It wasn't that long ago that T-Mobile USA launched Nokia's venerable 5230 as the
Nuron, but you've got to admit -- with a mug only a mother could love, Nokia owed it to itself to get cracking on a prettier replacement. On that note, we've got a shot of an alleged model 5250 today, sporting the same button configuration as the 5230; considering the gargantuan bezel, we're figuring on a smallish screen, which points to the low end of the touchscreen spectrum -- right where a proper 5230 successor would belong. Thing is, we'd figured Nokia was moving away from the four-digit naming convention for its smartphones altogether -- in other words, we'd expect this new device fit somewhere between the
C5 and
C6 -- so it's unclear whether this is real and represents a current, non-canceled model in the product pipeline. It's not going to turn any heads, of course -- but if Nokia were able to push this for something crazy like $120 off contract, it'd be hard to ignore.
posted August 9th 2010 9:41PM
Bluegh
@MoonWalkerCTE this thing is aimed at the low end smartphone market. But my complaint is the clearly wasted space. they could've easily made the screen bigger! this is way to small compared to the phone. C'mon Nokia!Make bigger screen!
And looks like its running symbian^3 :)
@statickeith NVM, this aint symbian^3 :(
Its S60 5th :((((((
@statickeith You gotta hold it somewhere
Nokia needs to get there acts together and come up with a competetive phone.
@torres09
Just because it doesn't compete for your heart doesn't mean its not competitive. Its one of the cheapest smartphones you can buy, with a full, real time multitasking OS and more features than most iOS devices out of the box, including Flash support. I bet plenty of people thinking of buying a featurephone for about $100 would consider this.
@torres09
They came up with 24 million of them last quarter.
I thought the Neuron was a pretty handsome phone.
@Jukah
I agree. Nothing to dislike about the Nuron's appearance. As for this unit, if it's comparable in specifications to the Nuron, I doubt you'd see it for $120 off contract as Engadget would like to think but $160-180 is certainly within the realm of possible. If you start chopping out features you could probably get it in under $150.
@inept
you get alot more for $180 from Nokia than this. I say $89-100. Remember how cheap the Nuron was, just $69 off contract.
@christexaport
It was actually $180, and then there were various rebates that Tmo delivered to get that down even further. I don't really know who paid for those rebates but I'm relatively sure it was Tmo. Nokia could not sell the Nuron for $69 profitably. Even a very low end device like the C3, running S40, is more expensive than that (around €90 unlocked).
@inept
the Nuron is $99 at Costco as a prepiad Tmobile phone
http://membershipwireless.com/index.cfm/go/shop/do/PrePaidDetails/productId/3706
@inept
Just so that you know, Nokia 5230 was available from Dell just few weeks ago for
@hary536
I don't know why sentence got cut.
But i was saying that it was available for
@hary536
Tune in next week for the exciting conclusion to hary536's post!
@StalkyTheFish That was an epic post. I almost choke on Coca Cola.
@xavierpr14 So true!
@christexaport
I'm sorry I got numbers wrong. It was $69 on contract, $180 off. So this should be around $180-200
Doesn't look bad, T-Mobile should launch this as the Nuron 2.
Move along people ,nothing to see here...
@HellFlyer
Nice try...
it'll likely be far less than $120. Maybe $89. The original Nuron was just $69 without a contract.
@christexaport Where are you getting that figure? T-Mobile says that it's $180 without a contract, free on contract.
@christexaport
It was originally $69 with contract. $1180 without. The price came down to $0 with contract pretty quick.
@Chris Ziegler
You can buy them at Costco as a prepaid... so basically $99 without contract. Includes a case and car charger too!
@Chris Ziegler
I totally mistated the contract price. MY BAD.
Smh, look at all that space they had for a screen.
I wonder if Nokia refuses to genuinely embrace the current "slate" trend of phone design because of some sort of durability concern. I'll never forget the tank-like durability of all the Nokias I've owned. I don't know how the low end ones are these days, but the ones I had in the past (E50, 6682, 6230, 3360, I think a few ohters I can't remember) weren't low end for their time, and man they were tanks.
@paul34
The N8 is more your flavor. They just haven't done much new hardware while hardening Qt over the last 3 years. Now their back, and you'll see more attractive hardware and thinner sets.
That display just looks so lost in that sea of nothingness... It makes me a bit sad.
Look a lot like an x10 KIRF if you ask me.
@opc100
I hate to be annoying, but inb4 no one asked you if someone doesn't agree.
This phone has T-Mobile written all over it.
this is a low end phone. Its about price, not looks. It beats a $200 Android device, especially when its half its price. For some, price matters. Good to see Symbian getting more subsidies.
@christexaport uhhh look I'm a Nokia fanboy myself, got an N95 and an E73 and lust after so many more, but the Nuron ain't better than even low-end Android smartphones in my eyes. It's cheap-feeling and cheap-working. S60 5th is a living abortion, and I actually kinda like S60 3rd, having gotten used to it over the last few years.
I really like Nokia's phones for the hardware, and the software isn't nearly as bad as the gadget blogs make it out to be, but the Nuron is a no-go for me. I'd rather spend the money on a used Cliq or Mytouch. Or an E71.
cool....
Looks like my old and busted crappy LG Vu
the nuron looks exactly like the 5800 XD so that means the 5800 looks ugly as well then
plus this new 5250 is smaller so what's the point of this phone right now in the first place
Well, this phone is good for what it is. . . a "bench phone".
Second string to my EVO, EPIC 4G, iPhone & et cetera.
@Phenomenon
You have the epic?! Lol I have the Droid pro already too
LOL..I knew about this a week ago. It's part of Nokia's Ovi giveaway. You can enter weekly, and select which phone you want to win, if you win. The only decent phone they have is the X6.
http://promotions.ovi.com/touch/index.php
@MaChiBLue
Looks like they took the 5250 off..
Don't get your hopes too high on Nokia getting into some improved naming for their phones. Names are nowadays like C5-00 and turn more ugly fast...
How does the 5250 turn the ugly dial down from 10 to 6 from the 5230?
It looks like they turned it up to me.
Nokia 5250 runnings android OS?
Looks like a rebadged old LG phone.
Sorry. it's still ugly.
Looks like an LG Vu
For 120$ without contract, it would be a decent backup phone if it has 3g and wifi.
@livindreamer
You will find Nokia 5230 currently for that price, just keep an eye out for its deals on Dell and Newegg.