Budget Nokia 130 Smartphone Costing £17 Launched in India by Microsoft

Microsoft Mobile has launched a new feature-phone exclusively for the Indian market under the erstwhile Nokia branding. Called the Nokia 130, it is priced (street price) at just Rs 1,650 (£17), with the USP of the device being that it lets users play music continuously for up to 46 hours.

Another important feature of Nokia 130 is that it lets users use two SIM-cards, and the device's 1020 mAh battery is claimed to offer a standby time of 26 days on dual-SIM cards.

Nokia 130 looks a perfect-fit for people looking at buying a no-nonsense phone for routine calling and multimedia, rather than buying a high-end gadget shelling out thousands of rupees.

The latest Nokia offering is also custom-made for first-time cellphone buyers in India (especially students), and to people preferring to use a low-end feature-phone to complement their high-end smartphones.

Nokia's 130 may become a hit in India considering its ultra-low price tag, and the fact that people can get to see a pure multimedia phone after having witnessed high-end smartphones that are exorbitantly priced.

Hardware aspect wise, Nokia 130 comes with the following key tech-specs:

• 1.8in LCD display
• Single core processor clocked at 360 MHz
• Alphanumeric keypad with 4-way navigation keys, dedicated Call and Power keys
• 4 MB RAM
• Dual SIM-card support
• MicroSD card slot that supports internal storage memory expansion up till 32 GB
• Multimedia features that support music playback for up to 46 hours, and video playback for up to 16 hours
• 2G and microUSB connectivity options offered
• 1020 mAh battery that is claimed to provide a talktime of up to 13 hours (on 2G)

Nokia 130 is also ultra light, and the entire handset weighs in only at 68 grams. The handset also packs in an FM Radio and supports USB charging.

In reality, Nokia's 130 is not a smartphone, and falls into the category of feature-phones that are still embraced in India by a large number of mobile-phone users.

The low-end tech-specs of Nokia 130 seem justified considering the low price tag of the device.

The smartphone also falls into the category of 'value-for-money' devices, an aspect evident by its tech-specs and ultra-low pricing. With mobile-phone users in India known to accord primary priority to value-for-money and budget devices, it should come as no surprise if the Nokia 130 manages to capture a fair share of the Indian feature-phone market, a landscape that Nokia dominated not too long ago.

Nokia 130 is available for purchase online at Snapdeal.