CTIA Wireless 2008: Nokia 3606 and Nokia 1606 CDMA Handsets

Nokia is soon to release two new entry-level handsets that operate on CDMA AWS networks (1700 and 2100 MHz): Nokia 3606 and Nokia 1606. The Finnish producer is a bit quiet when it comes to presenting the new handsets' features, but that's probably because there aren't too many things to talk about.

Obviously targeted for the US market (because of the AWS connectivity), the phones will not offer users advanced features, but at least they are quite slim and look pretty good (although "good" is a very relative term when it comes to the way cell phones look).

Both Nokia 3606 and Nokia 1606 are clamshell handsets designed in a similar manner. They are both created to be user-friendly, and judging after what we can see in the available pictures, they really seem simple to use.

Nokia 3606 packs a 2 inch TFT internal display with 176 x 220 pixels and 262k colors support, a smaller external display, stereo Bluetooth, Music player, FM radio, dedicated music keys for an easy control, an 1.3 Megapixel camera with LED flash, microUSB, and microSD card support for up to 8GB. Adding an external memory card is highly recommended, since the phone's built-in memory only provides 15MB, which won't be enough if you want to store more than a couple of songs.

Nokia 1606 is lower on features than the 3606 model. It only features an 1.8 inch, 128 x 160 main display (with 262k colors though), an external monochromatic screen, only 8MB of internal memory with no expanding possibilities, microUSB and a flashlight. No photo camera, nor music capabilities.

Nokia 3606 and Nokia 1606 should hit the US market in the Fall of 2008, for affordable prices or even for free, if offered by carriers together with contract agreements for several years.