Nokia X1-00

Available now
8th March 2011

Nokia's first new handset announcement for over three months, the Nokia X1-00 is a very low cost device with surprisingly strong music capabilities.

Pitched to sell at just €34 before tax and subsidy, the X1-00 is certainly cheap, and it's a good looking phone that combines typically smart Nokia design with some characteristic elements (such as the curved back) that mark it out as an X-series device.

The back of the phone features an oversized speaker, but no camera. Nokia say that the speaker is capable of up to 106 phon when it comes to loudness.. but just how loud is that? Our in-depth knowledge of this topic (well OK, we just looked it up on Wikipedia) puts this at around "discotheque" level, or in other words something that you would have to shout over to make yourself heard. Nokia have made the X1-00 this loud so you can share your musical tastes with your friends, whether they want to share them or not we suppose.

Music playback can be either through the built-in MP3 player, or presumably with the integrated FM radio (although the radio requires the wired headset plugging in). The X1-00 has a microSD slot and can take cards of up to 16GB, although there's no memory card in the standard sales package (what do you expect for this price!), but there IS a wired headset in the box. As far as we can tell, the X1-00 plays MP3 files only and no other media type. There is a standard 3.5mm audio connector, so you can replace the Nokia supplied headphones with something better if you like. The X1-00 also features dedicated music keys.

The rest of the phone is rather simple - it runs Nokia's very low-end Series 30 platform, it lacks a web browser or Bluetooth and comes with a basic 128 x 160 pixel TFT display. There's a built-in flashlight (which is something we'd like to see more of) and there are some basic applications such as a calculator and alarm clock built in.

Inside is a very large 1320 mAH battery which can provide a very impressive 61 days.. yes *days*.. standby time and 13 hours talktime, or up to 38 hours of music playback. This is the sort of battery you might expect to see in a high-end smartphone.. in fact, the BL-5J cell is the same as used in the Nokia N900 and Nokia X6.

The Nokia X1-00 weighs just 91 grams and measures 112 x 47 x 16mm, it comes in two dual-band GSM variants depending on region, and comes in 3 different colour schemes of orange, ocean blue and dark grey.

This is the type of phone that Nokia does very well, and despite their troubles in the high-end market, they are still the company to beat when it comes to elegant and inexpensive devices. Although the X1-00 is aimed at "developing markets", this phone is likely to sell well in more mature markets for customers on a tight budget.  The Nokia X1-00 should be available to buy from April onwards.