Microsoft’s latest cellphone doesn’t run Windows and it’s not even really a smartphone. But the Nokia 215 can connect to the internet and run a series of apps including Facebook, Twitter, the Opera Mini web browser, and of course Bing search.

What really makes the Nokia 215 special though, is its price: the phone will sell for about $29 in parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East when it launches in the first quarter of 2015.

nokia 215

The phone has a 2.4 inch, 320 x 240 pixel display, a VGA camera, support a flashlight function, and support for FM radio and MP3 audio. It supports Bluetooth 3.0 for connecting a headset, and supports relatively slow 2G networks… but this is an entry-level phone that’s designed to allow people to make calls and get online in developing markets where price may be more important than speed.

The upshot is that the Nokia 215 has the kind of battery life that puts modern smartphones to shame. Microsoft says you should get up to 20 hours of talk time, 50 hours of MP3 playback time, or 29 days of standby time from the phone’s 1100mAh battery.

Microsoft will offer single and dual SIM versions of the phone.

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6 replies on “Microsoft’s Nokia 215 is a $29, internet-connected phone”

  1. No, this has potential to be a good idea. Not kidding. It’s just your thinking about how to use it has to slightly change…

    See, your typical home land line user has several wireless handsets and receivers throughout their house. They’re paying $40-50 for a land line every month. They may have a cellphone too with a plan costing anywhere from $35-100 or more (give or take). They most likely have Internet of some kind and most likely a TV package too. People start to think, why do I have a land line when I have this cell package and all these damn costs are killing me every month. So in order to save some money, which one do I cut out? Ah, yes, the land line. So they snip the land line and find out that one single cellphone handset for the entire house is a real pain in the ass. Que this new product. At $29 a pop, I’d rather have THESE damn things all over the house sharing one cell phone plan than 5 different $700 cell phones AND plans for each member of the house as well as a land line and bunch of receivers/handsets that never get used now.

    Anyhow, I think this has potential. I think there might be some kind of land line phone setup that shares a cell phone plan too but hey, these go above that in usefulness. Can’t browse the web in a pinch on a typical land line handset, or send a photo or file – at least I think so…

    1. You’re not wrong, but there are other ways to work this out.

      My home phones use voip and I pay around $3 a month + usage at a penny a minute. And each of my home phones can dial independently, even though they share a common number. It’s awesome.

  2. That standby time. Wonder if it has whatsapp. Would be a perfect burner phone or used as a backup

    1. Don’t get too excited by the standby time. Nokia is normally overly optimistic in their estimates. They must be taking extreme best-case scenarios.

      My Asha 308 has only lasted 8 days with absolutely no usage and data turned off. It’s is not bad at all, but is well below the 25 days Nokia suggests is possible.

      I’ve also seen it with the Nokia 515 or the 208, actual battery life is closer to a week, and there are some people who report a few days is more than sufficient. I’m still hoping for the equivalent of an updated Asha 310, a dual-sim phone with quad-band 3G and Wifi capabilities… a good complement to my smartphone. (MiFi capabilities are a pipedream, but one can hope!)

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