Budget phone a smart buy
This week’s technology pages have been dominated by Samsung’s $1699 Galaxy Note10 launch. And rightly so, it’s a beast of a phone that boasts the very latest in smartphone technology.
At the other end of the scale, something interesting also happened. Nokia launched its new budget smartphone, the Nokia 2.2.
And it really is budget. This device will only cost New Zealand customers $199.
It’s not a total dud, either. Importantly, the Nokia 2.2 comes with the latest version of Android 9 Pie pre-installed. The device will also receive two years of OS upgrades and three years of monthly security updates.
So far, so good.
There’s more. The phone also offers high-end features such as face unlock and ‘‘AI-powered low light imaging’’.
That’s where the party stops. Dig a little deeper, and you might not like what you find. A low-end quad-core Mediatek chipset drives the phone, and you’ll be staring at an equally cheap 5.71-inch screen.
But that’s the beauty of this phone. If high-end performance and expensive displays aren’t a priority for you, the Nokia 2.2 still represents excellent value.
The Nokia 2.2 phone is the latest launch in what has been a rollercoaster ride for Nokia in recent years.
Once a proud leader in manufacturing high-end mobile handsets, the company has struggled to carve out a niche for itself recently. Now, it seems, Nokia is increasingly looking to operate in the budget smartphone sphere.
Juho Sarvikas, chief product officer, HMD Global, said: ‘‘We believe that the latest and greatest innovations in the industry should be available for everyone.
‘‘With the Nokia 2.2, we’ve brought the pinnacle of AI experiences to more people than ever before. And including features like biometric face unlock with liveliness detection adding extra security to your phone, AI imaging, Google Lens and Google Assistant at the press of a button, we aim to revolutionise the way our fans interact with the phone.’’
The Nokia 2.2 is now available in Tungsten Black, for $199, from The Warehouse and Warehouse Stationery. The device also comes unlocked with a free $5 prepaid sim from Spark.