Say what you see: it’s the Nokia C2-02, C2-03 and C2-06, a trio of affordable Nokia Symbian phones. The C2-03 holds two SIM cards, making it perfect for jet-setters and adulterers.
The C2-03 has a dual SIM slot, so you can put two different SIM cards in from different networks. You can save the settings of up to five SIMs, so it’s a doddle to swap them in and out.
That’s handy if you have a work SIM and a personal SIM, or you’re abroad and you have a cheap local card as well as your own regular one, or you’re sharing the phone with a friend whose battery dies. And of course, it’s very handy if you have one number for your wife and another number for reality TV stars.
The phones run Symbian Series 40 software. The C2-02 and C2-03 are slider phones but also have touchscreens, which can be poked at with a stylus. They cost around
€75 (£66). The C2-06 costs €80 (£70).
The dual-SIM thing is cool, but hasn’t ever caught on here in the UK — it’s more of an overseas market sort of feature. Combine that with the fact that the new phones were announced in Singapore rather than Europe, and we start to suspect we may not see these models here in Blighty when they launch in the third quarter of this year.
Even if we do, a trio of mid-range Symbian phones is really just a sideshow. The main event is yet to come, when Nokia unveils its first Windows Phone devices.
Today also saw the grand unveiling of the
Nokia N9, a smart phone shorn of buttons. The N9 runs MeeGo software, another operating system running on borrowed time — but let’s hope it’s better than the disappointing Nokia N8.
Let us know what you think of the new Nokia lineup in the comments or on our Facebook wall.