Nokia's Lumia 610 Hits UK (But it Won't Run Skype)
Nokia's budget Windows Phone finally launches in the United Kingdom.
Nokia last week confirmed that the Lumia 610 would be launching in the United Kingdom this week. The low-cost Lumia is a cheap and cheerful alternative to the pricey flagship Lumia 900 that Nokia launched earlier this year. Aimed at young people looking to buy their first phone, it doesn't pack the same high-end specs as the Lumia 900, but it also comes without the hefty price tag.
Announced earlier this year, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the Lumia 610 boasts a slightly more curved design than we've seen with the other Lumia devices and packs an 800 MHz ARM Cortex-A5 CPU, Adreno 200 graphics, 256 MB RAM, 256 MB ROM, a 3.7-inch 480x800 capacitive touchscreen LCD, 8 GB of internal memory, a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera, Bluetooth 2.1, and Windows Phone 7.5 (Tango).
Available in the Lumia's trademark white, cyan, magenta and black hues, the phone is available through a variety of retailers and carriers, including O2, Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile, Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4u, and starts at just £15 per month on-contract. If you're looking to get the device contract-free, last we heard the price was set at £150, but this has not yet been confirmed.
Of course, the trade-off for choosing a budget phone such as this is that it can't do all the things its more high-end brothers and sisters are capable of. And we're not just talking about the lack of front-facing camera. According to Crave UK, the Lumia 610's 256 MB of RAM means it can't run a ton of popular apps, chief among them are Angry Birds and Microsoft's own VoIP app, Skype. Also named are PES 2012, Plants vs Zombies and Assassin's Creed. Bummer. At the very least, you can console yourself with the fact that there's apparently a special version of Angry Birds in the works for budget devices such as the 610. No word on Skype, though.
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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DjEaZy HopelessNoobi think i'll stick with my android... and i stick to my iOS... and we both are better of...Reply -
phamhlam frozonicit seems like garbage to me, the hardware is waaaay toooo outdatedReply
Are you stupid? The phone isn't meant to be some high end smartphone that can compete with the Nexus or S3. It is meant for the masses that can't afford expensive phones but still want something ususable. The Lumia 610 is probably smoother than your phone just because it is a Windows Phone. -
scrumworks frozonicit seems like garbage to me, the hardware is waaaay toooo outdatedReply
You seem like garbage to me. Typical iPhone user i presume. Budget phones are not using highest end components, comprende? -
lassik I'm an Android user plus I use iOS on my iPad, but I played a Lumia 810 last week and Windows on it is very, very good. If it wasn't for its lacking market place, I would switch in a heartbeat.Reply
Just because it's a Windows Phone, don't write it off before trying it. Plus it flies, and is so fluid, even with a single core CPU.
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ojas Why can't Angry Birds run on 256MB RAM? Even Quake 2 ran on less than that!Reply
lol. More appropriately, i think it should run because it runs on my ipod touch, which also has 256MB ram (usable amount is lower).
IIRC the reason it can't run those games is because of that native vs managed code stuff. Though seeing that Angry Birds can run on Chrome i don't even see why that's a problem.