Microsoft announces $29/£20 connected camera phone

Microsoft has announced the Nokia 215 – a super-cheap phone that the company claims could help bring internet connectivity to the “next billion people”.

A super, super entry level device, chances are if you’re reading TechDigest then this probably isn’t for you – but it is fascinating to see what can be packed into a £20 phone. There’s a VGA camera, colour screen, web browser, Facebook, bluetooth 3.0 and MP3 playback. Connectivity-wise it runs exclusively on 2G networks – so no 3G or 4G here. It also supports dual SIM cards.

Most impressively, it can apparently stand-by for 29 days – with 20 hours talk time, on one charge.

We’re not sure if/when it’ll be hitting the UK – but expect to see loads more people getting online for the first time soon. (And yeah, we’re not sure why Microsoft is still using the Nokia name either).