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Time to put the ‘key’ in ‘Nokia’. The Finnish company has revealed a glimpse of a new phone with a Qwerty keyboard, but it’s unlikely to be a Lumia smart phone.
In a mysterious teaser image, Nokia shows what appears to be a phone with bright Lumia-style colours but Asha-style keys.
The teaser reveals rounded corners for the prospective device, showing
a Z key and contoured Shift key.
The phone is apparently decked out in the vibrant primary colours that are the signature of Nokia’s Windows Phone-powered Lumia smart phone range. But a Qwerty Lumia is unlikely, and with Nokia’s mobile devices making the announcement it appears this will be a feature phone, perhaps an Asha phone.
Asha phones are Nokia’s wallet-friendly feature phones, which now feature basic apps but lack the power and features of a smart phone. They’re aimed largely at developing markets low-cost pay as you go customers.
Qwerty keyboards have disappeared from smart phones as touchscreens become ubiquitous in a post-iPhone world. Even BlackBerry is drifting away from its signature clicky keyboard, promoting the all-touchshcreen BlackBerry Z10 ahead of the forthcoming, keyboard-packing BlackBerry Q10.
Nokia’s latest Lumia lineup includes the Nokia Lumia 520 and Lumia 720. Rumoured future devices for the struggling company include a new hero phone, a possibleoversized rival to the Galaxy Note 2, and a ‘new season‘ of new devices.
Nokia’s announcement is scheduled for 7am on Wednesday. That’s a bit early for a UK launch, but we’ll set our alarms anyway and bring you the news.
Do you want to see more Qwerty phones? Type your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.
