Nokia’s 6086 clamshell supports UMA

Nokia announced a few new phones at their NokiaWorld conference and the Nokia 6086 model caught my eye. It’s nothing super-special to look out on the outside; it’s your basic clamshell cell phone. On the inside, however: ahh…..that’s where it gets interesting.

Aside from standard GSM cellular voice support, the Nokia 6086 also supports UMA. We’ve talked about UMA, or Unlicensed Mobile Access before: this is the service that allows your cell phone to seamlessly switch a call from cellular networks to WiFi networks and vice versa. T-Mobile is currently offering the service here in the U.S. and I’d guess that the other carriers will follow suit. Think about it from their perspective: they can reduce costs and strain on the cellular networks by having your phone call freeload off of public hotspots or your own WiFi network. Sounds like a crystal-clear plan to me.