Nokia announces C1 and C2
Affordable phones for developing countries have arrived to the Cseries. Two of the new offerings are dual-SIM solutions and the other two offer good connectivity and multimedia for a very limited price. Nokia also announced a bicycle charging solution for areas with limited access to electricity.
Lets start with the Nokia C2 - before taxes and subsidies it will cost 45 euro (55 USD). The C2 is a dual-SIM phone and interestingly, the second SIM card is easily accessible and hot-swappable (a world's first). The phone supports the 900/1800 GSM bands.
The battery is estimated to last 16,5 days on standby and 4 hours of talk time. The Nokia C2 also features VGA camera, GPRS Internet connectivity, Bluetooth and FM radio with broadcast recording. There's also a microSD card (up to 32GB, but those cost more than the phone itself), 3.5mm audio jack plus an MP3 player.
The other dual-SIM phone is the Nokia C1-00, which will cost 30 euro (37 USD). It doesn't have two active cards - just one, but there's a quick shortcut to switch between the two. The phone has a smashing standby of 48 days. It features an FM radio, 3.5mm audio jack and a flashlight.
This is where the new Nokia numbering scheme becomes a little confusing. The final two phones are the Nokia C1-01 (39 euro) and the C1-02 (35 euro) - both are somewhat similar, but not quite identical to the C1-00.
The Nokia C1-01 and Nokia C1-02 only have a single SIM card slot, but offer GPRS, Bluetooth, microSD card slot (up to 32GB), 3.5mm audio jack, FM radio and MP3 player. The Nokia C1-01 features a VGA camera, which the Nokia C1-02 lacks.
The Nokia C1-00 is expected in the third quarter, while the other two in the last quarter of this year.
By the year's end Nokia will also release the bicycle charging kit, which uses a dynamo to charge phones using the standard 2mm plug. It is targeted at areas with limited access to electricity, where bicycles are often the most popular mode of transportation.