Nokia unveils new mainstream mobiles

The Finnish mobile giant hopes to drive the phone replacement trend with its latest lineup of midrange handsets.

Nokia's 6131 comes with
a 16.7 million-colour display.
Read our review.

Nokia yesterday announced five new handsets at its Showcase Nokia 2006 event in Kuala Lumpur, which is being held in conjunction with 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Among them are two new mobile phones (Nokia 6131 and 6070) unveiled for the very first time, while the others (Nokia 6103, 6125 and 6233) are recently announced models.

According to Mauro Montanaro, Nokia's vice president of Customer and Market Operations in Asia Pacific: "We are increasingly seeing more technologically advanced features such as cameras, music players and support for mobile email being introduced across the affordable mid-tier category." Nokia believes the company's latest midrange offerings underscore its "commitment in bringing the benefits of WCDMA and convergence to the broader consumer segment.... "

Of the five phones, the 6233 candy bar is a top-of-the-line model featuring a stainless steel casing, 3G connectivity, 2-megapixel camera, onboard music player, 3D stereo speakers and microSD card slot. Both the 6125 and 6131 clamshells share similar features such as a 1.3-megapixel camera, quadband support, audio player and expandable memory. However, the latter model comes with a 2.2-inch main display with 16.7 million colours. The 6070 and 6103, which come with VGA cameras and support for Nokia Xpress audio messaging, make up the entry-level offerings in the lineup.

All five mid-tier phones are based on Nokia's Series 40 platform and offer built-in FM radio as well as infrared and USB connectivity. With the exception of the Nokia 6103, the handsets showcased in Kuala Lumpur are expected to be launched in the second quarter of this year. The 6103 will be available earlier in Q1 2006.

Nokia's 2006 midrange lineup
Model Name	Availability	Basic features
Nokia 6070 See images	Q2 2006	Triband; VGA camera; 65K-colour LCD display (160 x 128 pixels); FM stereo radio; MP3 ringtones; USB and infrared connectivity; xHTML browser; 105.4 x 44.3 x 18.6 mm; 88 grams.
Nokia 6103 See images	Q1 2006	Triband; VGA camera with self portrait; FM radio; xHTML browser; handsfree speaker; instant messaging; Push to talk; 85 x 45 x 24 mm; 97 grams.
Nokia 6125 See images	Q1 2006	Quadband; 1.3-megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom; microSD card slot; handsfree speaker; email with attachment support; stereo FM radio with Visual Radio; music player; infrared, Bluetooth and USB connectivity; Macromedia Flash Player; Nokia Xpress audio messaging; 90 x 46 x 23.6 mm; 98 grams.
Nokia 6131 See images	Q1 2006	Quadband; 1.3-megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom; microSD card slot; 2.2-inch display with 16.7 million colours; handsfree speaker; email with attachment support; music player; stereo FM radio with Visual Radio; infrared, Bluetooth and USB connectivity; Macromedia Flash Player; Nokia Xpress audio messaging; 92 x 47 x 20 mm; 112 grams.
Nokia 6233 See images	Q2 2006	3G; triband; stainless steel design; 2-megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom; stereo speakers with 3D sound effects; video ringtones; microSD card slot (64MB included) ; music player; QVGA display; Push to talk; pull email; stereo FM radio with Visual Radio; infrared, Bluetooth and USB connectivity; Macromedia Flash Player; 108 x 46.5 x 18 mm; 110 grams.