Nokia Lumia 620 now up for pre order online for Rs.15,199

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Nokia announced the Windows Phone 8 powered Lumia 920, Lumia 820 and Lumia 620 in India in January and while the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 were put up for retail sale soon after, Nokia said that the more affordable Lumia 620 will be up for sale in the month of February. Clearly, that wasn’t the case and there was some delay in the launch of Lumia 620, but now it seems that the phone is all set to go on sale.

Popular online retailer, Flipkart has put the Nokia Lumia 620 up for pre-order on it’s website for a price of Rs.15,199 and is promising a release date around 2nd week of March. The Nokia Lumia 620 is available in four color variants- Cyan, Magenta, Green and Black and Flipakrt is also offering a 16GB micro-SD card for free, if the customers pre-book the smartphone.

The Nokia Lumia 620 sports a 3.8-inch TFT WVGA ClearBlack display which is quite good to look at and honestly, any display on windows phone device looks good irrespective of the pixel density. The device is powered by a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor coupled with 512MB of RAM and during our initial test, we found the usage to be lag free and all the apps loaded up quickly, without much delay.

The Nokia Lumia 620 comes with 8GB of internal storage along with a micro-SD card slot for storage expansion by up to 64GB, which is a major plus point for the device as it is amongst the only few smartphones, which offer storage expansion till 64GB. Considering it’s expected price point, we aren’t really impressed with the 5 megapixel rear camera on the Lumia 620, but one area where the Lumia 620 scores over it’s closes rival, the HTC 8S is that while the 8S lacks a front-facing camera, the Lumia 620 sports a VGA camera which enables video-calling on the device and makes use of the tight Skype integration on Windows Phone 8, unlike the HTC 8S.

But a major area for concern is the Lumia 620′s petit 1,300mAh battery which may not be enough to easily last thorough a full day’s usage. If you’ve been waiting for the Lumia 620 since long, maybe you could just head over to Flipkart and book one for yourself right now!

Report by : Abhinav Bhargava

Nokia Lumia 720 and Lumia 520 UK price revealed

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Nokia showcased its brand new Windows 8 contenders - Lumia 720 and Lumia 520 - at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2013. UK retailer Clove has now shared availability and pricing details for these smartphones.

Nokia Lumia 720 is expected to be available starting April 1, 2013. At the time of launch, it will be available only in black colour option. The price for Nokia Lumia 720 has been listed at 299.99 Pounds (including all taxes and VAT) sans any contract.

As you may be aware, Nokia Lumia 720 sports a 4.3-inch display. The screen of Lumia 720 is protected by Gorilla Glass 2. Internally, the smartphone packs in Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chipset with a 1GHz dual-core processor. It comes with 512MB of RAM and 2,000mAh battery.

The device claims to deliver a high-end camera performance. It features a large f/1.9 aperture with Carl Zeiss optics that are designed to deliver bright, clear pictures day and night, and a HD-quality, wide-angle front-facing camera. Nokia Lumia 720 is also the first unibody smartphone to offer microSD support.

On the other hand, SIM-free Nokia Lumia 520 has been listed on Clove for 170 Pounds (including VAT and taxes). This smartphone too will be available starting April 1 in UK. At the time of launch, the colour options available for Lumia 520 are black and white.

It's noteworthy that Nokia Lumia 520 is being touted as the most affordable Windows Phone 8 device. This smartphone comes with 4-inch super sensitive touchscreen which the company believes will make it competitive with other budget smartphones. The display resolution of the smartphone is 480x800 pixels. Lumia 520 also comes with dual-core 1GHz Snapdragon processor with 512 MB of RAM. The internal storage available on the device is 8GB and can be expanded by another 64GB via microSD card.

There is a 1,430mAh battery on board Lumia 520, which as per company claims gives 9.60 hours of talk time and standby time of 15 days. It has a 5-megapixel autofocus rear camera. Camera features include Smart Shoot, CinemaGraph and more.

Report by : Surbhi Chawla

Nokia releases Nokia Xpress Beta app for Lumia phones

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After the announcement of Nokia's new flagship phone last month – the Lumia 920 – the company now aims to improve its older Lumia smartphones further. Nokia has released the beta version of its new Nokia Xpress app for Lumia smartphones running on Windows Phone 7. According to a post on Nokia’s Beta Labs blog, the app enables you to view web-based content the way you would read a magazine. Nokia has released a video that explains some of the features of the app.h

The Nokia Xpress app compresses the data you download while you are using it, thus greatly reducing data usage. This is especially useful for those who have caps on their data plans. The app also allows you to store any page you have viewed and view it later when you don’t have access to a data connection. Another feature is SkyDrive integration. The app enables you to save to SkyDrive, videos and other forms of content that you view in the app, without downloading it separately for SkyDrive. The videos can then be downloaded on to any device with SkyDrive.

