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Nokia introduced a new phone – the C5, which it describes as a smartphone in a feature phone body – and a new phone-naming convention on March 2.
The C5 runs the S60 3rd Edition OS and features a 2.2-inch display, a 3.2-megapixel camera and an evolved phone book, which ties friends to their Facebook status updates.
Another feature – bound to wound the feelings of high school girls around the world – lets users put the icons of three favorite friends on the phone’s home screen, for quick access for calling and messaging.
IM is offered via Google Talk or Windows Live Messenger, and Ovi Maps 3.0 offers walking and driving directions, as well as the ability to share location information. There’s a stereo FM radio and stereo speakers, a 2GB microSD card the box, and support for up to 16GB of memory.
The C5 measures 1.8 by 0.5 by 4.4 inches, and the battery is said to last through 12 hours of talking or 26 days of standby time. It’ll sell for about $183, in white or gray. Plus, Nokia added on its blog, “It looks rather nice too.”
The new naming convention – which anyone who has tried to keep straight Nokia’s piles of numbers and letters will be inclined to thank the heavens for – turns out to be more of a key, or a guide.
There are now four series – the Cseries, Xseries, Eseries and Nseries. Nseries devices are the most advanced, flagship devices; the Xseries focuses on social networking and entertainment; the Eseries emphasize productivity and enterprise use; and the Cseries represent what Nokia calls the “core range of products.”
Each phone will also receive a number, from 1 to 9, representing its functionalities and general price tag. One signifies the low end, while 9 is whole-hog. While Eseries and Nseries devices have already made names for themselves, and the Nokia X3 and X6 were introduced at the 2009 Nokia World in September, the C5 is the first of the Cseries devices to debut.
(Alas, prepare for a bit of confusion in that Sony Ericsson also offers X-Series devices, including the Xperia X10 mini and X20 mini pro.)
The C5 will arrive in the second quarter of 2020 in Europe, Eurasia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, China and parts of the Middle East and Africa.
Though Nokia has struggled financially over the last few fiscal quarters, it remains the global handset leader, and in fourth quarter of 2009 shipped 126.9 million handsets – its best performance since the first half of 2008.
“We estimate Nokia was able to grow its share of the lucrative smartphone market to 39 percent, despite fierce competition from Apple, RIM and others,” Neil Mawston, an analyst with Strategy Analytics, wrote in a Jan. 29 report. “Nokia has outperformed in smartphones, but longer-term challenges still remain, including below-average share of the high-growth touch-screen market and a tiny presence in the influential U.S. market.”