Nokia N1508 ‘Budget’ Candy Bar Cell Phone Aimed At Emerging Markets [‘Keeping it Simple’, Says Nokia]

We’ve speculated before on this very site that it would appear that Nokia have a set quota per year with respect to producing dull, wholly uninspiring cell phones that they simply cannot abide not meeting in full to and that end, enter stage left, Nokia’s latest handset in its exceedingly insipid range in the form of the wholly forgettable N1508 - which even Nokia themselves have tagged with the by-line ‘keeping it simple’.

Aimed squarely at the budget conscious consumer as well as emerging markets, Nokia’s N1508 comes with cutting edge features such as ‘easy key pad dialling’, a colour display (someone pick me off the floor) and an integrated FM radio tuner and it appears that its just so dull that even Nokia can barely rave about it – and if that doesn’t put things into stark perspective you’re obviously not acquainted with Nokia’s otherwise overly gushing press releases.

Other notable highlights include speakerphone functionality, voice memo recording capabilities (up to three minutes), and a 500 name phone book and, putting aside our flippancy for just a moment, we don’t doubt that it will find a welcoming home in a number of emerging markets where the latest cutting edge gear is wholly out of reach in terms of availability, affordability (and invariably both). The N1508 is, then, a true ‘people’s phone’ if you like – just don’t ask us to get excited about it.

No official release date for the N1508 from Nokia at the time of writing except to say that it will appear sometime in the third quarter of ’08 in ‘selected CDMA markets’.

Nokia