Nokia 6131 NFC

Expected Q1 2007
9th January 2007

The Nokia 6131 is a pretty familiar handset these days, and over the past year we've warmed to it as being a very usable phone with nicely understated looks. The Nokia 6131 NFC takes the original 6131 tweaks it a little.

NFC stands for Near Field Communications, a very short range radio system (operating at up to 20cm) that allows the 6131 to talk to another device for a variety of purposes. This means that in theory you could use the Nokia 6131 NFC as a payment method, security pass, electronic business card or allow it to provide very tightly defined locate-based services. If you're familiar with the concept of RFID tags, then this NFC implementation is broadly similar in technology terms.

This type of technology is still in its infancy, and there are few applications around that can actually support NFC devices, but it's a chicken-and-egg situation - and Nokia have produced the 6131 NFC in order to push things along a little.

Nokia say that the 6131 NFC will be available in "selected markets" during Q1 2007 at a price of around €260 / £170 / $340 before tax and subsidy.

 Subscribe to our newsletter for more news on upcoming releases