Nokia started off the week by confirming the existence of a new generation of budget Symbian smartphones. The Nokia 500 is one of the faster Symbian phones to date with a 1GHz processor. It should be the most economic Symbian Anna designs as well with a 3.2-inch but still 640×360 touchscreen as well as a five-megapixel camera without a flash.
The design supports full HSPA and packs a full pentaband radio that gives it 3G on AT&T and T-Mobile in the US as well as most carriers around the world. Just 2GB of storage is built-in, but a microSDHC slot will take up to 32GB more. Nokia vows about five to seven hours of active calls on a charge.
Each phone will have interchangeable back plates and will ship with three of them in the box, with more available in the near future. Nokia is counting on the price as a signature feature at €150 ($217) even off-contract and should have the phone shipping worldwide before the end of the summer.
The phone is the first in a new naming scheme that in some ways is a return for Nokia: the number-only scheme helps locate the phone in terms of relative capability but also helps avoid dictating features. Earlier badging like E6 or X7 was too focused on specific roles that often didn’t line up with what people were doing, the company said. It also gives headroom for having many models in a given feature class before having to go back.
