Nokia today expanded its portfolio of mobile devices with the introduction of the Nokia 2300, an entry-level phone optimized for voice and messaging, as well as fun and personalization. Targeted specifically at young-minded, fun-loving people in new growth markets such as China, India and Russia, the Nokia 2300 offers users a range of Xpress-on(TM) cover options, built-in polyphonic ring tones, an FM radio, and games in a modern and expressive style.

The new phone, launched at events in Moscow, Russia, and New Delhi, India, operates on GSM 900/1800 networks. It is planned to be available in Asia Pacific markets during the 4th quarter of 2003, and for Europe, Africa and Middle-East during the 1st quarter of 2004.

“With our entry products, Nokia aims to expand the mobile market using innovative solutions to enable more affordable connectivity in markets with a relatively low cellular penetration,” says Juha Pinomaa, Director, Product Marketing & Business Development, Mobile Entry Products, Nokia Mobile Phones. “The Nokia 2300 phone is a perfect example of how we are addressing the needs of first time buyers with an affordable and attractive package. We are also working with operators in key entry markets to create solutions for profitable and affordable voice and messaging services.”

In addition to voice calls and text messaging, the Nokia 2300 phone features an alarm clock, a calculator, an FM radio, three games and an internal hands-free speaker for group communication. With the dual-earpiece headset included in the sales package, users can listen to the radio or make hands-free calls comfortably on the go. The Nokia 2300 offers a new 4-way scroll with a Navi(TM) key making messaging and gaming easy and fast. Right scrolling provides a shortcut to the menus or options lists, allowing users to access features quickly or accomplish selected tasks without going through the complete menu sequence.

The trendy Nokia 2300 provides customers with multiple choices for fun and personalization. Users can tailor the phone to fit their mood and style with a number of optional Xpress-on(TM) color covers. The selection of embedded polyphonic ring tones introduces the latest mobile trends to entry-level phones. Users can also download cool graphics to their phone.

To help users monitor their mobile usage, the Nokia 2300 offers an in-call timer for checking the duration of a call, as well as an SMS counter to keep track of the number of text messages sent or received. Other messaging features include concatenated text messages, picture messaging and SMS chat. The Nokia 2300 is also the first Nokia phone to enable users to filter out junk text messages from unwanted numbers.

The Nokia 2300 weighs 92 grams, and offers up to 4,5 hours of talk-time and up to 400 hours of stand-by time.

To enable operators to offer high quality voice services in a cost effective manner, the Nokia 2300 supports Adaptive Multirate (AMR) speech codec.(*) AMR is the fourth speech codec defined for the GSM system. It combines the benefits of Enhanced Full Rate (EFR) and Half Rate (HR) codecs as it both improves the voice quality and the capacity of the network to carry phone calls at the same time.