Thanks to the anonymous commenter on this earlier post of mine, who draws attention to the new 6260 Slide, which is due for release in early 2009 at around €299 unlocked.
The interesting thing is that this is technically a featurephone, as it's based on Nokia's proprietary S40 platform rather than its open smartphone S60/Symbian OS. Although with a 5MP camera, 320x480 screen, GPS and maps, WiFi and presumably a full-spec browser, it's really a smartphone in all but name and "native" openness.
It's devices like this that really blur the line between smart and non-smart. The iPhone has already shown that full multi-tasking and background applications aren't really necessary if the device is fast enough. And this phone should be capable of running some pretty decent apps in the browser, Flash Lite or Java.
Sure, something like the similar (but more expensive) N85 has Symbian if you really want to download complex native software, but in the absence of a Nokia equivalent of the AppStore, I'd guess that most customers will go for the better radio and screen of the 6260.
The new phone's full spec is here.
Dean Bubley's Disruptive Wireless: Thought-leading wireless industry analysis
To comment on a blog that demands my email acc. details is somewhat forbidding. Anyway, a free app store is available to anyone who is brave enough to go through the fairly simple procedure of hacking an s60.
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