Nokia C2-01 is cheap 3G phone, X2-01 offers affordable Qwerty thrills

Say what you will about Nokia, but the Finnish manufacturer knows how to churn out cheap phones. The new Nokia C2-01 will be the company's cheapest 3G handset, and the X2-01 is a budget device with a full Qwerty keypad. 

Apart from its 3G connectivity and annoying name, the C2-01 is a run-of-the-mill Symbian Series 40 device, with an alphanumeric keypad, 3.2-megapixel camera and 2-inch screen. It also offers an FM radio, Bluetooth connectivity and up to 16GB of storage via a memory card. It'll be available in the first quarter of next year for around 70 euro (£60).

The X2-01 is aimed at social-networking fiends. A new 'communities' app will allow you to see your Facebook friends' updates from the home screen, as well as post updates and photos. 

Nokia touts music capability as a central feature of its X-series phones, and the X2-01 accordingly offers a media player, FM radio and access to the Ovi Music service. It has a 2.4-inch QVGA screen and a VGA camera, and supports memory cards of up to 8GB.

Forget Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, though -- the X2-01 supports only GPRS and Edge. This means using the Internet will prove desperately slow for anything more than the most basic of tasks. The X2-01 will be available for around 80 euro (£70), before the year is out.

The C2-01 and X2-01 aren't going to blow anyone's mind, but they're the kind of affordable, functional devices that Nokia rolls out in its sleep. Whether they'll prove popular in light of the growing number of more capable budget Android smart phones remains to be seen. There is the sense that Nokia could have just rolled out some phones from a couple of years ago, and nobody would have been any the wiser.

As usual, let us know your thoughts on these handsets in the comments section below.