Nokia Drive+ now available for non-Nokia Windows Phone 8 devices in US, UK and Canada

One of the key differentiators for Nokia's Windows Phone devices, the company's navigation app, is now available to all Windows Phone 8 users in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. The app, which is called Nokia Drive+, is still in Beta and is available for free on the Windows Phone Store.
This essentially means that users who own Windows Phone 8 devices made by HTC (Samsung's devices have still not gone on sale), will be able to experience features like full turn-by-turn voice-guided navigation, offline maps, speed limit warnings, and day and night modes, which were till now, only available on Nokia's Windows Phone devices.
It's worth noting that Nokia had announced that it would make Nokia Drive available to other Windows Phone 8 partners in 110 countries, coinciding with the announcement of the Windows Phone 8 platform, in June 2012. Nokia's location assets are one of the richest, with map data for nearly 200 countries. So Microsoft's strategic partnership with Nokia which aims at strengthening the Windows Phone ecosystem is finally bearing fruit. We are looking forward to Nokia releasing the app in other markets, including India, soon.

Nokia India launches Lumia 620 with Windows Phone 8, ships early February

Nokia has launched the low-end Lumia 620 smartphone in the country. The device will be available in early February with pricing details currently unknown. The smartphone will be available in vibrant colour options of black, cyan, magenta, yellow and white.

The budget Windows Phone 8 offering from Nokia was announced last December with an unsubsidised pricing of $249. The Lumia 620 sports a 3.8-inch TFT WVGA display (800X480) with ClearBlack technology. It features a 5-megapixel rear autofocus shooter capable of 720p video recording and has a VGA front camera on-board as well.

On the inside, the device is powered by a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor with 512MB RAM and has 8GB internal storage with microSD support upto 64GB. Windows Phone users can also make use of the additional 7GB SkyDrive storage.

The smartphone boasts connectivity options like NFC, Bluetooth 3.0 and Wi-Fi. It comes with a 1,300mAh battery claiming up to 15 hours of talk time (2G) and many hours of music playback.

As any other Windows Phone 8 device, the Nokia Lumia 620 will feature a Live Tile interface for updates to the Start Screen, PeopleHub and a Me Tile along with other Windows Phone 8 functions.

Nokia is betting big on the Lumia 620's 'dual-shot' technique, which helps in creating new colours and textures for this smartphone. So what this 'dual shot' actually does is cast two layers of polycarbonate, a single base layer and a second colour, in a transparent/ translucent layer, to produce depth effects and secondary colour blends. For example, yellow and cyan are combined to produce a lime green colour.

Other features include Cinemagraph, the exclusive Lumia camera feature that adds motion to still images; City Lens that reveals nearby places when you hold it up to scan your environment and SmartShoot that takes a series of pictures in one click allowing you to choose the best portions of each picture to create the perfect photo.

Apart from launching the Lumia 620, the company has also launched the highly awaited Lumia 920and 820 smartphones. The Lumia 920 is priced at Rs. 38,199 while the Lumia 820 costs Rs. 27,559. Both smartphones will be available in multiple colours starting January 11, 2013.


Nokia Lumia 620 key specifications 

• 3.8-inch TFT WVGA (800X480) ClearBlack display
• 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor
• 512MB RAM
• 8GB internal storage with microSD support up to 64GB
• 5-megapixel autofocus rear camera with LED flash
• HD video recording @30fps
• VGA front camera
• NFC, WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n 2.4Ghz + 5Ghz, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS/A-GPS, Glonass, Micro-USB
• 1,300mAh battery
• Windows Phone 8
• 115.4 x 61.1 x 11.02mm
• Weighs 127g

Nokia launches Lumia 820 in India, priced at Rs. 27,559

Nokia has launched the Lumia 820 in India and revealed the price as Rs. 27,559.
The Nokia Lumia 820 is the younger sibling of the Lumia 920, which was launched in India on Thursday as well.
Nokia announced the Lumia 820 way back in September at a special event held in New York.
The Nokia Lumia 820 comes with a 4.3-inch AMOLED ClearBlack display with 800x480 resolution. It is powered by a Snapdragon S4 processor alongside 1GB RAM and 8GB of internal storage, expandable by another 64GB via a microSD card.
The Lumia 820 comes with a 8.0-megapixel rear camera, but without the PureView technology found in the Lumia 920 and the legendary Nokia 808. It comes with a VGA front camera for video calls. Like the Lumia 920, the Lumia 820 also comes with NFC and wireless charging, as well as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Micro-USB connectivity options.
The phone comes with a 1,650mAh battery and weighs a hefty 160 grams.
The Nokia Lumia 820 runs Microsoft's latest Windows Phone 8 operating system. Windows Phone 8 brings a host of improvements to Windows Phone like Internet Explorer 10, Nokia Maps and user resizable tiles.
Nokia Lumia 820 will be available in red, yellow, cyan, white and black colours starting Friday.
Nokia also launched the Lumia 920 and Lumia 620 in the country.

Nokia Lumia 820 specifications

• 4.3-inch (800x480) AMOLED ClearBlack display
• Dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor
• 1GB RAM
• 8GB internal storage (expandable by 64GB via microSD card)
• 8.0-megapixel rear camera
• VGA front camera
• Wireless charging
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Micro-USB
• Windows Phone 8
• 1,650mAh battery
• 123.8mm x 68.5mm x 9.9mm
• 160g

Nokia to build Android-powered phones? Blame the translator!

The Internet was buzzing Monday after Nokia CEO's alleged remarks about being open to the possibility of building Android-powered phones.
Nokia CEO Stephen Elop gave an interview to a French website and not long after the following translation started doing the rounds:

In the current ecosystem wars we are using Windows Phone as our weapon. But we are always thinking about what's coming next, what will be the role of HTML 5, Android... HTML5 could make the platform itself-being Android, Windows Phone or any other-irrelevant in the future, but it's still too soon to tell. Today we are committed and satisfied with Microsoft, but anything is possible.

Needless to say, the Interwebs were on fire, excited that Android-powered phones from Nokia, once everybody's darling, were even a possibility. The craziness went on for quite a while, until Nokia clarified that the translation floating around wasn't an accurate one and issued the 'correct' translation.

So, the way I think about it is, in the current war on ecosystems, we are fighting with Windows Phone. That's what we're doing. Now, what we're always doing is asking, how does that evolve? What's next? What role does HTML5 play? What role does Android or other things play in the future? We're looking further into the future, but it terms of what we're bringing to market, and what we're immediately focused on, we're focused on Windows Phone.

Needless to say, Nokia is committed to the Windows Phone platform. File this one as another non-news that caught on like wildfire.