovi Chat, Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity and comes with a 2GB microSD card. It measures 3.75 by 1.81 by 0.63 inches and weighs 3.88 ounces.

The scenario is similar with the 7230: screen sliding up to reveal a keypad. But in this instance the entire phone is more rounded and color choices are limited to hot pink or graphite. The less expensive of the two, it comes with 2.4-inch TFT screen.

The camera is also reduced to 3.2 megapixels, but users get access to email, instant messaging and quick access to media-sharing sites such as Facebook, Flickr and Nokia’s Ovi Share. And should all that socialising lead to a missed message or call, the phone emits a soft glow to say so.

This Series 40 phone also has Bluetooth, FM radio and a 2GB microSD card included. It measures 3.85 by 1.88 by 0.57 inches, weighs 3.5 ounces and supports WCDMA 850/1900/2100 and 900/1900/2100 networks.

Before taxes and subsidies, the 6700 is priced at 160 euros (£144), and the 7230 at 100 euros (£90), although it’s likely that both these phones will be offered at carrier-subsidised rates.

These newest additions are in line with predictions from Broadpoint AmTech Analyst Mark McKechnie, who wrote in a research note that his firm expects Nokia – which will be hosting an analyst day in Finland on 2 December – to soon outline a smartphone OS strategy that includes Symbian phones for volume orders and Maemo/Linux phones on the high end.

McKechnie wrote that his firm is forecasting an industry-wide 230 million converged devices in 2010, which would be up by 30 percent from the 177 million in 2009.