LONDON, England – Quietly dropping onto the UK Nokia online store comes this Nokia N79, sporting free Xpress-on smart covers, a free Ngage game, a £4 donation to WWF and…. no charger! We wrote about Nokia’s plans to ship devices without chargers, therby allowing much smaller packaging, back in December at Nokia World and when Mike wrote about batteries the month before.
We knew a test would be happening at some point, but this one kind of snuck up on us, coming as it does hot on the heels of the N79 Active. Still, it’s a hot debate point.
The strapline shouts the eco credentials of the package (though we’re not sure about the need for three Xpress-on smart covers – isn’t that starting to defeat the purpose?) Still, shipping a device without a charger is an interesting concept. I know my house is stuffed with Nokia chargers (even if I can never find one when i want one!) And I’m sure the same will be true of any Nokia regulars. What’s good about this is being offered the choice – with a charger, without a charger, with an active pack, without an active pack – there are now a range of variants for the N79 and I reckon that’s going to have some appeal amongst customers.
This from the N79 store page:
Together we can help the environment, that’s the power of WE:
Charger not included. Proud to reuse.”
Will we see it on offer from networks though? That’s a tough question. We don’t know if there are any plans on that front yet, and it’ll probably depend on how this trial goes. If you’ve got an opinion on it, then I’d suggest you take the survey at the store and tell them what you think. When you’re done, come back and tell us what you think here.
(Via AllAboutSymbian)