Not everyone who’s shopping for a mobile device wants a $600 smartphone. There are millions of people in the world who want phones like Microsoft’s new Nokia 215.

Its main selling points are a very low sticker price ($29) and very long battery life (20 hours of talk time or 29 days on standby). The humble 215 sports a a fairly roomy (for a featurephone) 2.4-inch, 320 x 240 display. That’s a pixel density of 166ppi, roughly what the iPhone 3G packed six years ago. For a $29 phone, that’s not too shabby.

Also dating back six years: the 215’s VGA camera. It’s a big step backward from the 3.2MP shooter that featured in the $20 Nokia 105 back in 2013. The inclusion of an FM radio tuner and bulit-in LED flashlight might soften the blow for some buyers. It looks like the latter could come in handy when you’re fumbling to find the right skeleton key in the dark.

You won’t find support for speedy new wireless networks on the Nokia 215: it’s got a 2G GSM radio inside. On the upside, it does support Bluetooth and SLAM, which means sharing content from your device with other Nokia owners is as easy as bumping your phones together.

Just because the 215’s hardware might look a little dated doesn’t mean the software is unsophisticated. Facebook and Facebook Messenger come pre-loaded, as does the Opera Mini web browser; Microsoft decided months ago that it made more sense to distribute a competitor’s browser than it did to keep maintaining Nokia Express.

Need to do some searching? Unsurprisingly, Bing has been pre-installed to help you find answers to your queries. As for additional apps, they’ll come courtesy the folks at Opera, too: the Opera Mobile Store became the default back in November.

While it’s targeted at consumers in emerging markets, the Nokia 215 is also an interesting phone for folks who might be looking for a secondary device to travel with… or who just want something that can make calls and go more than two days without needing a recharge.

By: DocMemory
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