NEW YORK-The world’s No. 1 handset manufacturer Nokia Corp. released its first push-to-talk mobile phone, the candy bar 5140, and said beginning in 2005 all of its GPRS/W-CDMA handsets would feature the technology.
Nokia’s new 5140 phone features a dedicated push-to-talk button as well as a digital compass and a built-in digital camera. The phone will be sold in Europe, Asia and the Americas starting in the second quarter of next year.
Nokia said the phone is a half-duplex Voice over IP solution using existing GPRS and EDGE data networks. The company said this method results in “performance that on average is comparable to that of existing dedicated push-to-talk cellular networks.”
Separately, Nokia released its new low-end 6010 phone, which features multimedia messaging service, downloadable applications and a XHTML Internet browser.
“The Nokia 6010 phone is a perfect fit for the generation of users who didn’t grow up with wireless, but who want to have an easy to use, stylish mobile voice device to enhance their lives and don’t require all of the bells and whistles,” said Pekka Vartiainen, senior vice president of Nokia Mobile Phones. “Versatile products like the Nokia 6010 phone allow us to continue meeting the changing needs of diverse mobile-phone users.”
