Nokia's first branded EV-DO handset for sale

Nokia is finally bringing to market its first CDMA 1xEV-DO handset--well, kind of. While it has the Nokia name on it, the Nokia 6305i is actually manufactured by SK Teletech in Korea. Verizon is supposed to be offering it, although neither Nokia or Verizon have made any official launch announcements. However, the device is on sale through reseller LetsTalk.com and runs Verizon's VCAST interface. The handset is an EV-DO slider with a 1.3 Megapixel camera and stereo speakers, but it doesn't include Bluetooth, a memory card slot or access to VCast Music.

Nokia has struggled with its CDMA market share primarily because it tried to develop its own chipsets rather than buy from Qualcomm. In an effort to increase its market share, Nokia signed the deal with SK Teletech in March 2005 to make EV-DO phones. And in February Nokia made a joint venture deal with Sanyo to form a new global company comprised of their CDMA mobile phone businesses. Both SK Teletech and Sanyo use chipsets from Qualcomm.

For more about the Nokia-branded EV-DO handset:
- check out this article from phonescoop.com
-
take a look at LetsTalkCellular.com's Web site