Nokia to launch new phone with physical keyboard on April 24

[Bapun]

Mokia has teased an image of what possibly could be a new mobile phone, on its blog, Nokia Conversations and through its Twitter account.

The Finnish handset maker has also informed that it will be announcing something new, followed by a Q&A session with Neil Broadley from its Mobile Phones team along with an unnamed special guest on Wednesday, April 24 at 7am GMT (12:30pm IST).

The teaser displays part of a phone's screen and a small part of its hardware keyboard. The device is a yellow coloured phone with a polycarbonate shell similar to the designs we've seen in the company's Lumia range of Windows Phone smartphones.

It's difficult to say if the launch could be feature Nokia's first hardware keyboard equipped Windows Phone device or the company is launching a refreshed line-up of handsets in its Asha feature phone range. While we haven't heard much about the Windows Phone QWERTY handsets, we've seen some evidence of the latter.

Earlier this month, a purported pictures featuring Nokia's refreshed range of Asha mobile handsets had been posted online by the Twitter user @evleaks. The images had featured three different handsets in bold colours such as green, red and yellow. The images had made us think that Nokia was trying to apply a similar design philosophy to its Asha devices that it had adopted for its Lumia smartphones.

The launch event could see the rumour materialising into a real product. Nokia is facing increased competition in the sub Rs. 5,000 category from the local handset makers offering affordably priced Android smartphones. Recently, Samsung too launched its REX series to take on Nokia. At this stage, it has become imperative for Nokia to raise the bar for its Asha devices. If the company is able to launch new Asha handsets with more features at a competitive price, it might be able to revive its fortune in the feature phone segment in India.

Nokia to launch new phone with physical keyboard on April 24 | NDTV Gadgets