Microsoft unveiled today the Nokia 216, a new feature phone to be released in the Indian market this fall. This handset will be the second feature phone to be released by Microsoft this year following the previous introduction of the Nokia 230 earlier in January.
This latest release is quite surprising considering that the Redmond giant announced back in May that it would sell its feature phone business to FIH Mobile, a subsidiary of Foxconn Technology Group, and HMD Global, Oy for $350 million. However, Microsoft India shared today in a press release that “the transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2016, subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. Until the closing of the transaction, Microsoft continues to run the feature phone business.”
Considering the poor state of the company’s smartphone business, this feature phone business is indeed nothing to sneeze at and we guess Microsoft still sells much more of these low-margin handsets than Lumia smartphones. As for the Nokia 216, don’t expect it to be top of the line: unlike the Nokia 230 which featured a metallic finish, the Nokia 216 has a polycarbonate shell which will be available in black, grey, and blue. More details on the specs below:
- 2.4″ LCD display with a QVGA (320 x 240) resolution
- 1020 mAh replaceable battery which delivers up to 18 hours talk time, up to 24 days standby time,
- 0.3 MP camera sensors on the front and on the back with a rear camera LED flash which doubles as a built-in torchlight
- Dual SIM support with 2.5G connectivity
- FM Radio, MP3 and video player
- Bluetooth 3.0 and Bluetooth audio support for headsets.
- Micro-USB port (USB 1.1) and headphone jack
- The device handset can store up to 2000 contacts with a memory card support of up to 32GB.
The Nokia 216 is running the Series 30+ mobile OS which comes with the Opera Mini browser and the Opera Mobile Store to download a selection of apps and games. The handset will be available in India for Rs. 2495 starting October 24, and you can get more details about it on the store listing. This handset may well be Microsoft’s last feature phone ever, so let us know your thoughts about it in the comments below.
