Nokia Lumia 620 pre-orders hint at January launch

Posted on 23 Jan 2013 at 09:14, by Gareth Halfacree

Nokia is expected to launch the latest in its popular Lumia line of Windows Phone 8 smartphones, the Lumia 620, by the end of the month - bringing the operating system to a budget-friendly price for the first time.

Nokia's Lumia range has proved popular with smartphone buyers, selling out throughout Europe thanks to excellent compatibility with the numerous 4G mobile broadband standards in use on the continent and pushing the troubled company to its best financial performance for quite some time. With devices like the flagship Lumia 920 in the range, it's easy to see why - but not everyone can afford a top-end handset, or its purported successor the Lumia Catwalk.

As a result, Nokia will launch a cut-price device which will be available to buy SIM-free and without contract for as little as £230. Dubbed the Lumia 620, the device will use a lower-resolution 480x800 3.8in display - although still with Nokia's contrast-enhancing ClearBlack technology - behind which will be a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor running at 1GHz. 8GB of internal storage is included, with a micro-SD slot providing expansion of up to 64GB and 512MB of RAM. A five megapixel rear-facing camera can also capture 720p video, and a front-facing VGA camera allows for video chat.

While no official UK availability has been announced by Nokia, TechRadar claims to have word from mobile retailer Expansys - currently taking pre-orders for the handset at £229.99 - that the device will be hitting shop shelves on the 31st of January.