I came across a blog entry a long while back that reminded me that most readers don’t want to spend a lot of time figuring out what a particular entry is about, and it was summed up in one simple acronym: KISS, or Keep It Simple Stupid. It seems that Nokia is taking that exact philosophy with their latest offering, the 6085 clamshell, a basic flip phone that is designed with “excellent usability” in mind. What this means is that it won’t have complex menus and a flashy appearance. Instead, they implemented an “enduring design to create a straightforward, familiar phone.”

What we consider to be the basics today is a little different than what we considered to be the bare essentials yesterday. The quad-band Nokia 6085 is fairly up to date, as it includes an integrated camera (probably VGA), Bluetooth, a microSD expansion slot, and even a music player. This is certainly better than most entry-level handsets on the market, especially when you throw in things like Macromedia Flash Player 2.0, an XHTML browser, and FM radio.

The expected retail price is 175 Euros (US$222), before service providers provide discounts, subsidies, and mail-in rebates. Look for the Nokia 6085 — in basic black, sand gold, royal pink, and seagull silver — to start shipping sometime in the fourth quarter of this year.