Smartphones seem to have taken over the world and it is hard to see someone who doesn’t own one in most developed countries. In spite of the popularity of these devices, there are still some parts of the world where feature phones still have a strong grip. Qualcomm wants to cash in on that market and has released the Qualcomm 205, a new mobile platform (Qaulcomm’s new name for processor) for feature phones.
The new mobile platform brings Cat. 4 LTE with it, so users should be able to get up to 150Mbps of download and 50Mbps of upload speeds. It will also bring VoLTE and VoWiFi (Voice over WiFi) too. Other connectivity features includes support for Bluetooth 4.1, 2.4GHz 802.11n WiFi, and dual-sim.
The Qualcomm 205 is clocked at 1.1GHz with an unknown architecture. There is also an Adreno GPU on board, but since this is for feature phones, display support is limited to a 480p resolution and camera support maxes out at 3MP.
Qualcomm says the chip will work with Linux-based operating systems including Android. Battery life will be 45 days of standby time, 20 hours of talk time, and 86 hours of music playback.
The announcement of the new SoC makes us wonder if HMD Global did their homework well before releasing the new Nokia 3310 at MWC 2017. The new Nokia 3310 has gotten positive reviews mainly because of the feeling of nostalgia it brings. But sadly, the phone only supports 2G networks and won’t work in countries like the United States where 2G is starting to phase out. If HMD was aware of Qualcomm’s new chip, it would have made more sense to release the Nokia 3310 with it. Possibly even making it the first device in the world to feature it.
READ MORE: Qualcomm Announces March 22 for Snapdragon 835 Asia Launch, Expect Working Prototype
Qualcomm says the 205 mobile platform will start showing up in phones starting this quarter. Maybe we might see Nokia bring back another feature phone from the dead or rather just put it in newer models.
(Source)
