Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Nokia 2323 Classic and 2330 Classic.
Two very closely related handsets, the Nokia 2323 Classic and Nokia 2330 Classic are aimed
primarily at developing markets, with a number of features under the hood that you might
not expect.
The Nokia 2323 Classic (pictured right) is a very low cost handset, priced at around
€40 (£30) before tax and subsidy. It features a 1.8" 120 x 180 pixel display, an FM radio,
MP3 ringtones, GPRS and EDGE data, a web browser and email client. Although the small screen
is a significant limitation, you'll probably have to admit that these are pretty good features
for a handset that costs this little.
Add another €10 and you get the Nokia 2330 Classic (pictured left) which adds a VGA resolution
camera, and comes with a wired headset in the box.
Nokia also make a passing mention of a handset called the Nokia 2320 which doesn't have an
FM radio or web browser, but it costs the same as the 2323. We really can't see the
point in that at all.
Both phones weigh around 90 grams and have about 4 hours talktime and 22 days standby
time. Both phones look good, and they're both very inexpensive. But as we said, there is
more going on than meets the eye.
Nokia have introduced two new features with their latest range of phones called Mail on
Ovi and Nokia Life Tools.
Looking at Mail on Ovi first of all, Nokia have realised that many people have email
enabled handsets but no email account to go with it. So, Mail on Ovi is a free service
that allows up to 1GB of email storage and an email address, with support built into
the 2323 and 2330 handsets. So, as long as you have one of these phones and a GPRS connection,
then you can have an email address.. even if the phone is your only access to the Internet.
That's actually a pretty useful feature.
As we said before, these handsets are aimed at emerging markets, although they will undoubtedly
appeal to customers in more developed countries too. The other major feature that Nokia are
offering with these phones is Nokia Life Tools. This is aimed at non-urban customers in developing
nations, starting with India.
Life Tools allows access to information on Agriculture, Education (including learning
English) plus some entertainment features. Accessing the Internet on a phone is no big
deal, but the clever thing about Life Tools is that it uses SMS as a transport mechanism
rather than GPRS - this means that it should work even on the most basic cellular networks
that don't support packet data.
So, it is clear that the Nokia 2323 and 2330 are much more than a couple of cheap phones.
Nokia have spent some time creating services that make these handsets really useful to
their target markets. We think that this is quite impressive, and this approach has a
real potential to make a difference.