Nokia to launch three Symbian Belle smartphones in Q3

Firm touts smallest and brightest handsets on the market

Nokia has unveiled three smartphones that will be released with the revamped Symbian Belle operating system later this year, as the company aims to tempt consumers with high-end specifications and NFC functionality.

The Nokia 700 is touted as the smallest touch-screen phone on the market, with dimensions of 110x51x9.7mm and a weight of just 96g. The handset comes with a 3.2in ClearBlack Amoled screen, 1GHz processor and 5-megapixel camera.

Nokia will also ship the 700 with 2GB of memory, NFC, GPS, compass, Bluetooth and micro SD card support.

The company will also launch the Nokia 701, which comes with a 3.5in IPS LCD Gorilla Glass display that Nokia claims is the brightest on the market.

The 701 is powered by a 1GHz processor, and features an 8-megapixel full focus camera on the back with a dual-LED flash, a second camera at the front for video calling, and NFC functionality.

Customers will have access to 8GB of storage, which can be boosted by 32GB using a micro SD card.

Music fans may be tempted by the Nokia 600, which has a built-in speaker, 3.2in nHD touch screen with a 640x360 resolution and a 1GHz processor.

The 100g Nokia 600 will also have NFC technology, allowing buyers to connect Nokia Play 360 speakers, share pictures and use other emerging NFC apps.

All three handsets come with the revamped Symbian Belle operating system, which can now handle six home screens to display more applications and widgets, among other improvements.

Widgets come in five sizes, allowing increased personalisation, and the smartphones have a pull down notification menu as seen on the Android platform.

Symbian Belle also allows access to various functions by tapping and pairing with other devices.

Contacts, videos and images can be shared with other NFC-enabled devices or paired with NFC-enabled mobile accessories such as speakers and headsets, Nokia said.

Francisco Jeronimo, research manager for European mobile devices at IDC, believes that Symbian Belle could attract smartphone buyers to the platform.

"Symbian Belle is an extraordinary improvement from a year ago. For the first time, the user interface and user experience of Symbian significantly closes the gap with Android and iOS," he said.

"If Nokia had launched this a year ago, the company would have remained the worldwide smartphone market leader."

Nokia plans to release all three handsets in the third quarter. The Nokia 700 will start at €270, the 701 €290 and the 600 €180.