any new phones coming | Phone/Device Issues and Features | Consumer forum

In April/08 Nokia announced their new lineup of phone for the entry-level/emerging markets.

Like every phone manufacturer, they announce new phones, and it takes 8-12 months before they get into the hands of the users.

In May 2007 Nokia announced the 1208, 2630, and the 2760 flip. The 2760 flip didn't take that long to get to Speakout (6 months I think), but the other phones took a little longer.

So, I doubt we'll be seeing any of these until the new year, most likely in the spring, maybe.

Out of the 4 phones Nokia announced in Aug/08, none of them seem to be in the price range of the Nokia 1208. So either Speakout will continue to offer the 1208, or they will have to increase their prices.

2 of those phones could be sold at around $100. One is a really good looking flip phone - the Nokia 7070, which although many may like the looks, it is missing a camera and an external display. The other possible phone that Speakout can sell for approx. $100 is the Nokia 1680 Classic, which looks like the Nokia 1208, has a much larger screen and a VGA camera. If Speakout is really generous, they might be able to offer this phone for $75 to us to replace the 1208, but it would be at a loss.

The Nokia 2680 Slide is very similar to the current 5200 slider phone that Speakout has, but in my opinion at least, looks a lot better. The specs seem to be around the same, as does the price. It might just be a dual-band phone, but that shouldn't matter 99.9% of the time.

The last one that Nokia announced in April, is the 5000, which looks like a lower end version of the Nokia 5310 (same form factor as PetroCan's 2630). But since the price is a little high on the 5000 (Speakout would have to price it at least $150 or more) I don't think we'll see that.

So, in other words, my guess is that sometime in the first half of next year (maybe the spring or early summer) we MIGHT see the Nokia 2760 flip replaced by the Nokia 7070 flip phone and the Nokia 5200 slider replaced by the Nokia 2680. And if Nokia decides to offer Speakout a big discount on a low-end phone, we'll see a replacement for the 1208, but who knows about that.

If you want a phone now, get it now. Then if or when Speakout comes back with their "Buy $100 of airtime get $75 off a phone" offer you can upgrade then.