Nokia hints at touchscreen Series 40 phone with 1GHz chip

Nokia may soon launch a touchscreen phone that runs the Series 40 operating system, and packs a 1GHz processor, full Qwerty keyboard and the company's ClearBlack display technology.

That's according to Nokia's manager of marketing services in Argentina, who let slip a tweet over the weekend and then retracted it -- but not before Engadget captured a screenshot.

We're slightly baffled by the specifications. There may well still be demand for S40-based phones among those who don't want all the bells and whistles of Symbian, but why would Nokia slap a beefy 1GHz processor inside?

The presence of ClearBlack technology makes sense, though. We've already seen it on the Nokia E7 and C6-01. It's designed to reduce reflections on the screen and improve image quality by enhancing contrast. It's particularly useful when using a phone in strong sunlight.

Maybe we've become spoilt by a plethora of Android and iOS phones, but we can't get too excited about a high-specced S40 device. We're really hoping this isn't Nokia's idea of a market disruptor.

Nokia's support for Symbian users is all well and good, and the current S40 handset market is still huge, but, with Windows Phones on the horizon, surely it's time for the company to concentrate its efforts in one place.

Whatever Nokia has up its sleeve, we'll probably hear all about it this week at the Nokia Connection event in Singapore.

What do you think? Is a fast processor and touchscreen on an S40 phone a good idea? Let us know in the comments section below or on our Facebook wall.