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Amidst the high-tech, high-priced items emerging from the Nokia World 09 show in Stuttgart, Germany-including new details on the Booklet 3G, as well as several new smartphones-it might have been easy to miss the Sept. 2 introduction of the Nokia Mural, a recession-priced flip phone that will arrive in the United States on the AT&T network on Sept. 6.
The Mural’s most unique trait is its smooth exterior, which glows in a color of the user’s choosing when the phone rings, when the device is opened or closed, or when a new text message or notification comes in or is missed. Depending on the day, users can choose the phone to illuminate in blue, red, green, orange, purple or pink.
Lest you think the Mural is all gimmick, be assured that there’s a proper feature phone behind all that glowing. The external screen is a 2.2-inch QVGA, while the exterior display measures 1.36 inches. It supports 3G, HSDPA and Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity, and features built-in e-mail, instant messaging and a 2-megapixel camera. Talk time is up to 4 hours on 3G connections, and standby is up to 350 hours.
The rounded-edged Mural measures 3.83 by 1.85 by 0.64 inches and weighs 3.9 ounces. AT&T services such as Mobile Music, Navigator and Video Share are supported; there are external keys for fiddling with the music without opening the phone; and wired and wireless headsets are supported. It comes with up to 70MB of internal memory and includes a microSD slot for adding up to16GB more.
“Nokia Mural is a feature-packed phone with an added level of fun, allowing people to express themselves with the eye-catching lighting. We are very excited to bring this to consumers with AT&T,” said David Petts, the vice president and general manager of AT&T’s Nokia account, in a statement. “We are continuing to expand our portfolio in the U.S. with varying price points and features for all consumers.”
The Mural will retail, after a $50 mail-in rebate and with a two-year service agreement, for $49.99.