I don’t think anyone can deny that phone prices are pretty ridiculous right now. I mean, the iPhone 6 Plus, if purchased without subsidy and a binding two-year contract can easily run you almost $1000! Prices like that are not only out of the range of many hardworking people in first world countries, but in other places as well.
Well, Microsoft has
joined Google in developing lower priced phones designed for emerging smartphone markets, and surprisingly, the phone looks pretty nice. I want preface this with the notice that this phone isn’t available in the United States
right now. But, it might be soon.
The Nokia 215 (no doubt named thus because of Nokia’s reputation abroad) was originally intended to be marketed in third world and emerging markets where consumers don’t have access to expensive smartphones, but need something easy to use and functional. The Nokia 215 is all of the above and comes with several social media apps like Facebook and Messenger pre-installed. It’s durable, can use wifi, supports dual-SIMs (in some markets) and is advertised to only need to be charged once every 21- 29 days. Oh, and it retails for a whopping $29.
Currently, the phone is still in the works but is expected to be rolled out pretty much everywhere but here–or more specifically in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe. It should be available in those countries in the next couple of months, and I am hoping something similar will head to the US as well.
The phone is being advertised as not only an entry level device, but something that anyone could use “as a secondary phone.” It’s the latter that caught my attention, as this is a trend we’re starting to see more and more–and not only in the prepaid segment (heck, we’ve been doing that for years!). I have no information about when or if this phone ( or something similar) will ever be available in the US, but it’s encouraging to see the opposite side of the phone price spectrum sometimes. And it’s even more encouraging that it actually looks like something I wouldn’t be too embarrassed to pull out of my pocket.
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