Nokia Launches Social QWERTY Phones

In a big week for social networking phones, Nokia has launched three devices with keyboards aimed at consumers who live online. Gadget watchers were disappointed to find the phones did not include an iPhone challenger, and did not introduce the new version of the Symbian OS to users.

Nokia launched three phones,  the G3, C6 and E5, all of which are based on the Symbian operating system, but none of which run the new open source version, Symbian ^3, which some had hoped to see today, when Nokia issued a mysterious teaser for today’s announcement. Instead the phones seem designed to push smartphone functions further downmarket into the hands of the masses, with devices which start from £80.

Facebook phones for the masses

The C3 is the cheapest of the bunch, based on Nokia’s Series 40, a feature-phone rather than a smartphone platform. Despite this, for £80 (€90), it lets users do Facebook and Twitter, as well as using Nokia’s Ovi Mail and Chat applications.It has a 2 Mpixel camera and an FM radio, among other features.

The C6 looks like a replacement for the not-very-successful N97, with a large 3.2 inch touch screen, a 5 Mpixel camera and a slide-out keyboard, running the Symbian Series 60 platform and expected to cost around £200. It has a Facebook feed on the home screen, and access to Nokia’s mail and mapping, as well as the Ovi Store, Nokia’s intended rival to Apple’s App Store.

The E5, also based on the S60 platform may be the one of most interest to eWEEK readers, with a qwerty keyboard, and built in access to corporate email systems including Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes. It also has the 5 Mpixel camera and media capabilities, and is expected to cost around (£160 (€180).

The E5 phone is more in the mould of the E71 and similar business phones, looking like a Blackberry. This is the last to be delivered – it is coming this autumn, while the others should be here this quarter.

“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,” said Nokia marketing chief Anssi Vanjoki.

Nokia verus Microsoft?

The inevitable comparison is not with the iPhone, but with Microsoft’s social networking Kin phones announced yesterday, and being brought to the UK by Vodafone in the autumn. At this stage, all that can be said is they very clearly overlap, as they are aimed at the same demographic, but both betray the heritage of their desighers, with the Nokia phones following clearly from existing models, and the Microsoft Kin phones bearing the stamp of Microsoft-owned Danger, creator of the Sidekick.