Nokia adds three messaging phones to mix

Nokia today launched a major overhaul of its messaging phone range with a trio of new phones, each of which claims a first. The C6 is the first Symbian S60 phone outside of the N97 series to combine both a touchscreen and a slide-out (but non-tilting) QWERTY keyboard. A 5-megapixel camera, GPS and Wi-Fi still put it in the smartphone class; it only has 200MB of storage built-in but can take microSDHC cards for more.

Pricing is one of the C6's key selling points, as it will cost just 220 euros ($299) even before a carrier subsidy. Nokia ships it before the end of the spring and notes that it supports quad-band 3G with 850MHz and 1,900MHz bands, hinting that it may show in North America.

The other Cseries update arriving at the same time, the C3, stands out as the first Symbian S40 phone with a QWERTY keyboard. The move makes quick typing a possibility on a low-cost phone and lets Nokia add a social networking component to the home screen, where users can track updates from and share photos with sites like Facebook and Twitter. It's strictly a 2G phone with quad-band GSM/EDGE, but Wi-Fi and a 2-megapixel camera make it more than a basic device.

The C3 should also reach shops in the spring but will cost just 90 euros ($122), making it Nokia's least expensive QWERTY phone.

An update to the Eseries rounds out the updates in the form of the E5. Apart from a new design, it's one of Nokia's first business phones with the new social networking-oriented home screen instead of the strict work focus of before. Its features keep up with the ostensibly more advanced E72 as a 5-megapixel camera, GPS and Wi-Fi are still intact.

The E5 ships the latest of all the new phones and won't be ready until the summer, but it will cost just 180 euros ($245) before discounts and should come in a version with 3G suited to North America.

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C3



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By Electronista Staff