Nokia Release CDMA Series 60 Phone in US

Nokia is finally releasing a series 60 smartphone for CDMA networks. North Americans will undoubtedly be pleased to hear it. The new Nokia 6638 will look similar to the 3G phone the Nokia 6630, but will be completely different on the inside. Some specifications of the phone are an LED camera flash, an extendable antenna, a 2.5 mm headset jack, and E-911 capability.

The 6638 is also Nokia’s first phone with a full-size SD card slot; Nokia has previously used MMC and RS-MMC formats, although it announced support for the SD format last September. It is not clear which carrier will receive the 6638. The extendable antenna and lack of analog mode would be consistent with recent phones for Verizon, but the draft user manual includes multiple references to Java, the application standard used by Sprint. It is not clear if the phone will support EV-DO, although it does not appear to contain a Qualcomm chipset, and Nokia by most accounts does not yet have an EV-DO chipset of their own.

It is not yet clear which carriers will pick up the Nokia 6638. It is a great addition to the CMDA line up of any carrier though, and an interesting step forward into the market by Nokia.