Sweet new thing from Nokia: ordinary cellphone with a full keyboard.

Are we one step closer to texting for the US masses? Maybe. On Tuesday, Nokia introduced the 6800–a new GPRS/GSM device that's not a smartphone, isn't bundled with an OS from Microsoft, Symbian, Palm, or RIM… but *does* include a full keyboard. Excerpt from PCWorld story:

"Nokia appears to be the first manufacturer to include a keyboard in an ordinary cell phone, setting the unit apart as a legitimate text messaging device. It also includes Instant Messaging; multimedia messaging service and Short Messaging Service; access to any POP3 or IMAP e-mail account; and an x-HTML Web browser.

The handset, which will ship in the second quarter of next year, uses Nokia's own proprietary Series 40 OS and browser, not its newer Series 60 design. The Series 60 is the platform design that Nokia is selling to other handset manufacturers such as Sendo, which includes the Symbian OS plus an HTML browser from Opera."

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