Nokia has launched the C6 in the UK, and it is now available sim-free at the manufacturer's online shop.
On the day sales of Android phones are reported to have risen by more than 300% this year, the Finnish handset maker is hoping its new device will slow the decline in market share for its Symbian operating system.
The touchscreen Nokia C6 has a 3.2-inch display, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a 5MP camera that offers stills and video recording. There's 200MB of internal memory, expandable up to 16GB with a MicroSD card. The C6 internet browser has Flash video support.
Vodafone, T-Mobile and Carphone Warehouse will be selling the device from this month, with further operators set to be announced in the near future. Sim-free, the device is available for £289.
Earlier this month Gartner analyst Nick Jones painted a bleak picture for the future of the Symbian operating system, which runs on the C6.
Despite being used by the majority of the world's smartphones – and going open source in February this year – the software has struggled to keep up to the pace of change being forced by BlackBerry maker RIM, Google's Android and Apple.
Last week Nokia recorded a profits slump of 40% in the second quarter of 2010, compared with a year ago. The company is reportedly looking for a replacement for chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, after two profit warnings in the past three months made its its share price fall by 25%. Despite this, Nokia remains the world's largest phone-maker and has the largest market share in smartphones at about 41%.
Are you planning on plumping for a C6? What's the biggest driver for you? And, say you were appointed as Nokia chief executive, how would you fire up the old beast?
