Microsoft Unveils New Nokia Phone

In a surprise move last night, Microsoft announced the arrival of the latest Nokia-branded phone: The Nokia 216.

Slated for launch next month, the Nokia 216 will be running under the Series 30 OS, sporting a 2.4 inch QVGA display, a 0.3 megapixel front-and-rear camera set, and dual-sim functionality. Furthermore, it comes in three colors, and weighs at 2.5G - a complete throwback to Nokia's early phone designs.

Here are the known specifications of the phone, thus far:

118 x 50 x 13.5 mm

82.6 g

2.4 inch, 240 x 320 resolution, LCD display

Front Camera with flash

Rear camera, CMOS sensor, LED Flash

1020mAh Battery

16 MB RAM

16 MB Internal Storage

SD Card support up to 64 GB

Glance Screen

This announcement is unexpected, if we are to follow the trail of events surrounding Nokia's oust from the mobile market as a legit competitor. In addition, Foxconn's FIH Mobile subsidiary is set to purchase Nokia from Microsoft at $350 million, as part of their bid to expand their business phone line.

Rumors from last year purported that a Surface-branded phone may be coming out from Microsoft. However, nothing much had been heard since then, and we are yet to see if the company will branch out to the mobile market the same way it did with its Lumia line.