In a move to gobble up the phone market in developing countries, Microsoft has recently unveiled an internet-ready device that will go on the market for just $29. The Nokia 215, Microsoft says, is the “most affordable” phone yet with Internet capabilities. It will be available in select countries throughout Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe within the next few months.

While Microsoft ditched the Nokia brand from its Lumia range late last year, the Nokia name is far from dead. The Redmond company stated that the 2G-enabled new phone, that has a battery life of almost a month on stand-by and 21/29 hours of talk-time, is aimed at people who may not have regular access to electricity, which Microsoft points out, is a staggering 20 percent of the world’s population. The flashlight feature that comes with the phone, says Microsoft, may also prove to be a “necessity” for people living in remote places.

As for specs, the Nokia 215 will come with dual or single SIM, SLAM content sharing, Bluetooth 3.0, a microSD card capable of handling 32GB of content, a VGA camera, FM radio, MP3 playback, and it will run the Nokia Series 30 operating system. Users will be able to access popular applications such as Facebook, Twitter and Messenger, and all this comes with what Microsoft refers to as ‘durability’, which probably means you can throw it at a wall and it will function perfectly. The last time Microsoft launched a cheapie the phone didn’t have internet access–that was the Nokia 130 which went on the market in August last year for $25.

The idea behind the phone is to connect the many people still with mobile Internet access. Jo Harlow, corporate vice president of Microsoft Devices Group, wrote on a Microsoft blog, “With our ultra-affordable mobile phones and digital services, we see an inspiring opportunity to connect the next billion people to the Internet for the first time.” However, the Nokia 215 is not the only super-cheap internet-ready device on the market, the Mozilla Firefox OS caused quite a stir last year when it hit selected countries around the world.

News about the phone has already drummed-up interested responses from the public, with many residents of the US and UK asking if it will ever be released in the West. So far it doesn’t look like it, which is a pity, as an almost unbreakable back-up device such as the 215 could act a savior in times of need.

Photo credit: Microsoft