The Nokia Xpress Beta app enables you to set up feeds for your most-visited sites. It also automatically places livetiles to sites you frequent on the homes creen. Another major feature is one-click language translations for viewing websites that are normally in a foreign language.

Nokia releases the beta for Nokia Xpress for Lumia

Recently, the technical specifications, price and a photo of the Nokia Lumia 510 were leaked. According to a report by GSMArena, the website that received the leaked photo of the Lumia 510, “We first heard about the Lumia 510 last month, in a leak that revealed that the low-end smartphone would sport a 4-inch display, have 4 GB of internal memory, and run on just 256 MB of RAM. Those specs have just been confirmed by our own source, who also sent us the picture above and hinted that the initial price will be $150. The Lumia 510 is aimed at targeting the entry-level smartphone market, and will likely start in China where smartphone ownership has nearly tripled since 2010.” The website mentions that the handset could be launched across the globe by early 2013.

There is no word yet on the operating system the Lumia 510 handset will run on, but given its previous track record, Microsoft has managed to run Windows Phone 7.5 on handsets featuring 256MB of RAM. So this could be the OS used on this yet unannounced entry level smartphone.

When Microsoft announced Windows Phone 8, the company also announced Windows Phone 7.8 which is a sort of ‘value pack’ for existing Windows Phone devices and not Windows Phone 8. All handsets running WP 7.5 or Mango will be upgradeable to WP 7.8, and one of the new features that the update brings with it is the new customisable home screen from WP 8.

Report by: Shunal Doke

Nokia Lumia 510 specs, picture leaked; may be priced at $150

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Nokia may have moved on to Windows Phone 8 with its new flagship Lumia 920 and its poorer cousin, the Lumia 820, but it seems the company is not giving up on Windows Phone 7.8 just yet.

Nokia Lumia 510 running Windows Phone 7.8 has been spotted in the wild by the folks over at GSM Arena. The report also confirms earlier leaked specs of the phone. The Lumia 510 is said to be powered by a 800 MHz Scorpion processor and 256MB of RAM. It will reportedly sport a 4-inch display of WVGA resolution and will likely start selling in China for $150 later this year.

The device is expected to go on sale in other markets early next year. Nokia Lumia 510 could replace the Lumia 610 as the "cheapest Windows Phone device", and is likely the same device that had earlier leaked under the codename 'Glory'.

It is worth pointing out that there is no upgrade path for Windows Phone 7.5/ 7.8 customers to Windows Phone 8 that adds many new features like 'proper' multi-tasking, over-the-air updates and Internet Explorer 10.

Report by: NDTV Correspondent,

Asians leading users of smartphones in the US: Survey

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NEW YORK: Sixty six per cent of Asian community in the US owns smartphones, making them the leading users of such devices in the country, according to the findings of a new survey.

As many as sixty-six per cent of Asians, 56 per cent of Hispanics and 55 per cent of African-Americans use smartphones to check e-mails, play games and surf the Web, the Neilson study found.

Sixty six per cent of Asian community in the US owns smartphones, making them the leading users of such devices in the country, according to the findings of a new survey.

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Around 55.5 per cent of Americans are now owners of smartphones, but for white people, the numbers makes up just 45 per cent, the lowest of any ethnic group, the 'New York Post' reported.

The report seems surprising in light of data showing a widening economic gap between whites and minorities.

One explanation for the higher smartphone penetration among minorities can be attributed to age, the report said.

More young people buy smartphones than older people, with 66 per cent of those aged 18 to 29 owning them, compared with just 11 per cent of those over 65, the report noted.

The need to own a smartphone among young people, dubbed digital natives, is so great that even the majority of those making less than 15,000 dollars a year have one, according to the report.

"It's become as necessary to your life as owning a car used to be," said Thelma Young, a graduate student.

"A lot of minorities can't afford Internet in their home. Since they're already paying a phone bill, they rely heavily on their smartphones to jump over the digital divide," she said.

In 2011, sixty six per cent of white American adults had a high-speed broadband connection at home, compared with 51 per cent of Hispanics and 49 per cent of blacks, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

A soaring 80 per cent of Asian-Americans, who have the highest income of any ethnic group in the country, had broadband at home

Report by: ET